In The Electric Mist
In The Electric Mist stars Tommy Lee Jones as Dave Robicheaux, a Southern detective from New Orleans who tries to solve a murder mystery that threatens everything he knows and loves.
Film making 20/25
Cinematography 20/25
Audio 20/25
Bonus Features 2/25
Total 62/100
Tommy Lee Jones plays Dave Robicheaux, a Southern detective with a past and a real cop who will stop at nothing to learn the truth. After a girl is found murdered Dave Robicheaux gets to the bottom of the murder and a few past crimes as well.
John Goodman plays Julie “Good Feet” Balboni, a local crime boss who tries to not get on the wrong side of the law but also does help Dave find out answers to the crime. Julie plays the bad guy who just wants to be left alone by the law and does so for the most part as he runs his crime syndicate right in front of the law.
The law being a two sided coin in the deep south does let him get away with his deeds as long as it does not harm good folk of the area so the police mostly Robicheaux looks the other way. When the search for the girl’s killer also turns up an older crime Detective Robicheaux discovers past deed have truly come back to haunt him.
With a film in town that is making an old Confederate war movie and a killer on the loose one of the film makers tells the detective of a body he discovered in the swamp. The Detective sees the body and instantly knows who it is and the events that led to the body being in the swamp, Robicheaux witnessed the killing.
While investigating both crimes Robicheaux uncovers some old crimes and new ones with plenty of animosity toward him for not solving the current one and not ignoring the old one. While trying to solve both crimes Robicheaux steps on too many toes in the parish and gets friends and coworkers in law enforcement killed.
Detective Robicheaux solves both crimes regardless of consequences to his career and does what is right in the end. Tommy Lee Jones does a great job as an alcoholic detective from down south that is handling his career and problems just fine.
The movie In The Electric Mist is a great film about the characters and their interaction with the murders being a reason to toss these guys together to bounce them against each other. The film does a great ob of showing off the talents of many great actors including John Goodman, Peter Sarsgaard, Kelly MacDonald, Mary Steenburgen and Ned Beatty.
I enjoyed how the characters did a great job at interacting with each other and how the crimes became more of a side plot than the main theme. The Confederate War also made a great part of the film with Robicheaux seeing an old veteran general long dead who has occasional conversations with him.
Robicheaux is a great character and Tommy Lee Jones was the perfect actor to portray the detective with all his faults and talents. The film was an entertaining and enjoyable murder mystery that is more about the characters and talented actors than the murder mystery.
The Blu-ray edition does a great job of bringing out the great swamp scenes and down south shot filming as well as the great audio in high definition. The Blu-ray edition does not have any extras except the trailer for the film that is kind of ironic.
I had not heard of this film till it arrived on my doorstep and was very surprised at the quality of the film as well as never having heard of it. In The Electric Mist did not show in theatres and I have no idea why not, this would have done well in my opinion.
In The Electric Mist is one of those sleeper films that could easily pick up a few awards, at least give it a chance and check it out.