It’s disappointing that this film suffers from being overly complicated right from the beginning. Tommy Lee Jones delivers a strong performance as "Lt. Robicheaux," which is one of the few positives. The movie would have benefited from a bolder approach to translating James Lee Burke's novel into a visual story, something that could have maintained a sense of urgency. The plot involves an investigation into the killing of a local prostitute, and it connects her to "Baby Feet Balboni" (John Goodman), a mobster who is also financing a film about the American Civil War. At the same time, the movie’s leading actor, "Elrod Sykes" (Peter Sarsgaard), gets stopped for drunk driving and discloses that he discovered a body in a swamp—a body the detective suspects might be someone he witnessed being murdered three decades earlier. There are numerous investigations happening concurrently. While it's presented as a crime drama centered on character development with minimal outside elements, and features a commendable performance and an essentially good story, the direction is solid when the narrative stays on track, but it frequently loses focus and feels overcrowded.

Source on TMDB