Crimes et pouvoir

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-

Claire Kubrik (Ashley Judd) is an attorney whose relationship with her husband Tom (Jim Caviezel) is turned on its head. Tom is arrested for the murder of innocent civilians during a covert army operation 15 years earlier. Claire has been kept in the dark about her husbands past, but despite her doubts she still believes his innocence and takes it upon herself to act as his defence attorney with the help of a disgraced military lawyer (Morgan Freeman)

The film is both suspenseful and intriguing, with very fine performance from all the cast. Most of the film is quite interesting and even compelling at times, as the mystery builds and then as it begins to unravel. The surprise ending however, lets the movie down; when with more attention to detail it could have been quite impressive and really could have made the movie.

By the end you are left feeling a bit unfulfilled, mainly due to all the smoke and mirrors used to make the ending a shock.

6/10 should have been better, but it's watchable

In High Crimes, director Carl Franklin shows us an ideal life gone wrong. Claire Kubik is one of them. She's happily married to husband Tom (Jim Caviezel). In fact, he's such a great husband that we don't find out his occupation. Claire, who is played actually well by Ashley Judd, couldn't love Tom more. Until he gets arrested for something that he supposedly didn't do. Did he or did he not? An hour and a half is spent contenplating the fact.

The acting is surprisedly well, especially by Caviezel. I didn't understand why he had that "outburst" at the end, but that's a minor detail. Judd is equally good as Claire, except she seemed to be too slow at some parts. So did the pacing. It seemed to drag on a little, and the genre seemed to be more like a courtroom drama instead of a crime thriller.

Morgan Freeman is OK as the lawyer Claire hires. His acting seemed a little forced at times, though. The plot, though nothing new, was one of those that were predictable, but I was enjoying it too much to care. It's very entertaining if you just sit back and watch it instead of scrutinizing every little detail of it.

But, at the end, after the final court scene, it seems to continue on for a little long after spending an hour and a half leading up to that part. The running time was a little long. And the ever-lovable Amanda Peet plays a role where she could have gotten more time and shown off her acting ability. If you sit back for two hours and leave your mind on hold, it's a very entertaining yarn.

My rating: 7/10

Rated PG-13 violence and some language.

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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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.