Akito HirataReview - In The Electric Mist
March 1st 2009 05:43
Based on the Dave Robicheaux detective novels by James Lee Burke, this film is largely based on his novel entitled In The Electric Mist With The Confederate Dead. The premise is good - noirish overtones, dead bodies, local mobsters, a fearless detective, a confederate ghost, atmospheric bayou - but the end result fails to impress.
Tommy Lee Jones is well suited to the role of detective Dave Robicheaux and Mary Steenburgen impresses as Bootsie Robicheaux, the balanced and calming effect in Dave's life. Dave, a workaholic and an alcoholic gets caught up in two separate mysteries which he feels are somehow connected and he starts his own investigation to uncover the truth.
John Goodman is Julie "Baby Feet" Balboni, a mobster returned to the area to invest in movies and is high on Dave's suspect list for the death of Cherry LeBlanc, a young prostitute with big amibitions. Twinky LeMoyne (Ned Beatty), a local investor with fingers in every pie and Michael Goldman (John Sayles), the director of the movie being filmed locally, are also suspected of being involved in the deaths. Peter Sarsgaard is Elrod Sykes a movie star and a drunkard who gets mixed up in the case when he alerts Dave to the fact that a body was discovered in the swamps on one of the film shoots. Kelly McDonald has a small role as his ever so supportive girlfriend, Kelly Drummond, who loves Elrod despite his faults.
The film pulls the audience in too many directions and would have worked so much better if there was more focus on the actual killings and less on some of the unnecessary characterisations and action. The detective's foray into New Orleans hot on the trail of information uncovers Hurricane Katrina money scams and pimps hanging out at bus stations but leaves the viewers feeling disconnected with the main investigations. The finale of the film is very disappointing and when we finally learn who is responsible for the killings, we don't particularly care.
Reports claim the movie was cut by 15 minutes for US audiences and after having viewed the film, I can only hesitate to guess that maybe these 15 minutes would have been better left in to provide more of a finished product.
Voyage Review: 2/5
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