Heaven's Prisoners (1996)

Purely Joyful Movie!

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

A Disappointing Continuation

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Phil Joanou's Heaven's Prisoners is a great little sweaty southern crime yarn that, as I recall, went through a modicum of production hell which some people seem to think stunted any chance it had. I for one think it came out just fine, a moody little neo noir with an intense yet laconic turn from Alec Baldwin, a gorgeous lineup of femme fatales to contend with played by some of the most talented gals out there, and a wily supporting turn from a cornrow sporting Eric Roberts. Baldwin plays Dave Robicheaux, an ex New Orleans who is rousted from tranquil relaxation on the bayou when a mysterious Cessna plane crashes into the marsh near him. Upon exploring it he turns up a considerable amount of drugs, no doubt on their way from somewhere bad to someplace worse. This is the catalyst for a whole whack of trouble falling into his lap, literally and figuratively. He is drawn into a lethal dragnet involving corrupt DEA, his old pal and drug lord Bubba Rocque (Roberts, a prince in the limited screen time he gets), his dangerous moll (Teri Hatcher, sexy and malicious), and more. Baldwin navigates it all with a cold eyed cool of a professional who has been to these places before, both as actor and character. The stakes are high though, as he has a wife of his own (Kelly Lynch) who could potentially be dragged into the mess, and a former flame (Mary Stuart Masterson) who blows back into his life like a tropical storm cell. This film is based on a series of novels by James Lee Burke, all starring Robicheaux and chronicling his hard boiled adventures. You can also check out the excellent In The Electric Mist, another of these yarns from 2008 where Tommy Lee Jones takes up the mantle. Joanou knows the ropes and rigs of film noir, and paces this baby nicely, never too loud or proud and always with the laid back, simmering vibe of the south.

The tens of millions lost by this box office bust set back the careers of stars Alec Baldwin, Eric Roberts and Teri Hatcher a few years, but also proved that if you are going to make a crime thriller, it helps to put in a few actual thrills, or maybe come up with a plot that makes some sense. The story probably worked in its first draft, but the meandering, almost random string of events in the movie give the impression of a script that underwent too many re-writes. Plus, it's filled with unsavory types who all seem to be running some twisted game, but instead of combining these threads together the script just lets them hang. The viewer spends too much time trying to recall who is up to what and then when nothing comes of it all, gives up interest. The movie also tries early on for a hothouse Southern Gothic atmosphere, but fails to generate it, thanks to too much time wasted on Eric Roberts' character's boxing obsession, and the fact that Hatcher's femme fatale act is played out too sparingly and seems unrelated to anything until it's too late for the audience to care. Baldwin's central performance is not very interesting and it is never clear whether we should sympathize with him or just hang around waiting to see if he gets whacked. Kelly Lynch is apparently in the movie too, but her character seems superfluous and sketchy, as if her part was at some point cut way down. The result is an incomplete performance that again fails to generate much interest. This pretty much sums up the movie. An attractive cast of good actors hang around expensive southern plantation sets posturing with one another and it all just fails to go anywhere. No wonder it flopped. It's not awful, but nothing here really works at all.

Heaven's Prisoners (1996) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Former New Orleans detective Dave Robicheaux is forced into retirement after accidentally killing three people. While all of this was going on Dave was also suffering from an alcohol problem, which nearly cost him his life. Two years after retirement he and his wife Annie (Kelly Lynch) move to the Bayou where they open up a bait shop and seem to be living the perfect life. One day while the couple are out on the Bayou a plane crashes nearby their boat. Dave grabs the scuba gear and goes to the sunken plane where he saves a young Mexican girl.Dave and Annie take the young girl to the hospital where they tell the officials that the child is there's and she was in a simple boating accident. The couple takes the young girl back to their place where they plan on raising her but one day Dave gets a visit from DEA officer. The officer informs Dave that the plane crash wasn't an accident but a murder plot, which Dave has messed up. For some unknown reason he goes to visit a former friend turned stripper (Mary Stuart Masterson) who in return leads him to another former friend turned gangster Bubba Rocque (Eric Roberts). Dave is also introduced to Bubba's former prostitute wife (Teri Hatcher) who seems to have plans outside of her husband's affairs. Not only this but we get another mob boss and three hit men all involved in this mystery, which must be solves by Dave so he can keep the child he rescued.Heaven's Prisoners is based on the novel by James Lee Burke and while I haven't read this I've heard it's a lot better than the actual movie. The film is an interesting mis-fire, which is so incredibly stupid that one will want to stick through the whole thing just to see how much dumber things can get. The plot is full of so many wholes it's really hard to know what the director or screenwriters were going for. At first it appears to be a political thriller and then we get a Charles Bronson wannabe side plot, which just adds to all the confusion. I mentioned a few of the characters involved in all of this but there are actually more that pop in and out of the movie.I knew the film was in a lot of trouble within the first ten minutes. After the plane crashes the couple leaves the accident with the child. Within minutes they are at the hospital where they tell everyone that this child is their daughter, although the kid doesn't speak a bit of English. The people in charge are stupid enough to buy all these excuses thrown at them but what I don't understand is why this couple would just take this girl. Perhaps had the screenplay shown them talking about it they could have convinced me but this doesn't happen. We go from a plane crash to them taking the child for no reason, which just leads to more mindless subplots.Alec Baldwin is an actor I've always enjoyed watching but this here has got to be the worst job in his career. This wannabe character drama is so badly acted by Baldwin that you can't help but laugh when the film is trying to make you feel sorry for him. We get a lot of scenes of him crying but It's so badly done we can't help but laugh. The tough guy cop attitude that Baldwin brings is also very laughable. Worst of all is that incredibly bad Southern accent, which goes in and out throughout the film. Eric Roberts gives a wonderful performance however and he's one of the few reasons to actually sit through this film. Teri Hatcher got a Razzie nomination for Worst Actress and I'm rather shocked she didn't win. Bad acting aside, her infamous full frontal nude scene is worth the price of a rental.Heaven's Prisoners is a very bad movie yet it thankfully gets laughable, which makes it easier to watch. Running over two hours the film certainly could have used some editing or a longer running time. There's just so many plot holes that I can't help but think the screenplay lost a few pages and the director simply forgot to film the scenes. Imagine reading a book yet only reading every other chapter. By the time you read the end of the book you'll have many unanswered questions and that's how the movie made me feel.

Disappointing film where an ex-alcoholic police officer leaves the force and begins life anew with his wife.Unfortunately, they witness a plane crash and rescue a small Spanish girl, the lone survivor. Go know that the pilot, along with flying in illegals, is also in the drug business.We don't know really why the drug people go after our hero. (Alec Baldwin) In the process, his wife is killed and the film becomes one of revenge and to determine who is behind all this mayhem.Eric Roberts plays Baldwin's friend, a gangster, who claims that he is innocent. Roberts has some wife who it is later revealed is behind much of what is going on.In the beginning of the film, Baldwin goes to confession to confess to the priest that he needs to start drinking again. That's before the story unfolds.Needless to say, the movie making this weak film may have needed a few drinks as well.