Beneath the Leaves

It's not awful, but it's never entirely clear what's going on. The plot us disjointed and confusing, and it's difficult to keep track of the characters and where they fit in. The writing could have been tightened up a bit which could have made this problem go away. I don't know if the writer was attempting to clever and failed or if he was just being lazy.

Mira Sorvino's performance is the only thing that made this film tolerable for me. The plot is interesting, but the execution of it missed the mark, mostly in the lack of believable characters. It could have been great, but ended up being only so-so.

First of all Mira Sorvino is always going to add to any films credibility. This is not her first rodeo playing a crime fighter. I recall her starring as an ICE Agent in the 2005 TV Mini-Series, Human Trafficking, and she held her own in that dramatic film series.

Having said that Mira Sorvino is somewhat wasted in this low budget film by todays standards THRILLER. I don't know what the films director was thinking when Detective Erica Shotwell (Mira Sorvino) walked through some parts of the investigation wearing a mans hat on her head? It looked ridiculous. But I digress. Back to the plot. There is a psycho on the loose after a prison break and in a vaguely similar style to the 1996 film title, Sleepers, there is an abuser of young boys who have to find a way to survive their past horrors and then re-live those memories when this psycho breaks out of prison.

Mira Sorvinos cop partner is Detective Brian Larson, (Kristoffer Polaha) who has a bit of a drinking problem which is his cross to bare after being one of the four young boys who survived the psycho predator who held him and three other boys in his torture chamber.

The script had all the makings of a good story, as well as casting Mira Sorvino in a lead role, her father Paul Sorvino as the precincts Captain, and her husband Christopher Backus as another one of the four tortured boys living with their nightmares from their horrific childhood(s).

It's just too bad that the on screen film just wasn't so thrilling as maybe the script could have been. Therefore I give this film a ho hum 5 out of 10 IMDb rating.

I don't know why this was made. Poorly acted and bad script. Highlight is watching the cliches fly through the plot. Love Mira Sorvino. But this was just a mess.

The movie started out ok. I mean, I knew it was sort of a B movie to begin with, so I was ready for some good B movie action.

It was not to be.

The film quickly lost its way, meandering here and there and never really exploring anything at all.

The acting wasn't bad, but no one really stood out. The characters were shallow and not very well written.

I managed to get through it, but just barely.

I gave it 3 stars, but 2 1/2 of those are just because I like Paul Sorvino.