High Crimes is a 2002 American drama film directed by Carl Franklin. The screenplay by Yuri Zeltser and Grace Cary Bickley is based on a novel by Joseph Finder.
Plot
Attorney Claire Kubik and her woodworker husband Tom find their idyllic life in Marin County shattered when, during a Christmas shopping excursion in San Francisco's Union Square, he is captured by the FBI and charged with the murder of nine peasants in a remote village in El Salvador in 1988. Claire is shocked to discover Tom, whose real name is Ronald Chapman, was a covert military operative serving in the United States Marine Corps and has been on the run for the past fourteen years.
Tom admits he was present at the scene of the mass murders but staunchly denies being involved in the killings. He insists he has been made a scapegoat in order to conceal the identity of the real culprit, Major James Hernandez, now the aide of Brigadier General Bill Marks.
First Lieutenant Terence Embry is assigned to defend Tom, but his youth and lack of experience prompt Claire to decide to defend her husband as well. When she realizes she needs help from someone familiar with the workings of a military court, she hires Charlie Grimes, an embittered former military attorney who has a grudge against the military brass, to assist her. Three key eyewitnesses who previously testified Tom was guilty have died under mysterious circumstances, raising Claire and Charlie's suspicions. As the trial proceeds, they uncover a massive cover up perpetrated by one of the military's highest ranking officials. Also creating problems are the sudden appearance of a resident of the village where the mass murder took place, who insists Tom was responsible; Embry's romantic involvement with Claire's irresponsible sister Jackie, which leads Claire to believe he may be leaking details about secrets she has uncovered to the prosecution; and Charlie's falling off the wagon after more than a year of sobriety.
Production
The film was shot on location in Alameda, Burbank, Los Angeles, Oakland, San Francisco, and San Pedro in California and Mexico City in Mexico.
Cast
Critical reception
Rotten Tomatoes reported 32% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on 131 reviews, [2] while Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 48 out of 100, based on 33 reviews. [3]
A.O. Scott of the New York Times thought Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman "make a muddled genre exercise seem a lot better than it is. Ms. Judd, always brisk and appealing, is capable of fine acting when the mood strikes [and] Mr. Freeman shows himself, once again, incapable of giving a bad performance." He added Carl Franklin's direction "is far from terrible, but it feels singularly uninspired, a flurry of fast, expository scenes and suspense-movie setups." He felt the plot twist "renders everything that came before completely nonsensical" and concluded, "If you figure it out, please let me know. On second thought, don't, but please drop a line to the folks at 20th Century Fox, since I'm sure they're just as baffled as the rest of us." [4]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times rated the film three out of four starsand commented, "I do like the way director Carl Franklin and writers Yuri Zeltser and Cary Bickley . . . play both ends against the middle, so that the audience has abundant evidence to believe two completely conflicting theories of what actually happened . . . High Crimes works to keep us involved and make us care . . . The unfolding of various versions of the long-ago massacre is handled by Franklin in flashbacks that show how one camera angle can refute what another angle seems to prove. And if we feel, toward the end, a little whiplashed by the plot manipulations, well, that's what the movie promises and that's what the movie delivers." [5]
Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle said the film "has some faults, but it manages to keep its audience either angry or jumpy from start to finish . . . The dramatic focus of High Crimes gets a bit fuzzy in the last half hour - it starts to feel as if some scenes get replayed. Still, the scenes are never dull, and the movie recovers for the big finish. Only one thing is lacking throughout, not a big thing, but big enough to mention. We keep hearing about what great lawyers Claire and Grimes are, but there's no great courtroom scene. In that, High Crimes is too much like real life. It gives us court with no courtroom fireworks." [6]
Michael O'Sullivan of the Washington Post said the film "satisfies a hunger for the basics: a decent mystery to chew on, a bit of juicy suspense, maybe a plot twist as garnish. The fare is all on the standard menu, but it goes down well just the same. Chalk that up to a cast the director can trust enough to step out of the way and let do their jobs . . . And yes, there's a twist ending, but don't kid yourself that you won't see it coming. Surprising? Maybe not. Satisfying? Not half as much as watching Freeman and Judd, two compelling performers who seem to enjoy each other's company almost as much as we do." [7]
Robert Koehler of Variety called the film "utterly conventional" and Ashley Judd's performance "so resolutely humorless and businesslike that Freeman's gruffly affectionate warmth becomes doubly valuable, though not nearly enough to lend this generic project any special character. Most disillusioning is how director Carl Franklin, once known for tense storytelling and unpredictable characters, goes about his task here with a visible lack of inspiration . . . The screenwriting team of Yuri Zeltser and Cary Bickley has tweaked Joseph Finder's novel considerably . . . Character alterations, refinements, re-locations and plot substitutions produce a rabbit's warren full of holes in an almost laughably complex plot. By the time the third act exhaustedly appears, it's hardly a wonder that some major characters have no idea where other major characters are, or what they're doing." [8]
Awards and nominations
Morgan Freeman was nominated for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture but lost to Denzel Washington in John Q, the actor's fourth consecutive win in this category.
DVD release
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released the Region 1 DVD on August 27, 2002. The film is in anamorphic widescreen format with audio tracks in English, Spanish, and French and subtitles in English and Spanish. Bonus features incluide commentary by director Carl Franklin and six featurettes about the making of the film.
References
External links
