High Crimes starring Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman is so resolutely mainstream, so determined to attract maximum patronage, that even I could anticipate the big twist! High Crimes is meant to be a thriller but it's predictable enough to only thrill a dill.
Ashley Judd (Kiss The Girls) plays Claire who's a hot shot San Francisco lawyer. She's about to be handed a partnership at work, she reckons she's just about got the getting pregnant to her husband trick licked, and she's made the local TV news for her fine work. She's good looking and successful; an American dream.
Then her husband Tom (James Caviezel, The Count Of Monte Cristo, The Thin Red Line) is ripped into military prison. The military give him another name and tell Claire that Tom in a past life was in the marines and that he'd slaughtered civilians illegally some years before in El Salvador. They want to lock him up big time.
Of course Claire takes on his defense and enlists Charlie Grimes (Morgan Freeman, Kiss The Girls, The Unforgiven), a drunken expert on military law to assist her.
High Crimes rushes about at a furious pace, presenting red herrings, leaving loose ends and failing to explain itself. It's all about genre rather than substance. It always looks good, filmed to present its stars in a proper Hollywood light, but neglects to allow suspense to grow. Ther's certainly no time for contemplation.
It's a thriller concocted by following the dots, making certain that the dots are attractive. It's rush about story telling and worse for it.
One Lazy Fly Out Of Five
Ashley Judd (Kiss The Girls) plays Claire who's a hot shot San Francisco lawyer. She's about to be handed a partnership at work, she reckons she's just about got the getting pregnant to her husband trick licked, and she's made the local TV news for her fine work. She's good looking and successful; an American dream.
Then her husband Tom (James Caviezel, The Count Of Monte Cristo, The Thin Red Line) is ripped into military prison. The military give him another name and tell Claire that Tom in a past life was in the marines and that he'd slaughtered civilians illegally some years before in El Salvador. They want to lock him up big time.
Of course Claire takes on his defense and enlists Charlie Grimes (Morgan Freeman, Kiss The Girls, The Unforgiven), a drunken expert on military law to assist her.
High Crimes rushes about at a furious pace, presenting red herrings, leaving loose ends and failing to explain itself. It's all about genre rather than substance. It always looks good, filmed to present its stars in a proper Hollywood light, but neglects to allow suspense to grow. Ther's certainly no time for contemplation.
It's a thriller concocted by following the dots, making certain that the dots are attractive. It's rush about story telling and worse for it.
One Lazy Fly Out Of Five