“Midnight in the Switchgrass” is a frustrating experience because there are times when this abduction thriller feels like it’s heading towards something really good, then just veers off the path completely. It ends up landing square in the middle of mediocrity in the process.

The premise is interesting enough. We get Bruce Willis and Megan Fox as FBI agents trying to unravel a string of murders and missing persons cases in Pensacola, Florida. Emile Hirsch plays a state lawman, who’s own trend of cases crosses over as the group tries to find the killer before he can strike again.

While Fox and Willis will get people into the theater, they might not be happy to learn this is primarily a Hirsch vehicle. That’s not all bad. He does fine here and there are some moments in the final act of the movie that really does get the audience interested enough to care.

Perhaps the problem is that director, Randall Emmett tries to inject a little too much “True Detective” into the film and gets a little carried away with the soundtrack, giving us some interludes we don’t really need. This isn’t a complete indictment, this is a unique looking film. But it also doesn’t help that Willis mails this performance in, and he’s featured a little too much in the marketing for the amount of screen time he has. That’s not cool.

But if you like Fox or Hirsch then check out Midnight in the Switchgrass. Everybody else might be better off waiting on this one.

Midnight in the Switchgrass

Grade: C-

Rated: R

Running Time: 1 hour 39 minutes