In the Elecric Mist

James Lee Burke is a writer with a gift for creating atmosphere, and his work seems eminently suitable for adaptation to the big screen, so I expected great things from In the Elecric Mist, a 2009 film based on one of his Dave Robicheaux novels, and starring the excellent Tommy Lee Jones as Dave – a brilliant piece of casting.

The story-line is quite complicated. A young woman’s body, sadistically mutilated, is discovered, apparently the work of a serial killer. Soon afterwards Dave has a chance encounter with a man and woman who are involved in making a film set at the time of the American Civil War. The man tells Dave that he has come across some human remains, and this news takes Dave back to his youth, when he witnessed the shooting of a black man. After a series of plot twists – and Dave’s surreal encounter, after he has taken a drug-laced drink, with a Confederate soldier – he latches on to the identity of the serial killer.

The final section of the film is exciting. Dave’s daughter is kidnapped by the bad guy, and the various plot strands are pulled together pretty well. The trouble is that the first part of the film moves rather slowly, and the viewer’s enthusiasm may have waned before the action really kicks in. A pity, because Tommy Lee Jones puts in a compelling performance.

I enjoyed the evocative representation of the steamy Louisiana setting of the story, and I’m glad I watched the film. However, it’s not the masterpiece I hoped for, because of that early lack of pace, and a diffusion of interest because of the disparate elements of the story-line. Decent viewing, but in some ways a missed opportunity.

Double Jeopardy

There will never be a film about an insurance scam to match Double Indemnity, but the 1999 movie Double Jeopardy was, I discovered the other evening, an enjoyable time-passer. It stars Tommy Lee Jones at his edgiest, and the glamorous Ashley Judd. They are a rich couple who seem to have it all, but there are questions about the reliability of Tommy (surprise, surprise) and when they go off sailing, Ashley wakes to find a trail of blood, a sharp knife…and no husband.

Ashley, it turns out, was to benefit under her husband’s insurance policy, and she is arrested, though no body is found. She arranges for her beloved child to be adopted by her best friend, and is sent to prison. I have to say that it struck me as amazing that her guilt would be so easily established on pretty flimsy evidence. And the concept of ‘double jeopardy’, as explained in the film, doesn’t really stand up in the context of the facts of the story-line.

However, if you can overlook the plot holes (not everyone can, I realise) what follows is a pretty exciting action thriller. Ashley is determined to retrieve her child, and exact revenge, and stops at nothing to achieve her goals. Needless to say, she does one or two pretty stupid things which expose her to grave danger when she comes face to face with a ruthless killer. But that’s not too unusual in crime movies, is it?

I enjoyed this film. It is so well made that you can suspend your disbelief for a hundred minutes or so. Not a classic, but not bad, either.