Heaven's Prisoners (1996) User Reviews (60)

Robicheaux is a character well known to award winning writer James Burke

[lacarpool · 7/10 · 25 July 2007]

while this movie does not really capture the flavor of Burkes "prose" it's nice to see recognition of one of fictions better characters. Noticeably missing is the character "Clete Purcell" who was Dave R's former NOPD homicide partner. I see that Tommy Lee Jones will tackle A TV version of another Robicheaux mystery of which 16 Robicheaux novels have been written. Moe action by Baldwin and an interplay between he and the missing Clete Purcell might have brought this movie along further into another feature. New Orleans is always the great mixture of characters and places for mystery, murder and mayhem.

Alex Baldwin does a great job given some of the missing flavor of James Lee Burkes writing. Baldwin made a great looking "Shadow" as well with an unfortunate script.

Kind of complicated, atmospheric crime thriller.

[rmax304823 · 5/10 · 19 September 2005]

Nice shots of the bayou under the opening credits. Unspoiled rivers, pristine swamps, oaks draped with Spanish moss. It all looks rather promising. I guess you can still find such subtle but majestic littorals, maybe along route 90 around Houma, but from most highways in southern Louisiana all you see is oily swamp water with derricks planted in it. Beer cans and garbage and, quien sabe?, corpses floating in the murk.

The movie's kind of like that too. The location shooting is just fine. Everyone sweats up a storm in the heat and humidity and it's no wonder that they head for the gin rickeys with all that ice. New Orleans is exposed in all its funkiness. The French Quarter is more or less avoided, but we get to see the lesser neighborhoods, now drowned and empty of human life in the wake of Katrina.

There are the shotgun houses of the poor, the stripper bars playing bluesy music. The streetcars travel not through the Garden District but through ordinary residential streets. Beautiful in its own rotting way, almost phosphorescent with corruption. Outside the city there are bait shops that rent boats and sell tackle. One of these is run by Alec Baldwin, ex cop, recovering alcoholic.

The story isn't very much, when you come right down to it. Hard to follow at times, not really captivating but not absolutely mainstream generic either. Baldwin has a marvelously normal family, including a stolen adopted girl, but is accidentally involved in some shenanigans I couldn't quite follow, something about smuggling, which draws the attention of the mob. Baldwin doesn't seem to actually DO anything that threatens their presence but they surround his house one lightning-filled night and do his loving and courageous wife (Kelly Lynch). The rest of the plot is a revenge story, with Baldwin tracking down the killers one by one.

There are some good action scenes, a chase across the rooftops, a battle on a streetcar. All the action is done in slow motion so you get a chance to savor it -- the crashing crashing cars, the catapulting bodies, the muzzle flashes brilliantly lighting up the interiors of dark houses. PS: Mister Director, can we have a moratorium on slow-motion deaths? It's more than a cliché; it's positively decadent by now. Let's get together and blame Sam Pekinpah, okay?

I thought the conclusion was pretty well done. After his wife is blasted to shreds by shotguns, an attractive young blond -- and old friend -- moves into his house in the woods and provides him with some emotional comfort. They once were quite close.

Now -- see -- Baldwin's wife is gone, and he's got this little Latina girl that he's adopted, but there's a big hole in the nuclear family. (In other words, the guy needs a wife.) A conventional script calls for him to overcome his grief and fall in love with the reassuring and loving blond babe. But no. When he makes clear that he holds his wife's memory sacred, the blond leaves him a note and takes off, realizing he's not ready to get on with his life, as they say. The last scene has Baldwin in his house, gazing affectionately at his sleeping little girl, then falling on his back beside her. Sensing his presence she twists over and puts her arm around his chest, and he places his hand over hers and stares at the ceiling. It is not a cheap shot. It's a brief but genuinely tender scene, encompassing both love and the loss of it.

So, right about now I'm thinking' your head would make a real nice toilet brush.

[lastliberal · 6/10 · 8 January 2009]

I love reading James Lee Burke's novels about Dave Robicheaux. I also love movies set in New Orleans or anywhere in Louisiana. They always have good music and interesting characters. This film is no exception.

Now, I will not compare the movie to the book. Each has to stand on it's own as an art form. I just like seeing some favorite characters brought to life on screen.

