In the Electric Mist

Atmospheric yet muddled, In the Electric Mist casts Tommy Lee Jones as Dave Robicheaux – a grizzled Southern detective who finds himself drawn into an elaborate conspiracy while investigating the murder of a local prostitute. Director Bertrand Tavernier, working from a screenplay by Jerzy Kromolowski and Mary Olson-Kromolowski, does a superb job of capturing the exceedingly seedy environs of Robicheaux’s Louisiana-based territory, with the authentic vibe certainly cemented by Jones’ gritty, downright engrossing performance. The deliberate pace with which Tavernier has infused the proceedings is subsequently fairly easy to accept, although there inevitably reaches a point at which Robicheaux’s egregiously meandering inquiry simply becomes too much to take. It certainly doesn’t help that Kromolowski and Olson-Kromolowski have placed an increased emphasis on the almost eye-rollingly quirky figures within Robicheaux’s midst, with the detective’s ongoing dialogue with the ghostly apparition of a Civil War-era soldier (Levon Helm’s General John Bell Hood) certainly ranking high on the movie’s list of entirely needless elements. And while the supporting cast has been populated with a number of admittedly compelling performers (John Goodman is especially engaging as a shady mobster nicknamed Baby Feet), the progressively convoluted storyline ensures that one’s interest slowly but surely peters out as the movie sluggishly inches towards its underwhelming conclusion. The baffling final shot, which has seemingly been cribbed directly from Kubrick’s The Shining, introduces a supernatural element into the proceedings that is sure to leave most viewers scratching their heads in confusion, and it’s not surprising to note that In the Electric Mist ultimately can’t help but come off as a disappointing misfire (a well-made, well-acted misfire, to be sure, but a misfire nonetheless).

** out of ****