Texas Killing Fields

2011

1h 45m

IMDb RATING

5.8/10

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Drama

Thriller

Crime

Mystery

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

Directors

Ami Canaan Mann

Writers

Don Ferrarone(scenario writer by)

Don Ferrarone(writer by)

Stars

Sam Worthington

Jeffrey Dean Morgan

Jessica Chastain

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Top cast

Mike Souder

Brian Heigh

Pam Stall

Little Ann Sliger

Rule

Gwen Heigh

Lucie Sliger

Rhino

Shauna Kittredge

White Kid

Canine Officer

Carla Romer

Mrs. Kittredge

Captain Bender

Neighbor

Eugene

DPS Officer

Lady Worm

Directors

Ami Canaan Mann

Writers

Don Ferrarone(scenario writer by)

Don Ferrarone(writer by)

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This place is nothing but chaos. Your God doesn’t even come here. Texas Killing Fields is directed by Ami Canaan Mann and written by Don Ferrarone. It stars Sam Worthington, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jessica Chastain, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Clarke, Annabeth Gish and Stephen Graham. Music is by Dickon Hinchliffe and cinematography by Stuart Dryburgh. Film is based around real events involving the many murders of women whose bodies have been found in a desolate area of road and wasteland between Houston and Galveston. Ami Canaan Mann is the daughter of Michael Mann, one of the masters of modern day crime story movies, so it’s not very surprising to see Ami, for her sophomore production, venture into murky waters. Texas Killing Fields is a bayou noir, where although the title hints at human devastation unbound, it’s actually a slow burning skin itcher more concerned with the people investigating crime than that of the perpetrators. How the sorry events affect all who come in to contact with the crimes at the film’s core, is what drives Texas Killing Fields on. Sadly the screenplay takes on board too much and nearly derails an otherwise very good movie. If it comes down to atmosphere and technical smarts in achieving such? Then this is one of the finest of recent times. There’s a constant sense of broody foreboding throughout, the haunting landscapes are all gnarly and spectre like, the whole area literally stinks of death and misery. Even when the story is away from the fields of the title, there’s a mood of despair filtering out from Mann and Dryburgh’s lenses, the hot Texas weather draining every ounce of sweat from the emotionally troubled detectives. All of the atmosphere is helped considerably by Hinchliffe’s music, which piggybacks the misery with ominous bluesy tones. Unfortunately all this deft atmospheric craft can’t stop the screenplay from being annoying. A sub-plot involving Worthington and Chastain as ex husband and wife is as pointless as it gets, which simultaneously wastes Chastain in the process. The makers have chosen to actually have suspects front and centre for the crimes on screen (unlike the real life cases, most of which remain unsolved), well they intend to keep it mysterious, but anyone paying attention will catch on quickly enough. There’s also problems with the sound mix, which at times is appalling, rendering some crucial dialogue exchanges as inaudible. Cast are good, especially Morgan and Moretz, and Mann shows a good hand at action sequences to compliment her astute mood setting skills. But this still feels like a misfire, and subsequent critical appraisals and internet rating systems have it as just above average. That’s a little unfair, there’s much for the neo-noir/crime movie crowd to get enthralled by here, but Mann may need to sharpen up her story telling whiles to fully bloom her undoubted potential. 6.5/10

John Chard17 May, 2014