Don Stark (Bob from "That '70s Show"), Hawthorne James (Se7en, Amistad), and Oscar nominee Eric Roberts (Runaway Train, The Dark Knight, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints) played bad guys and they had a New Orleans flavor about them. Oscar-nominee Alec Baldwin (The Cooler) seemed a little forced in his attempt to be Cajun.

Teri Hatcher ("Desperate Housewives") was hot as usual, especially when she was standing starkers on the balcony.

Joe Viterelli (Analyze This, Analyze That) was perfect as a mob boss.

Kelly Lynch, Vondie Curtis-Hall ("Chicago Hope") and Mary Stuart Masterson (Benny & Joon) rounded out a great cast in a good movie.

Great work by the cast..

[Hollywood-3 · 28 May 2000]

Great work by the cast - not so great when it comes to the writing. Heaven's Prisoners lacked a couple of key elements in writing and the film suffered as a result. Once again Kelly Lynch did a fantastic job and made tremendous use of limited screen time. Baldwin wasn't too bad either. This probably ranks as one of his best performances along with The Hunt for Red October. Teri Hatcher was HOT. Overall - Heaven's Prisoners is worth renting - if only to check out the great work by a talented, if not successful, cast.

Prisoners of Confusion

[sol1218 · 6/10 · 4 July 2004]

****SPOILERS**** Highly overdone thriller that could have cut about a half hour and have three or four sub-plots taken out of it to make it really interesting and effective instead of putting you to sleep and leaving you numb by the time that it ended.

It's complicated Film-Noir plot has a recovering former alcoholic New Orleans policeman Dave Rebocheaux, Alec Baldwin, and his wife Annie, Kelly Lynch, adopting a little girl Alafair, Samantha Laqpacan. Alafair survived a plane crash that was the result of a bomb hidden on it by the Bubba Rocque, Eric Roberts, mob who got wind that a DEA informant was on the plane smuggling illegal aliens into the US.

The ex-cop Dave gets involved with the Bubba Rocque mobs operations as well as with Bubba's hot and sexy wife Claudette, Teri Hatcher, even though Dave had no reason to since he was no longer in the New Orleans Police department. By him foolishly doing that Dave put his wife adopted daughter and himself in a whole lot of danger which in the end cost his wife's, Annie's, life. It also turns out that both Dave & Bubba are good friends going back to when they were both in high school.

Dave to leave his quiet and peaceful little business selling fish-bait in the Southern Louisiana Bayou country for the pressures and dangers of the big city wasn't that bright of an idea in the first place. The pressures of the city can easily drive him to drink which Dave has done his best to avoid.

The local mob tries to knock off Dave but ends up killing his wife, Annie, which makes Dave even madder and more determined to get revenge. Dave tracks down and kills two of his wife's killers Toot & Romero, Carl A. McGee & Milligan Hawthorne. The third killer is found electrocuted in his bathtub when someone from the Rocque mob, I guess, threw in a turned on radio to keep him from talking.

Dave and the audience finds out in the end of the movie who's really behind, together with the Mafia, all this carnage. The ending leaves you cold and jaded because the movie was so long and confusing with so many blind alleys that you just lost interest in it by the time the big surprise was thrown on you. In fact the movie reviled the culprit long before it ended making the whole ending anticlimactic.

Alec Baldwin as Dave Rebocheaux does his best to put some believability in his role as well as in the movie but he falls flat on his face since he had no reason at all to be so involved in what was happening on the screen. Dave was no longer a part of the police department and it was theirs and the DEA's job to solve the crimes in the film not his.

Dave's actions put people that he loved and were close to him in jeopardy for no reason at all. The movie "Heavens Prisoners" would have been more effective if it stuck to one story like keeping the Mafia and Rocque mob from getting their hands on little Alafair who was the only survivor of the plane crash. Alafair may have known something about who was behind blasting the plane out of the sky as well as it smuggling drugs and illegal aliens into the US. That danger would have Dave and Annie protecting her and keeping the gangsters from killing or kidnapping her to keep her quite. Instead the film went off in some half dozen different directions and by doing that getting everybody in the audience lost following it.

The one good thing that Alec Baldwin did in the film besides taking care of the bad guys and doing, or having done, in the person who was responsible for all the chaos, including his wife's brutal murder, was that he did his best not to take a drink in the movie; even though there were one or two exceptions.

