Death in Texas

Death in Texas is that rare find of a film that intertwines gritty action with a well scripted drama that is both entertaining and thought provoking. The script and directing managed to attract a full roster of established actors whose skilled are well intact and then support them with up and coming talent like Cher (Cheryl) Cosenza as "Jennifer." "Jennifer's" role as muse and catalyst is integral to driving the story forward and Cheryl plays the tricky part on point. "Jennifer's" real life daughter even makes a cameo and fittingly steals the scene from a thieving lead character. It's fun at the end to scour the credits for all the familiar faces while pondering the themes of the film...

If there is a theme to "Death in Texas," it has to do with the all-pervasive existence of evil in the world. From start to finish, there is a pattern of violence that was also mitigated by the milk of human kindness. Billy Walker spent seven years in prison for manslaughter when he murdered a man with his own hands. He was doing so to protect his mother, Grace, who was being assaulted by a man in a diner. Now, Billy is released from prison and seeks redemption in the form of saving his mother once again, as she is suffering from liver failure. Billy steals money from a member of a drug cartel, hoping to purchase a liver for his mother on the black market. Billy's crime spree occupies most of the action of the film. The most intriguing character in the film was Grace Walker, who always seems to attract the wrong kind of men. But while lying in the hospital, she meets the kind male nurse, John Schofield, and the two characters instantly bond. But Mr. Schofield turns out to be the father of the man that Billy Walker murdered. The film was overly unpleasant with so much violence. There could have been another way to develop the parable of the son's sacrifice of his liver for his mother. The best scene in the film was the monologue of John Walker to Billy, in which he confesses that he was not a genuine father to his son, but a monster. The two characters were joined in that moment in an act of mercy for the figure they both felt was the light of their lives: Amazing Grace.