Close only counts in horseshoes . . . and genre movies! This one’s a laid-back thriller that pits L.A. detectives against a small town cop excited to play with the big boys on a dangerous case that’s coming his way. Director Carl Franklin, better at atmosphere than suspense or action, can’t paper over some major script flaws, but the story holds you anyway thanks largely to Bill Paxton’s star turn as top cop in a small Southern town. He brings so much generosity to it, especially once he realizes he may be in over his head, we can see right thru his skin. He knows he should be deferring to those two vet L.A. detectives waiting to nab a trio of murdering drug dealers before they unload the stash they stole back in California. They've already killed the occupants of two houses. But pride goeth before a fall as one of the killers, the drug addled girl in the trio (Cynda Williams), has a past with Paxton which is leading them there and exposing personal complications for Paxton. Billy Bob Thornton’s first produced script (he also plays one of the bad guys*), he makes plenty of beginner mistakes: hitting too many points on the nose, asking unearned sympathy for Williams’ character (in a way, she’s the worst of the bunch) and crucially misreading Paxton’s behavior patterns to make his action climax work. Fortunately, Franklin, Paxton & crew have built up enough good will by then to get us thru. It may not ring the iron post, but close enough for points.
DOUBLE-BILL: A late entry in the series of Neo-Noirs kickstarted by BLOOD SIMPLE/’84, the film was unhappily released by IRS Media (who they?) and largely ignored at the time.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *As the third bad guy, Michael Beach easily outacts his two accomplices.
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