Baldwin Could've Been Hard-Boiled But Ends Up Soggy

[dtb · 6/10 · 11 July 2005]

I remember going to great lengths to fit a matinée showing of HEAVEN'S PRISONERS into a busy Saturday afternoon during its 1996 theatrical release. Considering the source material and the talent behind and in front of the camera, our little filmgoing party of detective-film fans and Alec Baldwin groupies (a.k.a. my mom, my stepfather, and me) found this contemporary film noir to be a big disappointment. Baldwin, who also served as co-producer, brought James Lee Burke's New Orleans ex-cop/recovering alcoholic hero Dave Robichoux from the printed page to the big screen. While Baldwin and the rest of the cast did well in fleshing out Burke's characters and have some tangy tough-guy/gal dialogue, they're hampered by two things: 1.) The film's slo-o-o-ow pacing. Maybe the Louisiana heat got to everyone, not just Baldwin. Of all the actors, Long Island native Baldwin sweats the most, so much that it began to remind me of the sweating-bullets gags with Albert Brooks in BROADCAST NEWS and Robert Hays in AIRPLANE! 2.) A plot that, as rendered in the film (whether it's the fault of the screenwriter or the editor, I can't be sure), never quite follows through on any of its elements. It's too bad, because these elements could've made for an exciting movie: drug dealing, illegal alien smuggling, rival crime bosses (one is played colorfully by Eric Roberts before he became a parody of himself, essentially playing a Southern-fried version of his character from director Phil Joanou's 1992 thriller FINAL ANALYSIS), an adorable little Salvadoran orphan girl (named "Alafair" by the Robichouxs, after Dave's mom. Late in my pregnancy at the time, I liked the name Alafair so much, I nearly changed my mind about naming my then-unborn daughter Siobhan!), and a bevy of beautiful, beguiling women, including earth mother Kelly Lynch, vampy Teri Hatcher in a full-frontal nude scene that was much ballyhooed at the time, and Mary Stuart Masterson, looking like a young Jessica Lange in what was then a change-of-pace role for her: a troubled stripper who loves Robichoux. Despite the sexy promises in the movie's ads, none of the ladies share anything with Baldwin but dialogue and some kisses and/or embraces. Maybe the climate was already so hot, the filmmakers didn't want to add any further steaminess for fear of poor Baldwin collapsing from heat prostration! As my mom put it at the time: "I thought the height of my day would be seeing sexy, dashing Alec Baldwin, but he came up sweaty, rumpled, tired, depressed, and moving as if he was in slow motion. If he'd made love as many times as he got beaten up, it would've been the sexiest picture of '96!" To be fair, there *are* a number of strong characterization and action scenes, but there's just too darn much talky, molasses-paced lag time between them -- and yet, oddly, some of the scenes end abruptly just as they're about to become intriguing! Perhaps Joanou, Baldwin & Co. could've dredged a tighter, more involving thriller out of this if they'd whittled the 140-minute running time down to 105 minutes or so. As HEAVEN'S PRISONERS is now...well, read James Lee Burke's books instead.

Goes nowhere, and takes FOREVER to get there!

[bheyer · 3/10 · 29 December 2004]

This movie goes absolutely NOWHERE, and it takes its sweet time getting there. All of the characters talk like they just left a Humphrey Bogart/Dashiell Hammett/Raymond Chandler film noir picture from the '40's, only highlighted with Cajun accents, instead. Lotsa' veiled threats; I mean EVERY cliché in the book, and then some. Star, Alec Baldwin, is horribly miscast, and runs the acting gamut from "A" to "B." Dennis Quaid, who starred in the earlier, and FAR superior, "The Big Easy," would've made a much better choice for leading man. Alas, we're STUCK with one of the acting-challenged Baldwin Brothers. Poor us! Some of the other posters on this thread made mention of "bloopers." Well, I didn't see them, woe is me. If I had known about them, earlier, I'm sure they would've provided me with some impetus to stay with this "yawner" without dozing-off, from time-to-time. As it is, if you miss Teri Hatcher's ("Desperate Housewives") EXQUISITE nude scene near the beginning of the film, you really have nothing to stick around for. If I had a choice to make, either watch THIS movie, OR the aforementioned "The Big Easy," I'd go with the latter film, EVERY day of the week, and TWICE on Sunday! Again, to be seen ONLY for Teri Hatcher's full-frontal (the collar matches the cuff!) nude scene.

