High crimes
Year of release : 2002
Run time : 1h55m
Genre : Legal Thriller / Crime
Cast : Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, Jim Caviezel, Adam Scott, Amanda Peet, Bruce Davison
The movie is based on the 1998 Joseph Finder novel of the same name.
Claire Kubik is a lawyer who lives a perfect life with her husband. They want to have a baby, so they try whenever her clock tells her to.
At work, she refuses a juror for being a r@pe victim, as her client is accused of having r@ped someone. This makes her, sort of, win the case, as the case needs to be retrialed.
At work, her boss is offering to make her partner starting the 1st of January (it’s weeks before Christmas).
One night, burglars enter their home, breaking their large window.
After, one evening, her husband sees suspicious activity in the neighborhood they walk through, without telling Claire. Right after, a bomb goes off, and all of a sudden FBI agents and soldiers appear from nowhere, dropping the both of them to the ground, arresting him.
Talking to the FBI agent who issued the arrest order, Claire is threatening to sue for getting her husband while looking for someone else. He is telling her her husband’s real name seems to be Ron Chapman, and that he has been in the system for 12 years. Wanting to know what’s about, she is told it’s military court and national security at risk, and she’s not allowed to know!
Claire moves to the marine base her husband was taken to, and decides to defend him in court, as they want the death penalty. Ron is accused of having k1lled 9 people in Monte Azul,El Salvador, and he tells her he is innocent. He says somebody lost it but not him, he just jumped the guy who did it, that he was framed by general Marks and his assistant, while the other soldiers of his unit say it was him.
Claire is asking who beat (in court) the lawyer she’s up against, and wants to beat him again. She is led to Charlie Grimes who’s known for being a drunk. He says he’s been sober for more than 400 days.
I personally enjoyed the movie. As it’s unfolding, Claire and the lawyer working with her are constantly harassed, as Claire’s home is broken into, and they even go as far as to pour oil on their car windshield to drive them off the road, to k1ll them.
When it comes to her husband, Ron, it makes one wonder if he married her because she was a good lawyer, knowing that if he was ever caught and trialed, she’d defend him, and win the case.
I liked the house Claire lived in with her husband.
The military men had ridiculous haircuts.
The acting was good, especially from Ashely Judd. Jim Caviezel, although he cries in some scenes, has a sort of cold or unreadable face, looking like someone calculated.
The soundtrack was fine but could have been better.
The movie grossed 63.8 million dollars at the box office, against a budget of 42 million dollars. The movie has a low critic rating (under 50%, with 31% on Rotten Tomatoes and 48 on Metacritic).
Cinema Score audiences graded the movie a B+.
You can watch the full movie on the Dailymotion platform.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9rvzrm
Rating : Worth a watch !