Heaven's Prisoners (1996)

Such a frustrating disappointment

So much average

Good start, but then it gets ruined

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

James Lee Burke is the poet of Blue Collar America.Waitresses,oil - rig workers,bartenders,dirt - farmers,cowboys,cops,people who live by their wits and the strength of their arms,the disenfranchised and the lost,he is their literary champion. Detective Dave Robicheaux is his best - known creation,an imperfect man certainly,but a principled one. Mrf Burke's novels are not for readers looking for a quick fix,an easy resolution,thus "Heaven's Prisoners",the movie,is atypical for a 90s cop flick. In his somewhat chequered career,Det.Robicheaux has moved around from New Orleans to LaFayette,from Sheriff's Office to Police Dept,frequently under suspension,but always feared by the criminals and grudgingly respected by his superiors.At the time the movie is set he has quit law enforcement and is working his bait - shop/cafe on the Bayou.He witnesses a light aircraft crash and rescues a little girl from the wreckage.It is an act that changes the lives of many people. The movie is atmospheric and character - led with much depending on Alec Baldwin's portrayal of Det.Robicheaux.Mr Baldwin responds to this challenge with a complex and subtle performance.His interaction with the rescued girl - named Alafair,incidentally,the name of Burke's real - life daughter - is finely done,and the development of their relationship is the core point of the movie. In some ways Det.Robicheaux's former profession is purely incidental. "Heaven's Prisoners" is the story of a brave,honourable man who faces the consequences of his actions and finds redemption through the innocence of a child.It's a fine movie.

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.

If you want a movie that goes on and on but never really ends up going anywhere at all this is the one for you. Heaven's Prisoners goes off in a bunch of directions, none of them particularly interesting. Much of the acting, most notably from "stars" Alec Baldwin and Teri Hatcher leaves a lot to be desired. Of course the actors are not helped by dialogue that is stilted, forced, and at times, downright ludicrous. The whole mess is capped by one of the most ridiculous, implausible, laughable chase scenes in history with a couple of overweight men leaping from rooftop to rooftop as if they were Spider-Man. When this endless scene finally draws to a close at least you think you can breathe a sigh of relief, watch the end credits roll and give thanks this awful film is finally over. But no, the movie still keeps going and going and going and we are made to suffer as it drags on towards a finish which seems as if it will never come. If you look at the plot it seems there might be a good story in here somewhere. Former cop rescues orphaned girl after a plane crash, takes her in, finds out the girl has connections to drug smuggling which threatens his family...you'd think you could take that story somewhere. Apparently you can't.

Dave who is a former cop and former drunk takes his wife on a fishing trip and sees a plane crash and rescues a young girl from a watery grave which sets up the plot Did I mention Dave is a a former cop and former drunk ? Good because this might be important apart from Dave being a former drunk . In fact the director and the screenwriter thinks it's so important that Dave used to have a drink problem they drown the audience with a subtext involving alcohol . Umpteen scenes take place in bars even when it's not all that necessary to the plot while nearly every scene not featuring a bar involves characters drinking or referring to alcohol and all the scenes look like they're shot ala booze commercial . Bar scenes look like beer commercials , office scenes look like bourbon commercials and scenes shot on boats off the coast look like rum commercials . I don't know if I'm reading too much into this but since the message that Dave is a former alcoholic is hammered home it drew this reviewer's attention to the number of scenes featuring drink The problem with HEAVEN'S PRISONERS is not only the amount of scenes that seemingly promote drink it's the number of scenes in general . This is a screenplay that needed streamlined in the first draft since nothing much really happens in the first place and when they do they don't really progress the plot very much . Of course it's a character driven story but it's also film noir in nature and the film noir genre isn't known for it's character development so when a character is introduced we know who they are and there's no need to go over the same ground to explain who they are . This is a movie that last for well over two hours when in fact chopping off a good 45 minutes would have been a very good thing . No doubt Baldwin , Roberts and Hatcher had high hopes with this movie improving their careers but it's a damp squib for all involved