High Crimes

Claire Kubik (Ashley Judd) is happily married to her husband, Tom Kubik (Jim Calviezel). The movie opens with her having sex and becoming pregnant. Then Claire gets a big surprise wher her contractor husband is suddenly arrested by the FBI and sent to a military prison. Turns out Tom, then known as Ron Chapman, was in an elite Marine special unit and is accused of a 1998 civilian massacre in El Salvador. She decides to defend him in military court and find out the truth about what happened. Claire puts her career on hold to defend him against trumped-up charges of orchestrating a civilian massacre while on covert operations .She looks to recovering alcoholic and ex-JAG lawyer Grimes (Morgan Freeman) for assistance but sinister plots are afoot. Tom Kubik claims another member of the platoon named Hernandez shot the civilians in a fit of rage and convinced the rest of the platoon to lie and say he did it. Everything you trust !. Everything you know !. May be a lie...

A thriller with suspense, surprises, violence, twists and turns, being based on the 1998 novel by Joseph Finder. Military coutroom thriller is average but does have Morgan Freeeman, who's always worth watching, that's why he steals the show. He's reteamed with ¨Kiss the girls¨ co-star Ashley Judd who plays spunky California attorney at law who sets out to prove her fella has been made fall-guy for a political cover-up and while James Cazievel is her contractor hubby Tom. Weird though, how the pert, capable but unprepossessing, Ashley Judd has picked up classic actresses' mantle, playing endless variations on a gutsy, determined resourceful woman with dubious taste in men. They're well accompanied by a nice secondary cast with plenty of familar faces, such as: Adam Scott, Amanda Peet, Bruce Davison, Tom Bower, Michael Gaston , Jude Ciccolella, Emilio Rivera, Michael Shannon, John Billingsley, among others. It is a blandly anonymous coutroom potboiler which attempt to squeeze an ounce of credibility from some vaguely liberal sentiments. There's not much here we haven't seen a hundred times before.

Adding a suspenseful, intriguing musical score by composer Graeme Revell. As well as an adequate and atmospheric cinematography by cameraman Theo van de Sande. The film was profesionally made by Carl Franklyn, but nothing special, It's quite watchable, and utterly predictable. Carl is a fine craftsman who made his mark with ¨One false move¨ followed it up with the well reviewed¨ Devil in a blue dress¨ and the underrated weepie ¨One true thing¨; in addition, directing various TV episodes of famous series: ¨Rome, House of Cards, The Pacific, Homeland, Falling Skies, The affair, Ray Donovan, chance, 13 Reasons Why, Leftovers¨. High Crimes (2002) rating: 6/10. The flick will appeal to Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd fans

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This was an involving story of a military man accused of murdering civilians 15 years earlier and then going A.W.O.L. The whole story revolves around one question: did he do it or is he innocent?

That question keeps the viewer guessing for much of the film and provides some very good suspense. It's another film, however, in which there is a strong anti-U.S. military flavor, so typical in films since the 1960s.

Also, once you know the ending, I doubt if this would be a movie you would watch more than once. However, it's definitely worth a look and will entertain you for about two hours. Ashley Judd, Jim Caviezel and Morgan Freeman are three attractive lead actors, all interesting to watch, as usual.

Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd, after starring in 1997's Kiss the Girls, reunite in this story about powerful attorney Claire Kubik (Judd), who finds her husband Tom Kubik (Jim Caviezel) arrested for the murder of Latin American villagers while he was in the Marines, with the name of Sgt. Ron Chapman. Claire teams up with Charlie Grimes (Freeman) to navigate through the military justice system in attempts to clear Tom, all while dealing with the deaths of key eyewitnesses.

Like Kiss the Girls, this movie is full of mystery and tension that will captivate an audience and keep the movie's pace going strong despite its simple and predictable plot. Freeman is a calm yet dynamic actor, which is perfect in his role as he teams up once again with Judd, who herself gave an energetic and dramatic performance in her attorney role. Jim Caviezel gave a strong and mysterious performance as the accused Tom, whose unknown background will leave the audience guessing.

With some good suspense and tension, it's a worthy courtroom drama for a popcorn movie night.

Grade B-

KISS THE GIRLS stars Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman reunite in HIGH CRIMES, a movie that turned out to be a lot better than I was expecting. The previews made this movie look like a high powered suspense thriller, but I was weary about the plot and I was suspecting a thousand different plot holes. But, I was wrong. This movie is executed wonderfully. Yes, there are the usual thriller cliches, but once you get past all that, this movie is really entertaining. The acting is not all that bad either. Judd is great and Freeman is perfect as always (the only thing about him is that I am still a little hazy as to the gold earring that he totes on his right ear). The supporting cast includes Jim Caviezel, Adam Scott, the very hott Amanda Peet, Bruce Davison and Tom Bower. All of whom do an exceptional job.

This may look like just another one of those 'trial' movies, but this isn't. It is actually quite good if you just look past the typical plot and watch it. Other recommendations include A FEW GOOD MEN and RULES OF ENGAGEMENT. They are both a little different, but still go along the same lines.

This film is for people who appreciate good, old-fashioned suspense thrillers. These kind of movies are the kind people need to show us that looks can be deceiving and that people are not always what they appear to be.

HIGH CRIMES: 5/5.

High Crimes is a decent movie with a very well developed storyline and a great cast.I was expecting it to be more of a thriller,which it certainly wasn't,but it was still an enjoyable movie,mainly because of solid performances and very great character development,the movie does drag out a bit however and isn't completely interesting the whole time.Morgan Freeman was certainly the movies highlight,he delivered a brilliant performance like he always does and his character is certainly the most likable,Ashley Judd also did a terrific job,I've complained about her acting before in Kiss the Girls,but she had certainly improved between the gap of these movies and the character was more suited for her.The thing that bothered me the most about this movie is that the "big twist " at the end was really predictable,the writers were clearly expecting it to shock the audience but it was obvious this would happen about a half hour in to the film.Predictable but still enjoyable,High Crimes is a good movie that I would recommend to anyone looking for a good crime film.

A woman must uncover national security secrets to clear her husband,accused of war crimes in El Salvador.

Best Performance: Morgan Freeman Worst Performance: Jim Caviezel