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A Major Disappointment

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Overall, I thought this movie showed an interesting perspective. I think there was too much sympathy given to the criminals, however. My main reason for giving this 5 stars is because it was only dedicated to two of the victims when in fact there were three. Please, someone tell me - is there a reason for this???

This film lacks even the Herzogian touches that a flawed film like Cave Of Forgotten Dreams retains, if even poorly. On a side note, a quick Googling of the case shows that many of the claims made by people in the film- apart and aside from the two killers, is simply not true. Now, this may be Herzogian, if he actually knew the truths and allowed lies to be filmed, but, given the tenor of the film, and Herzog's anti-death penalty stance, it seems more likely to just be poor fact-checking.Herzog narrates the film, but the cinematography and music, by Peter Zeitlinger and Mark Degli Antoni, are not up to snuff. Again, very pedestrian, and one sense that Herzog almost feels as if he needs to get a film done, no matter what, including the quality. In the end, Perry fries, and Burkett survives, but the most important point comes from the daughter and sister of two of the victims, who describes the deep sense of peace and satisfaction she got from seeing the vile Perry bite the bullet, and her disappointment that Burkett and his then girlfriend (not seen in the film but at the scene of the crime) did not also get justice meted to them. It is to Herzog's credit as a man and an artist that he allows this sentiment to get out, despite his disagreement with it. Nonetheless, the whole film seems a pointless exercise, and Herzog accords it a similar energy.

I was very impressed with this movie and unlike some of the reviews here I don't think it was anti death penalty or necessarily for it. It's instead rather like a psychological dissection Burkett's father who talks lots and lots, and lots, about how various things impacted on him and sounds like a 5 year old, is pretty much presented as the idiot that he is.. the closest thing we get to a root cause for what happened, other than society itself Burkett's deluded girlfriend is also totally self absorbed. Tattoo on display, she finds the whole thing terribly romantic like a movie in which she has the starring role.. she has a friend named Kat, she went to Nebraska once, she saw a rainbow, and of course Burkett is totally innocent etc etc. Not once does she say anything regretful about the 3 people that were murdered. She also improvises a story about how she became pregnant with Burkett's baby after he went to prison via artificial insemination (she absolutely wasn't screwed by someone else). Herzog uses negative psychology to entice this delusional lie from this perfectly dotty person and it is quite interesting to see how the mind lies to itself on camera He does this elsewhere with Perry, leading him quite deliberately to visualize the fate that he is in complete denial about it, along with the denial of his crime, by talking about cold details like the pre execution medical.. that's when we finally see the fear on Perry's face for a moment before he withdraws back into his shell which I am sure he had on when he pulled the triggerThe person I felt most sorry for other than the family of the victims, was the state executioner who is haunted by the people he executed and no longer believes in the death penalty because of this trauma. Again Herzog makes him realize on camera that the nightmares he has are the result of him becoming finally grounded in the reality of the task he had performedThe biggest tragedy of capital punishment is that regular human beings need to be employed in the disposal of others, ideally it would be automated and the likes of Perry would be thrown into a vacuum. Unfortunately someone has to press the buttonI am sure that people who are anti death penalty will find just as much to draw on in support of their views which is why I loved this documentary so much Highly recommended

Michael Perry was a sociopath. He never took responsibility for the murders,never showed remorse and he got exactly what he deserved. He took three innocent lives because he wanted a car (I guess working for it didn't cross his mind). The bottom line of the story is: Two white trash losers from Texas make the choice to steal two cars from a family, who's son was an acquaintance of theirs. The victims where upper middle class, normal law abiding citizens. Perry and his sidekick methodically and brutally murdered a mother, her son and the son's best friend. They stole the victims cars and went to some redneck bar and gave the other white trash losers joy rides. These two give stupid a new meaning, within a week they are both caught, jailed, tried and convicted. Perry received the death penalty and for 10 years lived off the taxpayers of Texas until finally he was put to death in 2001. His family did not even have the balls to appear in the film or offer any kind of public apology to the family of the victims. The film is well done, the filmmaker is anti-death penalty and the film is slanted in that direction, however I do believe the facts were presented in an unbiased way and the viewer can make up their own minds on whether justice was done. In my opinion both men should have received the death penalty and both should be six feet under. I give the film a 7 knocking off for its slanted view on the subject.