Review of In the Electric Mist

Atmospheric is probably the best summation of this movie. There is a recognizable sense of southern atmosphere - dark and brooding, that permeates constantly throughout the story. This is also the best thing about the movie. The story line itself comes across as disconnected and disjointed. Whether this is intended or not; it doesn't work. I always felt like it was missing something. Developments seemed to happen without explanation. It almost feels watching it now that it was approaching something as weighty and hard hitting as the dark quality of True Detective's first season in moments - but it just never got there. I enjoyed Tommy Lee Jones but thought that his character should have been consistently harder and darker. John Goodman was shaping up to be quite enjoyable as a mob boss but he never got enough quality screen time or character development. Both their performances deserved better. I did enjoy the movie as a whole - I just felt a little disappointed afterwards because I feel that it could have been something great but too many moments of inconsequential sub plots cluttered and devalued it's brooding atmosphere. Also the music score was really ill fitting and I rarely ever comment on that.