TEXAS KILLING FIELDS director: Ami Canaan Mann; screenwriter: Don Ferrarone; cinematographer: Stuart Dryburgh; editor: Cindy Mollo; music: Dickon Hinchliffe; cast: Sam Worthington (Mike Souder), Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Brian Heigh), Chloë Grace Moretz (Ann Sliger), Jessica Chastain(Pam Stall), Jason Clarke (Rule), Sheryl Lee (Lucie Sliger), Samanta Beaulieu (Sheila), Stephen Graham (Rhino), Jon Eyez, (Levon), James Hebert (Eugene), Annabeth Gish (Gwen Heigh); Runtime: 104; MPAA Rating:R; producer: Michael Mann/Michael Jaffe; Anchor Bay; 2011)
“A downbeat but atmospheric police-procedural thriller, that works in parts but not as a whole because of serious plot holes making it incoherent.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
A downbeat but atmospheric police-procedural thriller, that works in parts but not as a whole because of serious plot holes making it incoherent. Michael Mann’s daughter Ami Canaan Mann(“Jackie & Ryan”), in her debut feature, directs from an uneven screenplay by Don Ferrarone. The serial killer story is inspired by real events.
Hard-working but opposite personality homicide detective partners in rural industrial southern Texas’ Texas City, the energized local Mike Souder (Sam Worthington) and the brooding NYC family man transplant Brian Heigh (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), are tracking a sadistic serial killer dumping the bodies in the next town, which is out of their jurisdiction.
The tension is caused by whether the rebellious teen girl Ann Sliger (Chloë Grace Moretz), a troubled girl living with a dreadful irresponsible mom (Sheryl Lee), will survive after being targeted by the lurking killer and abducted.
Jessica Chastain plays the ex-wife of Worthington, who is a detective in the next town also working the case.
REVIEWED ON 5/25/2017 GRADE: B-
Dennis Schwartz: “Ozus’ World Movie Reviews”
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