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HIGH CRIMES Send This Review to a Friend
There's dramatic promise in what starts out to be a taut, intriguing story about slaughter of civilians in El Salvador and an apparent government cover-up that results in a former U.S. Marine being accused in a military trial. But before the film is over, the twists and turns become improbable and fudge on the potential expose.
Ashley Judd is perky as Claire Kubik, a super-smart San Francisco lawyer headed for partnership in her firm. Her only problem is fulfilling her desire to get pregnant, and her husband Tom (Jim Caviezel) has to be ready on demand. Suddenly their lives are plunged into a nightmare. He is accused of really being Ronald Chapman, on the run from his murderous past as a covert operative in El Salvador. What really happened back in the late 1980s?
The film shifts into the courtroom drama mold, with Lt. Embry (Adam Scott), a naïve young military attorney being assigned and Claire stymied by the rules of military law that limit what she can do. Enter Charlie Grimes, a rebellious former military lawyer with an alcohol problem who is supposed to be a hot shot. Claire recruits him, and since he is played by the superb actor Morgan Freeman, the film gets a lift. There are attacks on Claire and Charlie and the threatening atmosphere indicates machinations in high places with high stakes involved. Witnesses have died strange deaths. Claire's husband insists on his innocence and Claire will move mountains to prove it.
The drama gets cluttered with the presence of Claire's flaky sister Jackie (Amanda Peet), who starts sleeping with the Embry. The baby stuff is also unnecessary padding. As the film grows more menacing the screenplay by Yuri Zeltser and Cary Bickley, based on the novel by Joseph Finder, grows more convoluted. Carl Franklin's direction doesn't raise the tale much above standard fare of this sort.
Discussing more would undermine the element of mystery that "High Crimes" generates. But as in many thrillers fueled by with mystery, the resolution is deflating, in this case disappointing because of the manipulative plot gyrations and an element of whitewash. A 20th Century Fox release.
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