The businessman thinks Joyce is a bad influence on his son since they plan on marrying--she's not marriage material and perhaps she is a golddigger too. Ford, looked on by the town as a sympathetic lawman who takes the time to help them, initially approaches her with that in mind. But as in film noir stories, lawmen are pretty hard and unsympathetic with used women. Joyce refuses his "help" and a physical altercation between them turns into a sexual encounter. This incident brings out Ford's latent and long-standing sadism.
Another thorn in Ford's side is his girlfriend Amy (Kate Hudson) who is a little shrewish and possessive. When she accuses him of running around with Joyce, it forces his hand and he blurts out it is she, Amy, he wants to marry instead, something we know he really doesn't want. Other events, some of Ford's making, combine to force his hand yet again as one murder turns into two, two into another. Slowly the town gets an inkling that the mild-mannered and helpful deputy is not as he seems. Co-stars include Elias Koteas as a labor unionizer (he gets the most acting to do among the supporting cast, outside of Alba and Hudson), Bill Pullman as a loud lawyer, Simon Baker as the local lawyer.
The film shows that Ford's dark side were formed from several incidents in his childhood: the relationship with his father and adopted brother; the beginnings of his sexual awakening; a vile crime that was committed. He compartmentalizes the various sides of his persona and can glide from depravity to helpfulness without any mixing, even up until the last scene.
I recently read the book and couldn't help but compare the film to it, and the book is better. Most of Ford's inner monologue was missing from the film, and what there was didn't show us enough of Lou Ford's dark side, as the film monologue was mostly expository. In the book Lou often talks in his mind about the prostitute, his girlfriend, and others, as well as expanding on his own actions, and you can see more what a contempt he has for them and what his actions are going to be. The book also shows how he acknowledges his problem and is always trying to tamp down his dark personality, showing to us that he acknowledges and accepts there is something wrong with him. In the film, I don't get a feeling of this acknowledgement by the character, as he has compartmentalized that too.
The inner monologue also served to show the relationships and connections between the supporting characters, which contributes to the decisions that Ford makes about who needs to be killed or what they may or may not know. Since that part of the monologue was largely missing, the main supporting characters in the film just seem like stereotyped roles; they have less importance and character. Ned Beatty's businessman comes off as a side character instead of someone who has his hands in many pies and a key figure in forcing Ford to pick and choose what he ends up doing, and Bill Pullman's outrageous character particularly felt out of place as his presence was not explained properly (although I've seen him in odd or darker roles before, I don't think he was the right actor for this part this time).
Casey Affleck also didn't do enough to show the inner darkness either. His dialogue was pretty much word for word from the book but felt lacking. Perhaps if he held a look a beat longer or did something more with his face, it might have helped. The character comes close many times to being found out but I didn't see much tension or anxiety with Affleck's performance, mostly just the detachment that Ford has. Most of the aptness of choosing him for this role I think is his boyish looks.
Some of the music was inappropriate in my opinion. Perhaps it was meant to be a contrast or wry juxtaposition on what was going on in Ford's head, but felt like so much jaunty period country music to me. Since music is not an element in the book the filmmakers could have used anything; it should have a film noir or menacing feel but the music doesn't tread enough toward that. Most jarringly, in a scene where Ford chases someone he is trying to frame for murder, the music feels like Keystone Kops accompaniment.
The mood was not as dark as I believed it would be or expected/wanted. Yes, there is a vicious beating scene (and other beating scenes), but curiously the cutting/editing of this scene almost seems to shy away from showing the moment where Lou's hand is making physical contact with his victim, like the film didn't want to commit to showing that. Perhaps the filmmakers were forced to limit what they could show to keep this an R rating rather than the dreaded NC-17. This scene would have benefitted from a two-shot of the event instead of going back between the faces of Ford and Joyce. Jessica Alba's face after that scene looked obviously like she had prosthetics and makeup put on it (swollen eye) and although she was participatory in the earlier sadism, she didn't lift a single finger or say a word against Ford in this scene. Ford's sadistic sexual side was tamely portrayed too. He just seems kinky and not deadly, during sex.
Although the film and dialogue pretty much followed the book word for word, it felt more contrived and plotty rather than a look at Ford's psyche, again I attribute that to the missing inner dialogue. It did expand/fill in scenes showing the formation of Ford's childhood, as well as expanded the last scene of the book. The book alluded to these events but did not explain them fully for my understanding.
Overall the film is faithful in action to the book, but feels like it advances a lot faster than it should. I think the film needed to take time to build up Ford's character and the mood instead of showing us this, this, and this right away. It doesn't properly capture the real essence of the book.
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