High Crimes Reviewed On Blu-ray
By Bill Warren
Carl Franklin was a busy actor, primarily on TV, when he turned director; he did a few films for Roger Corman, including "Full Fathom Five" (1990), then in 1992, directed "One False Move," a tense, involving latter-day film noir. This was distinctive enough to establish him as one of the go-to guys for that kind of movie. He directed "Devil in a Blue Dress," from Walter Mosley's novel; it starred Denzel Washington as Easy Rawlins, and seemed to be a bid to start a series of Washington/Rawlins movies. But it wasn't an exceptional movie; Don Cheadle was so good it established him as a moderate star, but the film was more of a nice try than a success.
After that, Franklin's movies have usually been on about that level, and so it is with "High Crimes" (2002), a well-acted thriller from a novel by Joseph Finder. But it's routinely plotted with a big revelation that's all too easily guessable, and at least one yawning plot hole. But it stars Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd, who make it watchable and entertaining, even if it's not as engrossing as intended.
Judd is Claire Kubic, a hotshot San Francisco lawyer who has a gorgeous old house in Marin County, and a gorgeous young husband, Tom (James Caviezel), who seems to be a furniture designer. They're eagerly trying to get pregnant, but then on a Christmas shopping trip to San Francisco, they're ambushed by an FBI squad and Tom is arrested. The shocked Claire learns that his name is really Ron Chapman, that he is AWOL from the Army, and has been arrested for murdering some village people in El Salvador as revenge for an assassination attempt on a guerilla leader that resulted in the deaths of some Americans. Tom/Ron passes a lie detector test, and tells his concerned wife that the murders were actually committed by James Hernandez (Juan Carlos Hernandez), now a major and aide to famous general Bill Marks (Bruce Davison), who may be behind it all.
Claire prepares to serve as Tom/Ron's defense counsel, but she needs someone on her side who knows the ins and outs of military justice. She seeks out Charley Grimes (Freeman), an often drunk lawyer who operates out of his trashed-looking small suburban home. He offers the old observation that "military justice is to justice as military music is to music." This isn't especially illuminating, and doesn't play much of a part in the proceedings. Claire's sister Jackie (Amanda Peet) also comes aboard, and Marine lawyer Terrence Embry (Adam Scott) is also assigned to Ron's defense.
Seven Marines, Ron says, know the truth, but upon investigating, Charley and Claire learn five of them are dead, two in combat, the other two from accidents--or were they? From this point, the movie unfolds about as you'd expect. It's occasionally suspenseful and almost always entertaining, but it doesn't really go anywhere you haven't been before in similar movies. And it does leave us with one large unanswered question. It's possible the answer is in there somewhere, but it's deeply buried.
Although this is a handsome movie, well photographed by Theo van de Sande, with handsome, detailed production design by Paul Peters, Blu-ray is irrelevant to the film. There's a great early shot, a time-lapse view of downtown San Francisco from late afternoon to nightfall, that is greatly enhanced by high definition, but most of the story is set in commonplace rooms; there's simply not much to be gained by being in Blu-ray high def. Yes, it all looks crisp, in rich colors with crisp detail, but this story could have been told about as effectively as a radio drama. Of course, that would have lost us Morgan Freeman's facial expressions, and Freeman is a master at small, subtle expressions; he's great fun to watch, the kind of performer often called an actor's actor--the kind of actor other actors love to see work. He is well-matched with Ashley Judd (they appeared together before, in "Kiss the Girls," a better mystery thriller); their timing is in sync, and they don't just support each other, each amplifies the other.
The extras are worth while; author Joseph Finder has one to himself, in which he intelligently explains that authors should not expect a movie based on their work to be very faithful to the novel--fiction and films achieve their results by very different means. There's a little making-of devoted just to the FBI takedown off Union Square, but this is of little interest; the same is true of a featurette devoted to the movie's one big action scene, a car wreck. In "Polygraphs," expert Sue Doucette explains how they work--and how they can be beaten. "Together Again" is about the reteaming of Judd and Freeman. Carl Franklin's commentary track is very good, way above average for this kind of thing.
If you're a fan of courtroom thrillers and murder mysteries, "High Crimes" is worth a look--but don't bother buying it. This is a good movie for rental.
