Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Chloe Moretz and girl-of-the-moment Jessica Chastain, and an A-list producer in the form of Heat's Michael Mann, it's a bit of a mystery as to why Texas Killing Fields has arrived with so little fanfare. In a week when a bloated 3D blockbuster strong-arms its way into theatres, it's a pity that this thriller - a perfectly decent alternative movie pick - will go unnoticed.
Directed by Ami Canaan Mann (Michael's daughter), the story tracks two homicide cops on the hunt for a killer of women who dumps his victims in a marsh lands region scarily dubbed "the killing fields". Mike Sounder (Worthington) is the temperamental local detective on the case, while Brian Heigh (Morgan) is a New York cop who sits as a counter to his fiery partner. Heigh, a religious family man, is naturally at odds with his colleague, who's divorced from Chastain's detective Pam Stall.
Street Little Anne (Chloe Moretz), the daughter of addict Lucie (Sheryl Lee), is a girl close to Heigh who plays a key role in the investigation, and Michael Mann veterans Stephen Graham and Jason Clarke prove to be disquieting presences in supporting roles.As the cops are faced with an abduction that hits closer to home, Mann choreographs a pair of action sequences that take a leaf out of her father's manual. A shootout and car chase may pale in comparison to Heat, but a later siege on Lucie's dilapidated home is gripping and tense.
The Texas landscapes provides an atmospheric backdrop for the unfolding events, with composer Dickon Hinchliffe's guitar-driven score complimenting the arid scenery. Mann crams in a lot of characters, which consequently makes a few of them feel thinly sketched.The film occasionally breezes too quickly through its plot to connect the dots and reach its conclusion. Lee's trailer trash mother, Chastain's determined police officer and Graham's refinery worker are in need of more screen time to flesh out their characters.
Taking its cue from real events (bodies have been appearing in the South Texas fields since the '60s), it's a story that might have perhaps been served better on TV, giving its key players more room to breathe. Visually, too, the film never quite fills out a widescreen frame enough to make it feel like essential viewing at the cinema.Crime procedurals are a dime a dozen on TV (see: the many different iterations of CSI and Law & Order), which makes it kind of difficult to get too worked up when you hear about a feature-length film that involves an eclectic mix of police officers joining forces to track down a killer.
This fall's Texas Killing Fields is the latest cinematic murder investigation mystery/thriller - and judging by the official trailer, it should be a decent, if somewhat unremarkable, addition to the genre.Texas Killing Fields gets its namesake from a region near League City in (naturally) Texas, where some 21 women have been murdered or disappeared since the 1970s. The film follows the efforts of a local homicide detective (Sam Worthington) and his partner, a former New York cop (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), who attempt to track down the vicious killer who leaves his victims' mutilated corpses in the titular marshes. Watch Texas Killing Fields Movie Online
Texas Killing Fields isn't looking too shabby so far; there are even shades of excellent grim crime tales by the likes of David Fincher (Se7en, Zodiac) in the footage shown here. Assuming the trailer isn't too misleading, though, the film also seems to hit many familiar beats, in terms of character development (Morgan's cop being haunted by the past) and plot points - like when tensions between Morgan and Worthington reach a breaking point and things get personal, after local girl Anne (Chloe Moretz) is kidnapped.
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The film was directed by Ami Canaan Mann, who previously helmed the little-seen drama Morning and an episode of Robbery Homicide Division as well as Friday Night Lights; she also worked as a second unit director on her father's (Michael Mann) film, Heat. So she does have some experience overseeing crime dramas, which seems to have served her well enough here. Texas Killing Fields doesn't look as visually stylish as either a Michael Mann or David Fincher movie, but the cinematography still appears to be appropriately subdued and dreary.
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