High Crimes (2002)

	Directed by: Carl Franklin	COUNTRY USA GENRE Thriller NORWEGIAN TITLE High Crimes RUNNING TIME 115 minutes
	Produced by: Arnon Milchan Janet Yang Jesse B'Franklin
	Written by (based on the novel by Joseph Finder): Yuri Zeltser Grace Cary Bickley

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Claire Kubik	Ashley Judd	½
Charlie Grimes	Morgan Freeman	½
Tom Kubik/Ron Chapman	Jim Caviezel
Jackie Grimaldi	Amanda Peet
First Lieutenant Terence Embry	Adam Scott
Brigadier General Bill Marks	Bruce Davison	-
Special Agent Mullins	Tom Bower	-
Major Lucas Waldron	Michael Gaston	-
Colonel Farrell	Jude Ciccolella	-
Major James Hernandez	Juan Carlos Hernández	½
Troy Abbott	Michael Shannon	-

Review

There's a semi-clever story lying at the basis of this legal thriller, which reunites Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman following 1997's Kiss the Girls. This time, they play attorneys who join forces to investigate the government's cover-up of a United States Marine Corps slaughter of civilians in El Salvador in 1988, which Judd's husband Tom (Jim Caviezel) suddenly finds himself charged with twelve years later. High Crimes looks to replicate the explosive legal drama of A Few Good Men, seasoned with some in-vogue twists and turns, but it's a sluggish treatment with far too much smoke and mirrors. And if you still find yourself fairly engaged thanks to Judd's and Freeman's solid work, and a couple of neat touches here and there, the ending is certain to let you down. Carl Franklin's direction leaves a lot to be desired, never quite finding the urgency or clarity the material demands.