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 High
Crimes
Starring: Ashley Judd, Morgan Freeman, and Jim Caviezel
Directed by: Carl Franklin
Rated: PG-13
A suspenseful
conspiracy flick that makes your adrenaline pump from the very
first frame!
High
crimes and Mr. Meanies! Gosh, after a couple hours watching High
Crimes relentless entanglements you'll be scared that the military
can railroad anyone they chose and all these manly men in uniform
are just a helluva group of shady sons of bees!
Remember
A Few Good Men? High Crimes is based on the same
idea. A military court and that, wild, nearly unbelievable way
in which men in uniform can manipulate the proceeding. The they
make sure way "events" are directed in their favor without
all those pesky civilian rights the rest of us are granted. But
let me start at the beginning.
We
meet the Kubiks, Claire and Tom (Ashley Judd and Jim Caviezel)
as they are happily attempting to get pregnant and preparing for
the holidays. Love is all around…and so is the FBI!
Seems
the fed fellas believe Tom is not Tom at all but a man named Ron
Chapman. This Chapman, a Lieutenant in the covert operations department,
snapped, plain old went beserko a few years back in El Salvador
while still in the uniform. This specialized soldier gunned down
a village as they begged for their lives, then conveniently went
AWOL (absent without leave).
Tom, er, Ron, just might be this murderer.
So
Tom is taken into to custody and stripped of his civilian rights
and being aligned for military court marshal. Meanwhile, his beautiful
and powerful attorney wife, Claire, springs into action. She believes
they've got the wrong man, her man.
She
meets with the military attorney who'll be representing her husband;
Lt. Embry (Adam Scott). This young buck has never won a case.
He's a fool and the court knows it.
To
Claire it is clear something akin to fowl is in the footgear.
Her husband appears to be being railroaded for crimes he didn't
commit. She desperately needs someone who knows how military court
works, and has experience. Unlike the embryo they appointed on
her husband's behalf.
Claire
finds ex-Marine Charlie Grimes (Morgan Freeman). He's not well
liked on the base. He's a wild man of sorts who likes to take
on the big boys. He's got a rep as an alcoholic and a fool. So
now she's got two fools and her husband's foot in a trap. It's
not looking too good.
Claire's
husband's life is at stake, and she's not giving up-no way! Together
Claire and Charlie must get to the truth, even as buried and as
muddled, as that seems to be.
Really
what makes the movie so palatable is the great combo of Freeman
and Judd directed wonderfully by Carl Franklin.
Ashley
Judd is adorable. She's almost like a butch version of perkydoodle
Meg Ryan. I mean Meg is down right girly-girl
and doesn't look like she box a fella, while Ashley as beautiful
and girly girl but she's got that 'don't mess with me or I'll
castrate ya!" look. You know like she'd box and box 'im with
intent to draw blood. She's a tough chickbabe-and I respect that!
I like her, so sue me! I loved that silly little comedy Someone
Like You and actually enjoyed her Double
Jeopardy film thoroughly.
Jim
Caviezel is scrumptious to visually sip in like a Pina Colada,
thick with vanilla ice cream and tons of rum to tickle your taste
buds! He's great as the husband accused of nasty crimes.
Morgan
Freeman is a delight, as always. Even as a killer in Nurse
Betty he brings an almost surreal calm to his roles. He's
one of our greatest actors to be sure. a regular schmorgesborg
of talent.
I
am not a huge fan of Amanda Peet, who played Claire's daft sister
Jackie. Sure enough, yet again, her role seemed completely dispensable…but
she seemed a bit more refined in her delivery so I'll be nice…
The
ruling? High Crimes is pretty good…it just has a few loops
that they telegraph to us in between the good stuff and a really
retahded ending that made you feel suddenly the screen writer
from Domestic Disturbance got his hands on the script. But it's
good Hollywood suspense thriller film making even with the small
errors left in between the great performances.
Get
out and give it a peek. Ashley and Morgan make a great screen
team and frankly I can think of plenty of worse ways to spend
your hours than watching this new stud-on-the-scene Jim Caviezel
volley with his emotions!
Snack Recommendation
: El Salvadorian Take Out
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