kincaid-5 I stuck with this film because I'm a fan of several actors, and the atmosphere and performances are strong. But I had to watch it several times before I knew for sure who was doing what, which is not good story-telling. The key point, which too many people miss, is that there are two completely separate cases here. Inside Texas City, two pimps have murdered one of their girls, and Souder wants to concentrate on busting them. Outside TC, in the county, there is a serial killer, and Souder wants nothing to do with that case. Partly he worries that his partner Heigh will get too involved emotionally, partly he would have to work with his ex-wife, but mostly -- like most people in the area -- he regards the Killing Fields as a place of all-consuming chaos and evil, best left absolutely alone. ("Your god don't come here.") If you look at the dates on the photos on Heigh's map, it's clear that this can't all be the work of one killer; a lot of them died before Rhino was born. The main narrative line is about how Souder is dragged unwillingly into the hunt for the serial killer, by his antipathy for Rhino and his loyalty to Heigh, who simply refuses to let go. (It also lets him heal a bit about his relationship with Pam.) The film had a lot going for it, but it's a shame that the story-telling was allowed to get so muddled that many viewers couldn't follow it.

ZULFIQAR RAJA It surprises me as to how many quality films end up with poor ratings on IMDb. This leads me to think that many people who visit this site do not understand cinema. This serial killer flick based in the fields of Texas feature strong performances, tense direction and an atmosphere you could cut with a knife. There are shades of great serial killer movies like 'Seven' and 'Zodiac' but what makes this so impressive is that it has been directed by a lady. It's a hard movie which is uncompromising and successfully manages to get into the head of the viewer. There are a few scenes so brilliantly acted, I watched them again a few times. The film fuses the Texan culture into the movie and characters so well with the violence more disturbing then gruesome. This is a movie for those true admirers of cinema and not just popcorn loving buffs who are overloading themselves with too much rubbish.

Spikeopath Texas Killing Fields is directed by Ami Canaan Mann and written by Don Ferrarone. It stars Sam Worthington, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jessica Chastain, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Clarke, Annabeth Gish and Stephen Graham. Music is by Dickon Hinchliffe and cinematography by Stuart Dryburgh. Film is based around real events involving the many murders of women whose bodies have been found in a desolate area of road and wasteland between Houston and Galveston.Ami Canaan Mann is the daughter of Michael Mann, one of the masters of modern day crime story movies, so it's not very surprising to see Ami, for her sophomore production, venture into murky waters. Texas Killing Fields is a bayou noir, where although the title hints at human devastation unbound, it's actually a slow burning skin itcher more concerned with the people investigating crime than that of the perpetrators. How the sorry events affect all who come in to contact with the crimes at the film's core, is what drives Texas Killing Fields on. Sadly the screenplay takes on board too much and nearly derails an otherwise very good movie.If it comes down to atmosphere and technical smarts in achieving such? Then this is one of the finest of recent times. There's a constant sense of broody foreboding throughout, the haunting landscapes are all gnarly and spectre like, the whole area literally stinks of death and misery. Even when the story is away from the fields of the title, there's a mood of despair filtering out from Mann and Dryburgh's lenses, the hot Texas weather draining every ounce of sweat from the emotionally troubled detectives. All of the atmosphere is helped considerably by Hinchliffe's music, which piggybacks the misery with ominous bluesy tones.Unfortunately all this deft atmospheric craft can't stop the screenplay from being annoying. A sub-plot involving Worthington and Chastain as ex husband and wife is as pointless as it gets, which simultaneously wastes Chastain in the process. The makers have chosen to actually have suspects front and centre for the crimes on screen (unlike the real life cases, most of which remain unsolved), well they intend to keep it mysterious, but anyone paying attention will catch on quickly enough. There's also problems with the sound mix, which at times is appalling, rendering some crucial dialogue exchanges as inaudible.Cast are good, especially Morgan and Moretz, and Mann shows a good hand at action sequences to compliment her astute mood setting skills. But this still feels like a misfire, and subsequent critical appraisals and internet rating systems have it as just above average. That's a little unfair, there's much for the neo-noir/crime movie crowd to get enthralled by here, but Mann may need to sharpen up her story telling whiles to fully bloom her undoubted potential. 6.5/10

estebangonzalez10 "Once in...There's no way out."Texas Killing Fields had the potential to be one of those rare and memorable suspense thrillers that actually work; it had a strong cast, the cinematography was beautifully executed by Stuart Dryburgh creating a depressing atmosphere fitting the tone of the story, and an interesting premise. But somewhere along the way the execution didn't work and the film failed to live up to its potential. I can't say if it was the script or the editing, but the story felt incomplete and incoherent at times. Ami Canaan Mann, Michael Mann's daughter, failed to dig deeper into the storyline and the result was a sort of disjointed film. I still enjoyed the film for the atmosphere and suspense it was creating, but the two different story lines never seemed to be fully developed and I couldn't help but feel that something was left out in the editing floor. I kept on expecting more, but I was disappointed despite the solid performances. I'm a fan of gritty detective stories, and this film does succeed in being gritty and dark, but the detective elements of the story never added up. I'm currently watching the HBO series, True Detective, and that show absolutely gets everything that this movie didn't, right. Skip this film and watch True Detective instead.Inspired by true events, Don Ferrarone wrote the screenplay about a series of murders taking place in the Texas Killing Fields. When the film opens we are introduced to Detectives Mike Sauder (Sam Worthington) and Brian Heigh (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) who are investigating a murder that took place near a gas station. Brian receives a call from Detective Pam Stall (Jessica Chastain) about a missing woman who she believes might be yet another victim of a serial killer who leaves the bodies of young girls in the abandoned Texas Killing Fields. Pam is Mike's ex- wife and Mike insists that they can't help her because those cases are out of their jurisdiction and they have to solve this case they are in now. However they still try to help out while working on their case. Brian is a loving father who takes an interest in a young girl named Ann (Chloe Grace Moretz) who comes from an abusive dysfunctional family, while Mike is more of a loner. Mike's clues lead him to investigate two local criminals (one of them played by Jason Clarke), while Brian is more focused on finding the serial killer in the dangerous Killing Fields. Both investigations really caught my attention, but unfortunately one of them was kind of left out and forgotten at the end leaving me feeling a bit disappointed. The two main actors give solid performances, but their characters share the typical clichés found in other buddy cop films. Chastain is a seriously talented actress, but unfortunately her character didn't have much to work with. She has little screen time and is underused. I'm a huge fan of Chloe Grace Moretz and I have seen most of her films, but her character doesn't do much in this story either. None of the characters were developed too well and the film basically focused on the police procedural that began promising but got off track really quick by presenting two disjointed story lines. I can see how this film might work for some people because it has a talented cast, but I just felt it was a bit disjointed and incomplete. I'm still glad they made a film about this side of America that is usually not presented in Hollywood.