High Crimes (2002)

Starring: Ashley Judd, Morgan Freeman, Jim Caviezel
Director: Carl Franklin

Rating: PG-13

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Review Posted: 4.10.01

Spoilers: Minor

Rating: 1.5/4

By Craig Younkin.

There seems to be two things a Morgan Freeman-Ashley Judd movie need, the first would be suspense, and the other would be an over reliance on silly plot twists. Their first effort, "Kiss the Girls", was entertaining because it had both, but the suspense in "High Crimes" is more likely to illicit groans and the many, but minor twists and turns the story takes just confuse a simple plot into a convoluted mess.

"High Crimes" is the story of Claire Kubik (Ashley Judd), a hot shot lawyer whose happy news of a baby on the way is shatter when she finds out that her husband Tom Kubik (Jim Caviezel) is actually a former Marine named Ron Chapman. The name does not come with a good track record either, as he is charged with the murder of nine people while on a mission in El Salvador years ago.

Now Ron faces a court martial, and though while angered by her husbands deceit, Claire opts to take his case after seeing the the young up-start the military has assigned to him. Only there is a difference between military court and regular court, and to stay within those boundaries, Claire enlists the help of Charlie Grimes (Morgan Freeman), a military lawyer with a rather poor history with drinking.

As the case continues, "High Crimes" switches over to thriller mode when Claire is followed and stalked by several people who seem more like tools than characters. The suspense they bring is minimal, and the same can be said for the outcome of the court case.

"High Crimes" just seems to wander through the motions of the standard thriller, but never actually becomes suspenseful itself. Ashley Judd is a good actress and she gives Claire her determination, but she just can't can't carry this film. And Morgan Freeman definitely doesn't deserve this either. His character seems to exist more for the purposes of comic relief. The rest of the people in the movie are treated as only mere devices, ripe for the manipulation brought on by a variety of ridiculous plot twists that never do what they're supposed to.

TOP