Disappointingly routine.

[gridoon · 7/10 · 25 January 2004]

Despite its New Orleans flavor, an honest performance by Alec Baldwin and nice turns by Eric Roberts and Teri Hatcher (whose role as a seductive femme fatale fits her like a glove; she should try it more often), this morose action/crime flick is generic and unremarkable. If you run across this movie at the video store, don't be fooled by the "name" cast and pass it up. Highlight: the chase scene midway through. (**)

Not good at all

[man-with-many-doubts · 4/10 · 19 April 2005]

The characters are not believable. The story itself is not good enough in my opinion. There is no tension in the story to speak of. The direction is unimaginative. There is stuff in this movie that is totally irrelevant to the plot. I guess all of it was introduced in the name of character development. I would have preferred if some 30 irrelevant minutes were cut out. Acting is ordinary if not terrible. Baldwin is OK but the rest of the cast is very hard to watch. All in all a waste of time. The one, perhaps the only redeeming feature, is the location at which this film was shot. It is gorgeous. I think I'm being generous in giving it a 4 out of 10.

We may not know what makes a movie good . It does help however, to see movies like these once in a while, so at least we'll know what makes it bad :)(It helps to be sure of something).

The butterfly

[jotix100 · 6/10 · 21 December 2004]

Having missed the opening credits, I had no idea this film was based on a James Lee Burke book. As it enfolded, I remembered the book and stayed with it, just to refresh my mind. Director Phil Joanou could have used some trimming, as this is a film that desperately needed it.

James Lee Burke's books center around former New Orleans cop, Dave Robicheaux, here played by Alec Baldwin. The movie goes all over the place with plots and sub-plots and it gets a bit tedious.

The best performances, in my humble opinion were Teri Hatcher's as Claudette, a girl who doesn't mind baring it all, and Mary Stuart Masterson, who plays Robin, the "exotic" dancer from the Quarter with a heart of gold.

The story is set in the bayous of Louisianna. We watch as our hero Alec Baldwin practically dehydrates in front of our eyes due to the high humidity in some scenes and immediately look as cool as a cucumber wearing the same shirt that has dried automatically.

The action is all right, but everything is predictable. Watch it on a cold winter night so you can get into a sweating mood.

Is This A Drinks Commercial ?

[Theo Robertson · 4/10 · 26 April 2005]

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

Another Pretty Solid Modern 'Noir'

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 29 March 2006]

I guess you could call this a "neo-noir," which is a modern-day film noir. It has that atmosphere, especially in New Orleans which seems to always been pictured on the seamy side in films. After the devastation that took place there last year, perhaps filmmakers will kinder to the city in future movies.

Anyway, a seedy New Orleans, some good blues music and five varied-and-all interesting lead characters make this a very watchable movie. Alec Baldwin, Kelly Lynch, Teri Hatcher, Mary Stuart Masterston and Eric Roberts all contribute with good performances All but Roberts are the "good guys" in this one.

The movie keeps your attention and has you involved for most of the two hours. The action is well-dispersed. My only complaint is a small one: Baldwin with the southern accent doesn't sound natural. Otherwise, a good modern-day crime story.

A Very Good Thriller Down on the Bayou

[Ed-Shullivan · 7/10 · 20 November 2013]

Dave Robicheaux (played by Alec Baldwin) is an ex cop who decides after one too many shootings on the force to open up a fishing tackle and bait shop on the Bayou with his wife Annie, played by Kelly Lynch. While they are out on their boat they witness a single engine plane spiralling down from the sky barely missing their boat before it crashes in to the water. Robicheaux dives in to the water down to the planes cockpit where he sees a small child trying to survive in an air pocket amongst a few dead people. With his air supply quickly diminishing in his scuba gear he rescues the child from a near death experience and with his wife Annie in agreement they agree to raise the young girl as their own even though she does not speak a word of English.

