Heaven's Prisoners

lois ta-tas

The first big-screen treatment of one of the Lt. Dave "Streak" Robicheaux detective novels of Burke, shorn of much of his literary pretension. The image -- the proverbial picture that's worth a thousand words -- eliminates the need for all that knee-deep verbiage, all that slogging scrutiny of vegetation and climate, in setting the Crescent City scene. And it clears out, as well, some of the emotional cargo carried by the recovering alcoholic hero.

It would be nice if you could combine the two movies, taking the good aspects from one (Tommy Lee Jones, the elegiac tone, etc. from the sequel, and the more coherent and compelling application of plot and world-building from this one) and ditch all the bad stuff. I feel like this movie's parts are less than those of its sequel, but the sum ends up being more in some way that I can't really explain. I'm kinda surprised at how poorly this is rated, I found it pretty entertaining.

From what I can remember this mystery/thriller warrants a re-watch at some point. It is based a successful novel and the story and settings are interesting to keep the viewer entertained. The actors are still in their prime and not just going through the steps as they do later in their careers.