"Texas Killing Fields" is based upon true events: the murders of young women who are dumped in a Texan oil field known to the locals as the Texas Killing Fields, really a bayou. In an early scene, a trapped waif -a young teen-aged girl - stands alone in the darkness in the parking lot of a convenience store. In reality she has nowhere safe to go, and the feeling is one of trepidation.
At movie's beginning, two women are discovered dead, or at least one is. A woman's car is found with her personal effects in the killing field. Her driver's license identifies her as blonde Kirsten lane. Later on her body will be found. The other - a dark-haired prostitute - is discovered in a vacant lot in the city. Both murders have been committed by two different sets of suspects unknown to each other. So the cases are different. But the viewer does not initially know this information. In fact, more than once the movie editing adds to confusion by cutting needlessly to a scene or character unrelated to the previous sequence without any clarification. The disjointed manner of shooting by director Ami Canaan Mann (Michael Mann's daughter) often makes this feature a frustrating, incoherent narrative.
Bearded New York transplant and levelheaded Brian Heigh (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and his local, hot-tempered and intimidating partner Mike Souder (Sam Worthington) discover the body of the aforementioned young prostitute. Right after Mike's tough ex-wife Pam Stall (Jessica Chastain, in another subplot) - also a cop - requests the help of Brian in the recent disappearance and murder of women within the confines of the killing fields. Brian reluctantly obliges, despite the objections of partner Mike due to their own case against two low-life flesh-peddlers who are systematically kidnapping and forcing teenage girls into a life of prostitution. Mann's film mires itself in a procedural plot involving Brian and Mike trailing these two suspects, pimp Levone (Jon Eyez) and his menacing, bare-armed, heavily tattooed cohort Rule (Jason Clarke), both of whom are heavily implicated in the prostitute's murder. All the while Brian, who just cannot stop helping others in need, keeps an eye out for Little Ann Sliger (Chloë Grace Moretz), a decent but mildly delinquent teen - the above-mentioned trapped waif - trying to survive life at a wretched home with a toxic, dysfunctional family. These members include low-life mom Lucie (Sheryl Lee), criminal brother Eugene Sliger (James Hébert), and her menacing boyfriends, especially chilling Rhino (Stephen Graham). Lucie has instructed daughter Ann to disappear when she has certain men hanging around the house. The denouement will be one of no-nonsense brutality, although flirting with implausibility.
To reiterate, various narrative streams often occur all at once, so it is easy to become confused about what is exactly taking place on- screen. On appositive note, the atmosphere is sufficiently gritty with its haunting landscape: the feeling of dread permeates everywhere. The acting, especially by Chloë Grace Moretz, is fine, but Worthington's accent is often difficult to comprehend. You will probably need to utilize your TV's closed-caption option to understand his words. At movie's end, the survival of one of the detectives is surprising and unrealistic. An inexplicable loose end concerns the fate of one of the bad guys, who outlives the picture. You may have to watch this one more than once to capture full understanding.
At movie's beginning, two women are discovered dead, or at least one is. A woman's car is found with her personal effects in the killing field. Her driver's license identifies her as blonde Kirsten lane. Later on her body will be found. The other - a dark-haired prostitute - is discovered in a vacant lot in the city. Both murders have been committed by two different sets of suspects unknown to each other. So the cases are different. But the viewer does not initially know this information. In fact, more than once the movie editing adds to confusion by cutting needlessly to a scene or character unrelated to the previous sequence without any clarification. The disjointed manner of shooting by director Ami Canaan Mann (Michael Mann's daughter) often makes this feature a frustrating, incoherent narrative.
Bearded New York transplant and levelheaded Brian Heigh (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and his local, hot-tempered and intimidating partner Mike Souder (Sam Worthington) discover the body of the aforementioned young prostitute. Right after Mike's tough ex-wife Pam Stall (Jessica Chastain, in another subplot) - also a cop - requests the help of Brian in the recent disappearance and murder of women within the confines of the killing fields. Brian reluctantly obliges, despite the objections of partner Mike due to their own case against two low-life flesh-peddlers who are systematically kidnapping and forcing teenage girls into a life of prostitution. Mann's film mires itself in a procedural plot involving Brian and Mike trailing these two suspects, pimp Levone (Jon Eyez) and his menacing, bare-armed, heavily tattooed cohort Rule (Jason Clarke), both of whom are heavily implicated in the prostitute's murder. All the while Brian, who just cannot stop helping others in need, keeps an eye out for Little Ann Sliger (Chloë Grace Moretz), a decent but mildly delinquent teen - the above-mentioned trapped waif - trying to survive life at a wretched home with a toxic, dysfunctional family. These members include low-life mom Lucie (Sheryl Lee), criminal brother Eugene Sliger (James Hébert), and her menacing boyfriends, especially chilling Rhino (Stephen Graham). Lucie has instructed daughter Ann to disappear when she has certain men hanging around the house. The denouement will be one of no-nonsense brutality, although flirting with implausibility.
To reiterate, various narrative streams often occur all at once, so it is easy to become confused about what is exactly taking place on- screen. On appositive note, the atmosphere is sufficiently gritty with its haunting landscape: the feeling of dread permeates everywhere. The acting, especially by Chloë Grace Moretz, is fine, but Worthington's accent is often difficult to comprehend. You will probably need to utilize your TV's closed-caption option to understand his words. At movie's end, the survival of one of the detectives is surprising and unrealistic. An inexplicable loose end concerns the fate of one of the bad guys, who outlives the picture. You may have to watch this one more than once to capture full understanding.