High Crimes (2002)

“[Charlie and his dog Delilah’s answering machine] This is C.W. Grimes and associates. If you wanna talk to Charlie you should leave a message after the beep. I you wanna talk to Delilah, you should get your head examined!” – Charlie

Number of Times Seen – 2 (Theater 22 Jul 2002 and 6 Mar 2018)

Brief Synopsis – A defense attorney must find a way to save her husband who is accused of committing murder while he was in the army.

My Take on it – This is a film that I recall seeing in the theater back when it came out with a friend who is a lawyer.

He kept pointing out lots of errors in the plot but I still enjoyed it enough at that time despite the major errors in accuracy.

The best part of this film is Ashley Judd who is a great leading lady and keeps this feeling quite genuine and realistic.

She is helped by Morgan Freeman and Jim Caviezel in keeping things nice a thrilling since the characters all go through numerous twists and turns before everything is made completely clear to us.

The problem here is that the story itself is quite predictable which takes away from the intense feeling that the plot should be giving us.

This is a film that is probably better on a first viewing because it just for some reason doesn’t hold up as well when you have already seen it and know what will happen as the plot moves along.

There are parts of this film that make you feel as if you are watching A Few Good Men (1992), but unfortunately there are more parts that come across as mediocre than those that feel inspirational and intense.

Bottom Line – Judd is quite good in this film and plays the lead role quite convincingly.  Great supporting cast helps make this film even more thrilling and enjoyable due to the twists and turns along the way. The story gets a bit predictable part way through and that does take a bit away from the intensity of the plot.  Upon rewatch this film doesn’t hold up as well as it does when you go in completely blind.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – In early versions of the script, Ashley Judd’s character was to be a Harvard law professor. (From IMDB)

Rating – BAFTA Worthy (6/10)

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