Review of Texas Killing Fields (2011) by David G — 07 Dec 2012

Somber thriller about Texas City police detectives Brian Heigh (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Mike Souder (Sam Worthington), whose investigation into a series of child abduction/murder cases turns personal as well as professional. There's a certain amount to admire about the film - the dark and threatening atmosphere, the unflinching look at the depths some people can sink to and Jeffrey Dean Morgan's dedicated performance, but ultimately the film is rather underwhelming. It tries to cram too much in, and in doing so it loses focus. If it had canned the superfluous characters and plot threads and concentrated on the interesting ones such as Heigh, Detective Pam Stall (a wasted Jessica Chastain) and trailer trash teen Little Ann (Chloe Grace Moretz), it would have been a lot stronger. Pity.

P.S. Given Sam Worthington's chronic struggle with accents, you may wonder how he copes as a grizzled Texan. Surprisingly, he copes pretty well, though he does lay the accent on so thick at times that it's hard to tell what he's saying!