FORMAT: DVD (REWATCH)
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
(As posted on December 13th, 2016)
Lou Ford (Casey Affleck) is a congenial Deputy Sheriff in a small Texas town who is well-liked by just about anyone. He gets an assignment to run a prostitute named Joyce (Jessica Alba) out of town, but instead forces himself on her. Since she likes it rough, she lets him beat her and stuff and they wind up falling in love. When Lou sees an angle to get revenge on the man who killed his brother, he resorts to coldblooded murder, deception, and a gross abuse of police power to achieve his goals.
The Killer Inside Me is the second filmed version of Jim Thompson’s novel of the same name (Burt Kennedy helmed the original back in 1976). At first, Michael (Jude) Winterbottom seems like an odd choice for a southern fried pulp thriller, but he equips himself nicely and finds his rhythm early on. Like After Dark, My Sweet, many horrible things happen in broad daylight, so his flat camera-as-an-observer style suits the material.
Some may be disappointed that his is more of a character study than out and out thriller. It shows us the depths a disturbed man will go to once he’s set his mind on a course of action. There are plot twists and complications along the way to be sure, but this is more of an examination of a warped mind, and a pretty good one. Winterbottom’s pacing is a little drawn out in spots though. With some tighter editing, the third act could’ve really crackled.
Another stumbling block is Affleck’s performance. He’s not bad or anything, he’s just a bit miscast as Lou Ford. If you’ve read the book you’ll know that he was a larger than life character. Even though he did repugnant things, you still sort of liked him and felt like a co-conspirator when he began on his warped quest for vengeance. Here, Affleck’s “aw, shucks” demeanor is just a tad small. I know what he’s trying to do. He wants you to think that he’s gentle and unassuming so that it’s shocking when he finally goes into full-on killer mode. (He actually excels during the scenes where he is killing people and covering up his actions.) That works to a certain extent; it’s just off the mark.
I read on IMDB that the original choice to play Ford was Tom Cruise and that would’ve been note perfect. You really needed a movie star to play this part. You needed someone as American as apple pie to make the transformation work. Affleck is a great actor and he does a fine job all things considered, but there’s a big difference between “Oh, that nice young man is actually a killer” and “Oh my God, why is one of our most beloved icons doing those terrible things?”
Maybe that’s just because I read the book and had a preconceived notion of how Lou Ford should be. If you haven’t read the book, you might find Affleck’s character arc to be as shocking as intended. For me, a fan of the book (considered by many to be Thompson’s best), it comes as a near-miss. It’s not enough to derail the movie or anything, not by a long shot.
The supporting cast is excellent. Jessica Alba and Kate Hudson both do a good job at playing the yin and yang of Ford’s female affections. Ned Beatty is one of his best performances in years as the rich old man who secretly runs the town. Elias Koteas (in his second Thompson adaptation after Hit Me) does a fine job at stirring the pot as a labor leader who has his suspicions about Ford and Simon (Land of the Dead) Baker makes for another good antagonist as a city lawyer who doesn’t hold to small town ideals. Bill Pullman is also fun to watch in an extended cameo as Ford’s blowhard lawyer.
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