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Heaven's Prisoners (1996)

Rate: 5
Viewed: 11/15

HeavenPris
11/15: It's frustrating to watch an Alec Baldwin film.

Alec is a talented actor with a lot of potential, but the way he's used by a director rarely matches my expectations. That's the case with Heaven's Prisoners which took two years to be released due to bankruptcy issues and was ultimately a massive box-office failure.

Heaven's Prisoners seems to be a terrific neo-noir with a good story. Yet the longer the movie went on, the more I realized there's a lot of fat that needed to be trimmed in order for it to be a lean, sleek thriller. At least, it's a nice New Orleans picture.

It lacks intelligence and believability. For starters, why does Dave Robicheaux want to bother with the mystery behind the plane crash? He just makes the situation worse by getting to the bottom of what happened. Let the authorities deal with it; it's what they do for a living. In fact, where were they the whole time? Also, Robicheaux has been punched in the face so many times that he still looks good afterwards.

At the same time, there's no chemistry between Robicheaux and his wife or his adopted daughter (how insulting of the couple to give her a new name when she can clearly communicate). He seems to have moved on without a problem after the death of his wife. In the meantime, Eric Roberts opts for cornrows for his hair, making things interesting for a while. Eventually, he gives it up and goes back to his normal hairstyle. Teri Hatcher bares all for one juicy scene, but unfortunately, her breasts aren't that "spectacular" as she famously claimed. Plus, her character isn't believable, either.

All in all, Heaven's Prisoners runs too long, having evolved into a hot, sweaty whodunnit mess.