A Detective Minos Dautrieve, played by Vondie Curtis-Hall drops by the bait shop inquiring in to how many passengers Robicheaux witnessed on the sunken plane when it initially submerged in the water and he tells Robicheaux to forget about the big guy with the whale tattoo who floated to the waters surface. This gets Robichaux's curiosity up and he starts making inquiries that a few local criminals want him to stop inquiring about. One of these criminals is a guy named Bubba Rocque played very well by Eric Roberts who answers to some bosses higher up the criminal food chain. Bubba's wife Claudette, played by Teri Hatcher is a bit of a tramp who likes to sip cocktails most of the day and chase men.

Eventually threats don't stop Robicheaux's inquiries and since he won't let up with his investigation, the mobsters decide to lay a beating on him to firmly tell him to stop his inquiries. Further threats are made and fulfilled as Robicheaux continues with his investigation with the quasi assistance of mobster Bubba's wife.

The movie does run a bit long at around 132 minutes but I did not find the movies length composed with any filler time. There were twists and turns throughout, the bayou scenes were quite expansive and the acting was above par. Mary Stuart Masterson plays a stripper named Robin Gaddis who has a unique relationship with Alec Baldwin's character Dave Robicheaux which strengthens throughout the film. This is a good film for couples to watch together as it contains romance, heroism, action and suspense. Well worth the watch, and 132 minutes well spent!

Famous bomb fails to entertain on pretty much any level.

[dave13-1 · 4/10 · 24 April 2012]

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.

Fantastic stuff!

[Corno-2 · 6 April 2000]

Not exactly faithful to the book but the film certainly delivers as an enjoyable thriller.

Alec Baldwin is superb as Robicheaux, Lynch, Masterson and Hatcher are rather pretty and give the film what is needs but are mainly forgotten about as the film progresses. Roberts shows that he does have a great deal of talent to offer when it comes to a juicy part like this.

The film isn't brimming with action thankfully but it has a number of lengthy and exciting action sequences.

It seems to me that Baldwin is becoming something of the thinking mans action hero. Whilst Willis is off doing the brainless actioners Baldwin manages to get the intelligent movie. This is a fine example as is The Edge.

Baldwin makes this movie stunningly enjoyable and the supporting actors help a little but Baldwin manages to carry the whole thing single handedly.

A colorful crime thriller with suspense , noisy action , gorgeous outdoors and plot twists

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 22 November 2022]

Dave (Alec Baldwin) is an ex-New Orleans homicide detective and recovering alcoholic , living a quiet life on a bayou with patient wife (Kelly Lynch) . They witness a plane crash and Dave rescues the only survivor , a young Savadoran girl , whom they adopt . But the crash was not an accident and Dave's snooping around involves him with drug runners and local crime bosses including old high school buddy , Bubba (Eric Roberts) and his sirenish wife Claudette (Teri Hatcher) . For an ex-cop obsessed with an unsolved murder, trusting the wrong woman could be a deadly choice !

A crime thriller with action-packed , intrigue , fights , shootouts , chases and beautiful exteriors . Based on the mystery series by James Lee Burke ; in fact , Alec Baldwin was hoping to go back the Dave Robicheaux character written by Burke in a sequel to be called "Dixie City Jam", then New Line Cinema released the film at the start of the US summer season, hoping it would be a good counter-programmer to other blockbusters, resulting in a flop at the box office , due to failed ¨Heaven's prisoners¨ led to the follow-up being scrapped . Convoluted plot with some moody touches but Alec Baldwin scores as the flawed , out-of-luck ex-homicide detective . As Alec Baldwin is nice as hardened New Orleans cop, who finally tosses in the badge and settles into life on the bayou with his wife finely played by Kelly Lynch . While the attractive Mary Stuat Masterson is his old flame, a blond stripper who still has feelings for Dave. Furthermore , fine acting from Eric Robert as as drug lord Bubba Rocque, Dave's childhood friend and his sex-hungry, explosive wife nicely played by Teri Hatcher . Along with a long plethora of secondaries , such as : Vondie Curtis Hall , Badja Djola , Joe Viterelli in his usual role as mobster and special apperaence of Paul Guifoyle of CSI as a police inspector .

