| High Crimes | 
Rated: PG-13
Review: 7
Showing @:
Celebration Cinemas
Sun-Thurs- 12:05, 2:50, 5:25, 8:05
Fri-Sat- 12:05, 2:50, 5:25, 8:05, 10:45
Lansing Mall 6 Cinema
Mon-Thurs- 11:45, 2:05, 4:25, 6:45, 9:05
Fri- 11:45, 2:05, 4:25, 6:45, 9:05, 11:30
Sat- 11:45, 2:05, 4:25, 6:45, 9:05, 11:30
Meridian Outer 6
Mon-Thurs- 5:15, 8:00
Fri- 4:45, 7:45, 10:30
Sat- 1:45, 4:30, 7:45, 10:30
Sun- 1:45, 4:30, 7:45
An average crime thriller, centered around the military court.
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By Jack Garner
Gannett News Service Attorney Claire Kubik (Ashley Judd) has everything she could desire - a great job in a prestigious firm, a beautiful home in the San Francisco Bay area, prospects for a new baby, and a handsome husband who loves her. Wait. Hold that last thought. What if that husband (Jim Caviezel) hasn't been totally truthful about his past? What if there's something in his background that threatens to bring down Claire's wonderful life? That's the premise of "High Crimes." Judd plays an attorney forced to defend her husband. He's charged with murder in a past life she didn't even know about. He was a Marine involved in a 1988 covert operation in El Salvador and has been charged with the wanton slaughter of nine innocent villagers. Since it's a military charge, the trial will be a court martial, which is unexplored territory for the hot-shot civilian lawyer. To help her, Claire hires a grubby, disgruntled ex-Marine lawyer named Charlie Grimes (Morgan Freeman), who's eager to take on the military brass that disgraced him years before. Once a court martial superstar, Grimes is battling the bottle, and now defends Bay area hookers from his modest office with his motorcycle parked outside. Think "JAG Gone to Seed." But Grimes is just what Claire needs. As he explains to her, "Military justice is to justice what military music is to music." And Grimes knows how to play it. Also around to help or hinder are Claire's playful, loose-cannon sister (Amanda Peet), who contributes a vague sort of comic relief, and a young, baby-faced lieutenant (Adam Scott), who is the husband's official court-appointed attorney. "High Crimes" is directed in a non-flashy, straightforward fashion by Carl Franklin (creator of the edgier "One False Move" and the more stylish "Devil in a Blue Dress"). Adapted from a novel by Joseph Finder, "High Crimes" offers a tale of conventional crime fiction with past sins coming back to haunt characters and a moderate twist at the end. Of its type, the film is more appealing and plausible than some but not as original or surprising as others. The film's ace in the hole, of course, is the reunion of the likable and talented Judd and Freeman. In "Kiss the Girls," a similarly modest thriller, Judd played an important supporting character to the lead detective played by Freeman. With turnabout as fair play, Freeman supports Judd's lead in "High Crime." In two films thus far, Freeman has brought out the best in Judd. They have an unusual and intelligent screen chemistry, a near- romance of a platonic sort that elevates the average material with which they're working. With lesser talents, "High Crimes" would be entertaining but forgettable. With Freeman and Judd, I'll at least remember their characters. If the two ever get to work together on a top-shelf project, watch it. And watch out. |
