Robert Chipman
Welcome to this column dedicated to my appreciation of physical media supplements called Feature Presentations. The goal of this column is not to say whether a film is good or bad and worth picking up or not — I would like to highlight the discs that go the extra mile and provide film fans with enough tasty tidbits to satisfy even the hungriest of cinephiles. Today’s article will focus on Heaven’s Prisoners from the “After Dark: Neo-Noir Cinema Collection Three” collection via Imprint Films.
I never have or will claim to be an expert in reviewing the technical specs of a physical media release. There are plenty of knowledgeable people in this realm of commenting on the audio and video aspects of a disc with better setups than I’ll ever own. This column, Feature Presentations, is a way of highlighting the supplemental material within a given disc. With all that out of the way, let’s get to the good stuff and dive into my review of this Blu-ray release of Heaven’s Prisoners.
As a disclaimer of transparency for this episode of Feature Presentations, my review of Heaven’s Prisoners comes from a review copy that Imprint Films provided for review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Certain movies stick in your mind for one reason or another. They could have been the first film you saw with your significant other or a movie you briefly glimpsed as a kid. There is not always a rhyme or reason for this, but each person; for one reason or another, recalls specific motion pictures. For me, and God knows why, Heaven’s Prisoners is one such memory.
Maybe it was because I was a teenager when the flick hit theaters, or it struck my subconscious some way, but I remember a 30-second TV spot of Heaven’s Prisoners, complete with quick-cut action and the plane crash that kicks the move off. It didn’t move me one way or another, but that commercial lives rent-free in my cerebellum, probably until I’m pushing up daisies.
When the film hit theaters, the movie wasn’t something that piqued my interest. Yeah, it had a plane crash and some action, but it wasn’t anything I purposely set out to watch. Then, hearing that Imprint Films included Heaven’s Prisoners as part of their latest “After Dark” collection, I knew it was time to confront that memory that’s lodged deep inside my gray matter.
And now that it’s over? The biggest takeaway is that the 30-second television spot is, and will likely remain, the most memorable aspect of the film.
Alec Baldwin plays Dave Robicheaux, a former detective and recovering alcoholic from New Orleans who witnesses the aforementioned plane crash. Before she can drown, Robicheaux rescues a young girl and brings her home with him and his wife. Dave then has to navigate the seediest underbellies of NOLA, crossing paths with crime lords, double-crosses, and multiple attempts on his life seeking to uncover the mystery he has found himself in. In other words, it fits in nicely for a neo-noir box set.
Is the film good? Unfortunately, it is not. For reasons that will become a bit more clear in a minute, the movie is a hot and sweaty mess. Mistaking the New Orleans atmosphere for competent and concise plotting is the film’s major downfall. There are logic leaps and gaps a-plenty, and the film is as murky as the New Orleans swampland in detailing the messy script. The character of Dave Robicheaux has appeared in many crime novels by author James Lee Burke and made a second appearance via Tommy Lee Jones‘ take in 2009’s In the Electric Mist, showing that there’s potential. But Heaven’s Prisoners is not very good and killed off a would-be franchise before it began.
Where the feature film falters, the supplemental material holds some of the finest and most honest features I’ve seen in quite some time. The first is a newly recorded audio commentary with director Phil Joanou. To understand how frank this feature is, the director begins by stating that he’ll be discussing the worst experience of his career. Joanou then spends most of the runtime pulling back the curtain and painting a picture of a systemically troubled production. The director pulls no punches about the film’s production company, Savoy Pictures, including no time to fine-tune the script, relating how he was on the brink of being fired, rehired, sabotaged, then fired, brought back in, and everything in between. The discussion is not entirely negative, as he praises his cast and crew, many of whom experienced some, if not all of the issues, which the director experienced. Joanou doesn’t fire-bomb his career with the commentary; it’s more someone revisiting an unpleasant experience almost 30 years after the fact. I cannot recall the last time I’ve heard a commentary as honest as this; it’s an insightful and eye-opening look at how turbulent Hollywood productions can get.
The flip side to the commentary coin is “Hell’s Warden,” an interview with producer Andre Morgan. Whereas Joanou discussed the difficulties working with the producers, Savoy specifically, Morgan has a somewhat different look at the production. He discusses how the producers became rightsholders for the Dave Robicheaux novels before getting into Heaven’s Prisoners. Morgan talks about the shooting of the plane crash sequence, their choice of shooting in New Orleans between Memorial Day and Labor Day, and the temperament of those on set. “Hell’s Warden” perfectly compliments Joanou’s audio commentary as a yin to Joanou’s yang to help put the pieces of a massively messy puzzle into place.
Imprint Films also includes a host of archival interviews with actors Alec Baldwin, Kelly Lynch, Mary Stuart Masterson, Teri Hatcher, and Eric Roberts, along with director Phil Joanou. All of these are brief, and after hearing about the tumultuous production, it’s not surprising that all the comments are highly surface-level and do not offer much insight outside of how “great” the production was.
Two archival featurettes, one detailing behind-the-scenes filming and the other a promotional EPK piece, are included by Imprint Films. The behind-the-scenes featurette is somewhat fascinating as it showcases the cast and crew at work for the film’s opening plane crash sequence. Neither feature holds much weight, but welcome additions nonetheless.
The last feature is the film’s theatrical trailer.
And there you have it! Unfortunately, production difficulties appear to have sunk what could have been a promising neo-noir with Heaven’s Prisoners. Everything one could want for a thrilling and seedy detective story falls flat despite the abundance of talent in the production. Thankfully, Imprint Films did a terrific job by including an honest and candid commentary with the movie’s director to offset an almost as compelling interview with the producer. It’s unfortunate that production difficulties led to the mess that is Heaven’s Prisoners, but if you’re looking for a Hollywood warts-and-all set of features, this is a disc you need to check out!