Probably one of the best parts of the film results to be the New Orleans locations , including White Castle, Louisiana, (Nottoway Plantation) well photographed by cameraman Harris Savides . As well as an evocative and sensitive musical score by great composer George Fenton. The motion picture was professionally directed by Phil Joanou , but it quickly faded from screens after being steamrolled by other big releases. The film was then slated for a 1995 release by the studio, but was finally shelved again because Savoy Pictures had folded in bankruptcy , then Savoy were picked up by other studios, in fact ¨Heaven's prisoners¨ was completed and produced two years before its actual release and New Line Cinema eventually released the film in the spring of 1996 . Phil Joanou was hired by Alec Baldwin, in his role as executive producer who approached Phil Joanou to direct the film based on the suggestion of his then-wife, Kim Basinger, who'd had a good time working with Joanou on Final Analysis (1992) . Phil Joanou is an uneven director (Gridiron gang, Heaven's prisoners , Final analysis) with hits and flops and filmmaker of video-clips and films for U2 (Rattle and hum). As "Final Analysis" and "Heaven's Prisoners" proved to be critical and financial disappointments , Spielberg and Bono of U2 (separately) encouraged Joanou to "write something personal" and "from the heart", resulting in the extensively autobiographical "Entropy". In addition , Spielberg gave Joanou the screenplay for Three O'Clock High (1987), then known as "After School" and subsequently directing the notable ¨State of Grace¨with a great cast as Sean Penn , Ed Harris , Gary Oldman , among others . Rating : 6/10. Acceptable and passable. The flick will appeal to alec Baldwin fans.

Choppy but still above average .................

[merklekranz · 6/10 · 3 March 2012]

Fans of Alec Baldwin and Eric Roberts would most likely get the most enjoyment out of this long and uneven film. There are problems for sure. One certainly would be the little girl who is saved from the crashed plane, appears to have zero bearing on the outcome, yet lots of time is devoted to scenes involving her. Second, the Southern accents seem to come and go, and are nothing but an annoyance. Characters appear and disappear sort of at random, and several are never really developed. This is not a bad film, just not a very well executed one. It is overlong, and lacks enough momentum to sustain interest for over two hours. - MERK

Too unrealistic to be enjoyable

[ECETeacher · 3/10 · 22 December 2006]

I found this movie so full of holes I am actually motivated to come and write a review. In the very first scene, Dave and his wife witness the plane crash and call it in, rescue a girl and take her home to raise as their own. 1. Why would you leave the scene when you have clearly stated your boats name and location and are a known witness to the accident. 2. Even if the girls mother has clearly died in the accident, do you not think she may have relatives, maybe even in your area? How dare this couple think she will be theirs? 3. They name her after Dave's mother. The girl is about 7 years old and clearly speaks Spanish in the hospital. A verbal girl should be called by her given name, not some name that I don't even recognize in English! This was in the first 10 minutes of the movie, but for me, the movie continued with as many loopholes that just made this painful to watch. I can't comment on the ending because I didn't stick with it.

good performances in this neo-noir

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 14 September 2014]

Heaven's Prisoners is a modern noir from 1996 starring Alec Baldwin, Mary Stuart Masterson, Eric Roberts, Teri Hatcher, and Vondie Curtis-Hall. Set in New Orleans, it's the story of an ex-cop, Dave Robicheaux, who is now out of the force and runs a bait shop just outside the city.

One day, while on a boat, they see a plane fall from the sky. Dave is able to save a child who was on board. They take her home with them, but when a DEA agent, Dautrieve, shows up, Dave becomes suspicious about who else was on the plane. He starts to investigate, which leads to trouble. He asks for help from a boyhood friend turned drug lord, Bubba Rocque (Roberts). Unfortunately, Dave doesn't foresee the hell that's coming.

Alec Baldwin, young and handsome, does a terrific job as Dave; in his day, he was a fine leading man. Though he's now proved that he's adept at comedy, his dramatic work is excellent as well, as seen here. He portrays an angry, shattered alcoholic.

The beginning of the film is especially good, showing the quiet beauty of Louisiana and showing Dave in profile at an AA meeting talking about being sober for three years and still wanting a drink. Mary Stuart Masterson is a wonderful actress; here, she's a blond stripper and creates a complete character.

Someone on this board asked why she would take a nothing part. I suppose for her it was an opportunity to play something a little different (at least from what I've seen her do). During Lois & Clark, Teri Hatcher was given good parts in several films, but never developed a big film career. She's good here, though we really don't learn a lot about her character.

