Rating: PG13
Genre:
Thriller
Theatrical Release: 04/05/2002(USA)
Release Date: 08/27/2002
SubTitles: English/Espanol
Dubbed: English/Espanol/French
Sound: DD5.1/DDS
Run Time: 115 Minutes
Flags: Violence, Adult Language, Sexual Situations
Distributor/Studio: 20th Century Fox
Defense attorney
Claire Kubik (
Ashley Judd) seems to have the perfect life. She has a high profile job at a big firm, a beautiful home outside San Francisco, and a husband,
Tom (
James Caviezel of
The Thin Red Line), who loves her.
Claire's biggest problem appears to be that she wants to have a baby, and she's having trouble getting pregnant. But when the police investigate a routine break-in at her home, they uncover the truth about her husband's identity, and her life is thrown into turmoil.
Claire finds out that her husband's name is actually
Ron Chapman, and that he's an ex-marine accused of murdering seven innocent civilians in El Salvador during a raid in the late '80s. He admits that he was there, and that he changed his identity to escape prosecution for the crimes, but he insists that he's innocent, and that the massacre was committed by another soldier under the orders of a powerful general (
Bruce Davison), who is using
Ron as a patsy to cover it up.
Claire is eventually convinced that
Ron's telling the truth. Faced with defending her husband in an unfamiliar military courtroom,
Claire enlists the aid of
Charles Grimes (
Morgan Freeman), an ex-Army judge advocate with an axe to grind. Stonewalled by the military bureaucracy at every turn, they uncover a web of deception and disappearing witnesses, and they soon find their own lives in danger.
High Crimes was adapted from
Joseph Finder's novel by the husband and wife screenwriting team of
Yuri Zeltser and
Cary Bickley. The film was directed by
Carl Franklin (
One False Move), and co-stars
Amanda Peet and
Adam Scott.
~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide