This movie is about a private investigator who has started his mission as usual by wandering the streets in Los Angeles in order to track down a woman (Crystal Red) from his past. This guy's life seems to be on a bad track as he finds himself embroiled in a flimsy scandal involving strip clubs and other dangerous paths.
Almost any scene with Hawkes is alive and satisfyingly showy. You feel his absence when he isn't there, though Joanna Cassidy, Crystal Reed and Robert Forster all have their moments.
A stylized blend of classic film noir and New Hollywood pulp, this remarkable debut feature may grate on mainstream viewers with its affected drama and offbeat pacing, but cinephiles will be charmed.
John Hawkes is immaculate as Sampson as Too Late effectively injects the viewer into a fictional reality that feels genuine and is the one place on earth where cigarette smoking sleuthing in a tattered Thunderbird is as cool as it gets.
The hyperverbal screenplay quickly grows tiresome, from the sub-"Pulp Fiction" prattle of two drug dealers (Dash Mihok and Rider Strong) to one act after another in which desperate women are preyed upon or saved by the men around them.
While it can be frustrating to see some filmmakers dash off copies of other movies, it's deeply enjoyable to find one who so appreciates his inspirations.
Dennis Hauck's noir drama Too Late works better as a stylistic exercise than as absorbing drama, though a soulful performance by John Hawkes carries it pretty far.