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High Crimes

High Crimes

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Unpredictable, in a Predictable Sort of Way
Review: "High Crimes" stars Ashley Judd as Claire Kubik, an attorney who is about to make it big at her law firm when her husband, Tom Kubik (James Caviezel) is arrested for murders committed in Latin America. That's not the worst of it. The worst is that Claire finds out she didn't really marry Tom Kubik. Her husband's real name is Ron Chapman, a special forces agent in the Marines. Ron faces a military trial and death sentence for the murders of Latin American villagers while he was on a mission to track down a narco-terrorist in El Salvador.

Claire decides to take over the case after she meets the military appointed council, Lt Terence Embry (Adam Scott). Clair also enlists the aid of Charlie Grimes (Morgan Freeman), the man regarded as the best civilian military defense council. The only problem is that he is a recovering alcoholic. Claire also faces the fact that her employer does not want her or its name associated with this case for fear of bad publicity.

Now that that's all out of the way, here's why this is not a good movie: it's predictably unpredictable. A movie like this must, by Hollywood rules, have a twist ending. By about one-third of the way into the movie I correctly predicted what the twist ending would be.

Having already figured the movie out I thought I might sit back and enjoy the journey to the predictable ending. That wasn't going to happen. Even the journey they take to the ending in this film is unoriginal. From Charlie's drunken binge to Claire's sister (played by Amanda Peet) falling for the inexperienced Lt Embry to the ominous presence of Maj James Hernandez (Juan Carlos Hernandez), this movie was as predictable as the number after 1, 2, 3.

There really is nothing to recommend this movie. The plot is unoriginal and the acting is flat. About the only winning performance in the whole film is that of Caviezel with Freeman giving a below average (for him) performance. Skip this one.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Our family was disappointed
Review: Even though the movie was well paced, it was so very fictional as it had such an awful message against the armed services. Everybody in the Marine was depicted as being a bad person or a moron. We were hoping at least the main character stayed a good person to offset all the other bad ones, but it didn't happen that way, either.

We were all disappointed at the twisted plot at the end. We felt that all the twist did was to surprise the viewers, that was all. It rendered everything else in the movie senseless, failing to explain any of the mysteries throughout the film.

The main actors did a good job acting, though. What a waste of a solid cast.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Thrilling Mystery
Review: "High Crimes" has so many twists and turns its like a road out of hell.However,the twists are carried out in a marvelous if not predictable way.The film is about Claire Kubik(Judd) whose husband is being accused of murder.With the help of Charles Grimes (Freeman),Lt.Embry,and her sister Jackie (the lovely Amanda Peet),she discovers a conspiracy inside the milatary.
The plot twists are just like "The Recruit" in a way,except this movie was made first.Plot twists such as assasination attempts and ones such as one of the characters might be a mole are carried out ni a way that give you tunnel vision while watching the movie and making you not want to take your eyes off the screen.Why 4 stars then?,some,okay most of the plot is pretty much predictable,but this a must see movie for mystery fans.B- for the movie,B for the acting.Enjoy!!!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Welcome portrayal of military as lying scumbags, but......
Review: .....this movie was so ineptly and poorly done it was almost pathetic. Cliche-ridden script, wooden and unimaginative directing, and laughably contrived plot twists make this one a real zero. It's a real shame, too, because we don't nearly hear about this side of the military enough.

A capable cast does what it can with truly wretched material.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Reason to watch: Morgan Freeman.
Review: I was expecting more from the director of Devil In A Blue Dress, Carl Franklin. Any diehard movie goer would be able to see where this movie is heading and how it is going to end. It appears Director Franklin doesn't appreciate the intellegence of his audience and lays in too many little give-aways.

The story: Attorney Ashley Judd is married to a chap who has years earlier assumed a new identity to escape military justice. She discovers this interesting facet of his personality when the FBI jumps on them and takes him away to face murder charges at a military court martial. He is accused of killing citizens in a raid on a El Salvador village while in the Marine Corps. After reeling with shock that her husband is some other guy Ashley settles down and decides she will stand by him. Not only stand by him, but defend him. A court martial being out of her groove she contacts an attorney with military experience. Enter Morgan Freeman. Up to this point the story has been very good, leaving me wondering: "How would I deal with this situation? What would I do?"

Now the movie shifts gears and the most interesting part is not the story which involves the court martial and dealing with the military mind, but the interaction between Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman. Ashley Judd is quite beautiful and charming and I am sure her best work is still ahead, but it is Morgan Freeman who commands your attention. He does not play that cool, confident character he does so well, rather he plays an achoholic in need of a haircut. A man with problems of his own. This is the best on-screen work he has ever done.(Aside: Wouldn't Bagger Vance have been a great film if Freeman had been the caddy?).

