Overall Grade: (C+)
A talented cast wasted by a story-line that lacked any real purpose.
When you look as the cast and read the synopsis of this film you think you will be sitting back for a captivating psychological thriller or at least a good serial-killer/mystery. In the end the cast was relatively decent, Morgan, Worthington, Moretz and Chastain all brought solid performances.
But the material they were working with, that was in fact good in theme, just lacked deep substance to bring the most out of their talents or the characters they were portraying.
There were a few story-lines in this one and for the most part are were a simple shell of something that could have been much more intriguing. With some added development to these subplots there could have much more of a dramatic impact on this script that was dying for just that, some kind of emotional impact.
You can sympathize for the character of Ann played by Moretz, her dire situation is the most detailed theme of the story so you can feel her impact on the script coming from a mile away. But the rest of the characters were lacking any real backdrop other than some generic innuendos.
There was some sort of broken love connection between the characters played by Worthington and Chastain which was implied a few times throughout, but in the end served zero purpose. This was also the case with the subplot of the two thugs played by Jason Clarke and Jon Eyez whose story-line seemed to do nothing more than distract you from the plot twist you couldn’t help but already see the moment the characters were introduced. Overall there were good performances as a whole that were hindered greatly by a script that held their characters back greatly with lack of detail.
If the point of this film was to showcase a dreary region of the country and the unsavory people living among it, then this one was a mild success. The locations were ominous and grim which did a good job of pulling you into what story there was to tell. But for the most part they do nothing more then to make you want more than what this film will ultimately give you. It is good enough to pass the time but will not provoke the mind like you will want it to.
For something up this alley with much better substance give “True Detective” season one a chance you will not be as disappointed as you will be in this one. “Texas Killing Fields” had its moments and plenty of potential, but after the story was over I couldn’t help but wonder what the point was, let alone any real implied message the filmmakers wanted to send.
