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Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Don't Believe the Hype

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

I am a military retired veteran. Having lived my young life as a military dependent on bases, foreign and domestic, and then serving for 20 years, in 17 nations, I am very interested in military mystery movies, factual or fictional.Are there any awards for the fantastic casting by the Casting Director? That's where it starts out to be the best! Enough action to keep me glued to the screen, with acting that is believable.Another Morgan Freeman film that I didn't know existed, until it flashed on my screen, on the Escape channel, received digitally, Over the Air, on my home CATV system ($49 outdoor antenna, with a $15 signal amplifier), that receives all the transmitted 80 Digital TV stations.Would not have happened on Cable! Would have missed this great mystery movie! Glad we cut Cable TV in January of 2016, saving $1360+, so far!

Claire Kubik (Ashley Judd) is a brilliant defense lawyer with a loving husband Tom (Jim Caviezel). They have the perfect life but then Tom is arrested accused of being Sgt. Ron Chapman who massacred villagers in 1988 El Salvadore. He is defended by inexperienced military lawyer Lieutenant Embry (Adam Scott). She is over her head in military court and gets help from Charlie Grimes (Morgan Freeman). Brig. Gen. Bill Marks (Bruce Davison) was the commanding officer at the time, and Tom/Ron accuses him of a frame job. And there is Claire's flaky sister Jackie (Amanda Peet) and the crazed Maj. James Hernandez (Juan Carlos Hernández). Michael Shannon has a minor role as witness Troy Abbott.It has the bones of a functional courtroom action thriller. It's nothing special. Director Carl Franklin tries but it's not his best work. Judd and Freeman are both great actors trying to do good work. It may work a lot better if there is more doubt thrown into the movie earlier about Tom/Ron's guilt. That takes away much of the drama. This makes the twist way too jarring. Then there are the attempts at their lives. For skilled killers, they don't really follow through. It piles on a little too much. It's a close call. I have to say it fails by a hair.

First and foremost, let me put my pants on...Just kidding there... Seriously though, the thing here above ALL else, to me anyway, is that this is an EXPERTLY crafted Thriller in just about every way. Yes, WITHOUT the very gifted hand of this director, then perhaps some of the complaints others have mentioned here might have some merit. But, to me, the fact that the dang film was made SO frigg'n well, kind of excuses some of the more familiar aspects of the movie.Some here have stated that the movie has many 'Cliches'; this couldn't be farther from the truth. True, the story is not hugely original, but the quality of the execution and the acting are absolutely top notch. Jim Caviezel and Morgan Freeman are outstanding. Specifically, the way that the pacing and the scenes are crafted and put together, and the performances the director evoked from the actors are extremely well done. The story is gripping and fully engrossing. The Thriller and legal aspects of it are also most involving.Now, with that said... There is just ONE rather weighty detraction... BUT... and it is a very BIG BUT like Mariah Carey's... In my lowly and wretched opinion, I do not think that it ultimate takes away from the fact that WHILE you are watching the film, your belief is fully suspended and you are completely involved. Also, it doesn't take away from the expert way the film is put together and crafted and the way it is handled; that is pure art. However... and I am NOT gonna be specific here because I do NOT want to take away anything at all from your enjoyment of the film. I will just simply say that it has something to do with when the film is over... That is all I will say...One of the better crafted Thrillers that I have seen in quite a while; I remember when I very first saw it, that I didn't particularly like it. BUT... the main reason for this was that I didn't initially care for the ending (which I allude to above). However, I must say that now, several years later, I MUCH more appreciate the outstanding quality of the film and it's execution in and of itself. And, I now feel that that fact alone greatly outweighs my original reasons for not liking it. Sometimes a movie is made SO dang well, that even after it is over and you may question some of the specific developments in the story, you still come away feeling that it was a good and entertaining film...

Lawyer Claire Kubik (Ashley Judd) finds herself in an interesting situation when her husband, Tom Kubik (Jim Caviezel) is arrested, and she has to defend him in court. Tom is revealed to actually be Ron Chapman, and is on trial for murdering Latin American villagers while he was in the marines. Claire finds that she will need help with the case, and is assisted by Charlie Grimes (Morgan Freeman). Most of the witnesses it seems have happened to die, and Claire will have a hard time proving the innocence of her husband.This film really fell short for me. It had a somewhat interesting plot, but the entire thing I thought to be entirely predictable, and I found myself having figured out the ending not too long through the movie. Which in the end was one of my bigger problems with the film. I read and heard many people saying "unpredictable" and "great twist", but I honestly just did not get it. Nowadays it seems that I just cannot hardly ever find a film that has a great ending, a few, but not many. All I can find myself thinking is where is Alfred Hitchcock? And to make it worse I thought the script was terrible. However, the film was not all bad. Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman's performances were good, and it made most of the movie enjoyable. Jim Caviezel was good as well, but everyone else was mediocre, so in the end it did not really work out for me.Overall, High Crimes was not a great film, but interesting court scenes, and a few good performances by popular actors made this movie enjoyable for most crowds.