Heaven's Prisoners is derivative and on the slow side, but it's atmospheric with good acting. At times, the plot is a little hard to follow; I also had a hard time understanding why Dave didn't take the danger seriously enough to either send his family away or keep a closer watch on his home.

Good cast, nice production values.

Not Heaven sent

[hall895 · 2/10 · 13 January 2006]

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.

Boo-boo Bayou

[erniemunger · 3/10 · 3 December 2005]

Stereotypical man-with-a-vengeance story set in the Mississippi delta. Ex-cop and ex-alcoholic Dave Robicheaux is witness to a plane crash, saves a kid from drowning and before he can say "Gin Ricky", gets involved in a largely obscure drug ring scheme. Heaven's Prisoners is a priceless example of pretty much everything that's annoying you (well, at least me) in mainstream US cinema. Like so many Hollywood action films, it celebrates core American values; that is, family values, abstinence, and doing yourself justice by shooting other people's encephalon out. It is clearly one of those intrinsically fraudulous stories where the whole plot is geared towards a vengeful killing spree, with the inciting incident being the murder, for no apparent reason, of the man's wife somewhere in mid-film (snore). The rest is accordingly shallow. Bubba Rocque, the film's bad boy character, is a pedantic and faggy Latino type straight from the gym. This ridiculous characterisation is only worsened by the fact that Eric Roberts's antics are at best a subliminal impersonation of Karl Lagerfeld gone gumbo. And the big boss man Didi Giancano is, how else could it be, a fat Italian mafioso who speaka no nonsense. The dialogues are as predictable as this year's flood, the pace lamer than a saltwater croc, and the intrigue just muddy waters. Fitting in with that picture, Heaven's Prisoners has inconsistencies and continuity goofs galore. A plane with drug smugglers goes down yet no-one, least something called "the police", seems to care except a (soloist and big-mouthed) FBI agent. After his wife gets murdered, Robicheaux drowns his sorrow in the bar owned by one of the killers (who, as we find out, were actually after him). Protagonists walk into other people's homes as if they were theirs, guys pull their guns in bars without so much as a glimpse by the patrons, men sweat their pants wet but the ladies are invariably spotless, all the joints in the area (a grand total of 2) run the same blues record etc etc. New Orleans could have made for a great atmospheric flick (as, for instance, Parker's depiction of Louisiana in Angel Heart) but it all remains sketchy here. Like the title, come to think of it. Bye-bye, blue Bayou.

I beg to differ

[bob_bear · 8/10 · 29 April 2005]

I thought the opening scene was one of the best movie openings I've ever watched - beautifully written and sensitively played.

Drawn in from the outset, I was happy to watch the plot unfold. Yes, it could be argued that the main protagonist brings his troubles upon himself but that is hardly a plot fault - some people do.

Problems with the film? I don't know why an actress of Mary Stuart Masterson's caliber should take on such a nothing role. And the plane crash looked cheap and unconvincing. Otherwise, I have no complaints. I love the books and I thoroughly enjoyed the film.

I have read the previous reviews which seem to be critical for the most part and I am left wondering why they are so. I've watched a lot of rotten films and this certainly isn't one of them. I give it an eight out of ten. I enjoyed it.

Awful, awful, awful

[leafboy-2 · 1/10 · 12 July 1999]

Not only is the plotline hackneyed; Alec Baldwin gives one of the most concrete acting performances ever seen. His "I'm an alcoholic" confessional that begins the movie is so bad, it's funny.

Good Movie; entertaining

[joey-90 · 9 November 1999]

Excellent flick. Caught me by surprise on TV, never heard of it. Very well done; all actors superb. Violent and good action yet slow enough to go deep. Interesting story and atmosphere down in Louisiana. Knowing that Alec Baldwin is from Long Island I thought the accent was done well enough to be convincing. I agree on someone's comment on the DEA agent/ friend. His character could have been more established but no real harm done. I really got into this movie.

Wasted effort

[voicemanb · 3/10 · 17 June 2020]

Dave Robicheaux lived through the hell of Vietnam, alcoholism and encounters with numerous lowlifes. Alec Baldwin looks like he just woke from a nap following a day on Wall St and about to get ready for a night of dancing in SoHo. James Lee Burke's stories deserve better.