The story warps and weaves its way to a very nice last scene that leaves a pleasent glow if you have watched the preceeding, so hang in there.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "High Crimes" is Freeman and Judd's best work to date!!
Review: If you liked Morgan Freeman's and Ashley Judd's performances from "Kiss the Girls" almost 5 years ago, then you'll love them again in "High Crimes", a suspenseful thriller of a movie directed by Carl Franklin ("Devil in a Blue Dress"). The suspense of "High Crimes" takes place inside and outside of the courtroom as well...and it never lets up for a minute! The film focuses on Claire Kubik (Judd), a high-powered attorney, and her husband Tom (Jim Caviezel, "The Count of Monte Cristo"), a successful contractor with his own business, who are madly in love and are planning to have a family. But a burglary at their home triggers a chain of events that shatters their world. The FBI agents arrest Tom. The charge: Under his real name, Ronald Chapman, Tom, as a covert military operative, murdered civilians in El Salvador and has been a fugitive for the past 15 years. Tom admits he is Ronald and he was part of a clandestine operation that did result in a massacre for which Tom was blamed. But he assures Claire of his innocence and that the real perpetrators made Tom their fall guy because he alone could identify them as the men who gave and executed the order. As she prepares her husband in a top-secret military court, Claire realizes she needs help from someone who knows these rules -- and is willing to break them. She enlists the aid of Charlie Grimes (Freeman), a former military attorney who relishes the opportunity to take on the very hierarchy that disgraced him years earlier. And the film goes on from there. "High Crimes" is simply one of the best legal thrillers ever made since "A Civil Action". This is Ashley Judd's best performance since "Kiss the Girls" and "Double Jeopardy" and Morgan Freeman's best performance since "Kiss the Girls" and "Chain Reaction"! With two of the best actors today, a top-notch supporting cast (including Caviezel, Amanda Peet, Tom Bower), and explosive action, "High Crimes" is a film not to be missed! A terrific DVD addition to your collection!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great movie, Great acting!!
Review: This is a perfect movie in every way. The acting is A++ and the plot is even better!! Ashley Judd plays the wife of a military man (Jim Caviezel) They are living a perfect life in a nice house when their world get turned upside down!! Judds husband is accused of killing a hand full of people when serving in El Salvador many years back. Judd cannot believe such a thing and she hires a lawer who knows how the military works. The lawyer played by Morgan Freeman is unsure about the case but then agrees to take it on. the story is filled lies, and threats and deception. It will keep you on the edge of your seat untill the very end, great movie top notch acting. 5 stars!!!!!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: PREPOSTEROUS BUT ENJOYABLE
Review: There are so many things in this movie that just couldn't happen, starting with a wife and non-military lawyer, defending her husband, and the inconsistencies in the plot line. However, director Carl Franklin keeps the movie going so briskly and the cast is so good, that I overlooked these and found myself enjoying the movie very much.
Ashley Judd plays Claire Kubik, who discovers that her husband isn't who he says he is, and then has to confront her own doubts as she tries to save his life.

Morgan Freeman is the recovering alcoholic, former military attorney, who decides to help her out and keep off the juice.
Jim Caviezel (Passion of the Christ) is Ashley's husband and his performance is deeply moving, yet somehow dark and disturbing.
Bruce Davison's small role as the big shot general, is coldly efficient.
Amanda Peet plays Ashley's somewhat self-centered sister to the tee, and Adam Smith as Embrey, the green lawyer assigned to the case, also does well.
HIGH CRIMES pulls a twist at the end that's kind of "cheap" but it does work.
Joseph Finder, the author of the book on which this movie was based, gives some interesting commentary on the extras, and even has a featured role in the film.
Not a bad way to spend a couple hours.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Thrilling Mystery
Review: "High Crimes" has so many twists and turns its like a road out of hell.However,the twists are carried out in a marvelous if not predictable way.The film is about Claire Kubik(Judd) whose husband is being accused of murder.With the help of Charles Grimes (Freeman),Lt.Embry,and her sister Jackie (the lovely Amanda Peet),she discovers a conspiracy inside the milatary.
The plot twists are just like "The Recruit" in a way,except this movie was made first.Plot twists such as assasination attempts and ones such as one of the characters might be a mole are carried out ni a way that give you tunnel vision while watching the movie and making you not want to take your eyes off the screen.Why 4 stars then?,some,okay most of the plot is pretty much predictable,but this a must see movie for mystery fans.B- for the movie,B for the acting.Enjoy!!!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: When Mediocre Movies Happen to Good Actors
Review: Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd are two of the best character actors in the business, and their chemistry together can be phenomenal, as the pedestrian "Kiss the Girls" demonstrates. "High Crimes," however, is a movie that is simply not worthy of its stellar cast. The plot is pejorative, riddled with holes, and at times quite boring, and the denouement is incredibly trite and predictable. The story is semi-interesting, but is nothing you haven't seen in a Lifetime movie, and it makes you wonder why the two leads signed onto this project at all, other than the chance to work together again. The movie is supposed to be a mix of drama, suspense, and action, but in its attempt to incorporate all three, it falls short in every respect. Definitely a movie to rent, and not buy.


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