A New York homicide detective teams up with a local cop to investigate the murder of a prostitute and the disappearance of a girl in the bayous of Texas, known as the ‘Killing Fields’.
The ‘Killing Fields’ in Texas actually exist and it’s an area that’s been used as a dumping ground for dead bodies over the past 40 years. Presumably that is the basis of the ‘true events’ the opening credits of Texas Killing Fields inform us the film is inspired by. The recent history of this area no doubt provides plenty of potential for an richly atmospheric Southern noir so it’s unfortunate that Ami Canaan Mann, daughter of Michael, drops the ball and the final result is a sincere but muddled thriller.
The film focuses on the clichéd mismatched partnership of Brian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), the religious New York family man and hot headed local boy Mike (Sam Worthington), recently divorced from fellow detective Pam (Jessica Chastain). The pair lands the case of a dead prostitute and a missing girl, believed to be connected, and this leads them to the titular Texas Killing Fields as they try to track down the killers while also protecting young Ann (Chloe Grace Moretz), a teenager who is forced to stay away from her house while her crack addict mother entertains her ‘boyfriends’.
Much of the film’s focus is dedicated to Ann though, like much of the film, her close relationship with Brian is never explained. There’s no set up or back story to explain why this New York cop has so much invested in one local little girl other than to add extra emotional tension to the plot when Ann is inevitably in danger. Another character exists solely as a red herring, only there to appear menacing and drag attention away from the obvious killers. While that’s nothing new, it’s made particularly tedious by the appearance of massive evidence tying this character in some way to the murders yet he disappears late on and his story remains completely unresolved come the film’s climax. This, along with many other elements of the story, don’t hang together properly leaving the plot messy and confusing rather than intriguing and thrilling.
It is a sad waste of the film’s à la mode cast. Worthington’s star is very much on the rise after the likes of Terminator: Salvation, Avatar and Clash of The Titans. He perhaps saw this as his LA Confidential, the chance to follow in the footsteps of fellow Aussie Russell Crowe but Worthington’s not afforded the luxury of such a great film. Given slightly more to work with and giving a performance perhaps better than the material deserves is Chloe Grace Moretz, adding another strong performance to her CV after hits like Kick Ass and Let Me In. Left to wallow in underdeveloped roles are the ubiquitous Jessica Chastain (appearing in no less than eight films this year), British character actor Stephen Graham and Brotherhood’s Jason Clarke.
The film is well shot by Stuart Dryburgh and the able cast do their best with what they’re given but ultimately, the plot just flies off in too many directions, leaving the main plotline underdeveloped and the overall film cluttered and confusing with many questions unanswered.
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