Texas Killing Fields

In the Texas bayous, a local homicide detective teams up with a cop from New York City to investigate a series of unsolved murders.

The casting on this film is perfect -- Sam Worthington, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and the flawless Chloe Moretz. The directing and cinematography are great, with the dark, gritty feel that one would expect from your better serial killer films. And the story, despite being disjointed, is a pretty good one.

That being said, I have a major problem with this film -- it is fiction. My understanding is that the police involved with the real case were hoping this film would promote the true unsolved murders in the "Texas killing fields". Well, I am sure they must be disappointed. The story is fake, the solution is fake... they even changed the name of the city.

Now, here is the thing... if you are going to call this film "Texas Killing Fields" and then make it about nothing related to the case, the least you can do is put a featurette on the DVD. I know two former detectives who are willing to talk about the case. I know some family members of victims who have a story to tell. If one of the goals was to promote the real case (in order to get it solved), the people behind this movie did not do even the most basic of things to accomplish this goal.

If I pretend that this movie was not very loosely based on a true story, I can be more praising. Like I said, it looks great and the cast is phenomenal. Moretz never fails to impress, and I think Morgan should be an A-lister in the world of Hollywood. He impressed me in "The Resident" and again here.

While I have not read other reviews, I suspect there is a running theme to talk about the director's father, maybe saying things like "being in his shadow". I hope these sort of comments are few and far between. Ami Mann holds her own, and whether she was a famous director's daughter or not, she has the skills and is blazing her own trail.

Apparently this is based on true events which occurred several decades prior spanning for a long time. This film has more so the feel of an episode of CSI or any police crime drama thriller type we have seen before. Also somewhat reminded of True Detective but this was obviously made before that. It starts off slow, picks up the pacing and interest a little in the middle then doesn't exactly reach to great heights as it should have.

Chloë Grace Moretz is possibly the standout in a very early tome portraying a troubled teen. The highlight and climax involves her being ultimately kidnapped with the lead cop (Sam Worthington) finding the killer in the house and ultimately taking them down. The reveal of the killer was far too predictable and rather anti climatic. In the end, this film wasn't anything special and was rather average.

A modest, if unspectacular low-key offbeat crime thriller that seems to focus on its bleak noir atmospherics and rustic sense of place (being filmed in New Orleans creating such an alienating environment from its bayous), and less so on its moody characters and narrative depth of its investigation. Things just seem to happen, with little to no reasoning behind it. Conventional storytelling enlivened by its edgy moments of suspense. Texas cop Mike Souder is paired up with out-of-town New York detective Brian Heigh where they're dealing with a local murder, but Heigh finds himself looking into another case involving a serial killer who murders his lady victims in the killing fields a wasteland outside Texas City. Director Ami Canaan Mann (yep the daughter of Michael Mann) in her debut feature creates a slick look with her prowling camera and gets strong performances from the likes of Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Sam Worthington, Chloe Grace Moretz and Jessica Chastain. Even the minor support give fine turns; Sheryl Lee, James Herbert and an unsettling Stephen Graham. However it's the four main leads that really carry this. Morgan's turn as the New York copper is the film's heart and conscience, but that's not taking anything away from Worthington and Chastain. Worthington probably gives the best performance of his career as the hard-bitten Texan detective and Chastain really does hold her own as a fellow officer. However it's Moretz who really surprises in a tender, but spirited performance as the street kid of the town tramp. She's definitely a talent. You can't take anything away from the cast, as they don't limit themselves to the material's shortcomings. The story is supposedly inspired by true events, but never does it go into any great detail and this can be its downfall. As what transpires can feel forced and rushed leading to something predictably anti-climatic due to the red herrings being too obvious. Still Mann keeps you interested with her technical techniques, but also giving it a contemplatively humane touch amongst its slow pace and brooding circumstances. A fair, if compelling straight-to-DVD enterprise.

"You don't know how close to the edge you are".

Detectives Mike Souder (Sam Worthington) and Brian Heigh (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) are investigating mutilated bodies dumped in a marsh known as the Killing Fields. They pick up Anne Sliger (Chloë Grace Moretz) who is under probation and is suppose to be home but she doesn't get along with her troubled mother Lucie (Sheryl Lee). Detective Pam Stall (Jessica Chastain) is a police investigator from the neighboring jurisdiction and Mike's ex-wife.

It has some grimy hard-boiled police drama. It's not breaking any new grounds. The actors try to do good work. Other than Worthington, I like all the actors. It has a moody backwoods sense. It's slow and disjointed at times. Directed by Ami Canaan Mann daughter of the famous Michael Mann, this is a good starting point but is not good enough to guarantee future greatness. She has an interesting eye but there is not enough tension for much of the movie.

With a great cast list, I jumped at this film with enthusiasm. This was met with a complete underutilisation of some of my favourite actors. For what it was Jeffrey Dean Morgan played his limited role well, Sam Worthing over acted his role making him less convincing and Chloe Moretz was vastly underused.

The plot is difficult to follow and some scenes seem completely unnecessary and others feel as though there needs to be more detail. The story overall suffers from a lack of telling and too much showing. The main plot itself was rather predicable and ultimately let me shaking my head in disapproval. Putting this aside there were some parts of the film that made it interesting and the overall story was good in premise.

I suppose I don't want to hate this film, because it has so much potential. It left me feeling disappointed, but as a point of reference of something done badly that could be brilliant, this is the perfect case.