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High Crimes
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Anthony Arrigo (17th October 2009). |
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The Film
 Ah, Ashley Judd, queen of pedestrian, paint-by-numbers films. In the mid-90’s it looked like she had a shot at becoming a respectable actress with some notable hits such as “A Time To Kill” (1996) and “Kiss the Girls” (1997). But then she got sucked up into the vortex of vapid thrillers; the housewife film. Housewife films are the type that no one other than a bored housewife, toiling at home on laundry and ironing, could possibly be enamored by. “Eye of the Beholder” (1999) and “Double Jeopardy” (1999) were a one-two punch that left audiences wondering whether Judd was reading any of the scripts she was being sent, or if her agent simply used whiteout on the title pages and handed them back over to her. “High Crimes” (2002) does little to alleviate that perception, as this is just another mindless “thriller” full of nefarious characters, red herrings and predictable twists. Judd stars as Claire Kubik, a hotshot lawyer who spits out wit on the courtroom floor in her efforts to become a partner at the firm. When her husband, Tom (Jim Caviezel), is arrested by the military for a series of murders he swears he didn’t commit, Claire has to team up with a former military court lawyer, Charles Grimes (Morgan Freeman), in an attempt to clear Tom’s name and find out what secrets the military are covering up. Ugh. Haven’t we seen this movie a million times before? The military sure makes a great scapegoat for conspiracy films. The problem is they’re all so very predictable. This may as well have been “The General’s Daughter” (1999) or “Rules of Engagement” (2000) or about a hundred other military court movies. Some of them are good, such as “A Few Good Men” (1992), but for the most part they all seem to follow the EXACT same formula with little deviation. This makes for a very boring, tedious exercise in filmmaking because your audience has already been well-conditioned to know what to expect, what twists the plot will attempt and how the film’s ultimate resolution will play out. “High Crimes” fares no better. Once Judd starts to dig deeper after, naturally, threatening to go public with her allegations strange occurrences being to happen. If the following in any way excites you… She goes out for a jog… But wait! There’s a rough, beaten-up old truck slowly following behind her… Is it dangerous? The ominous music sure seems to suggest so. It comes closer… closer…. CLOSER… She runs and bangs on the nearest door, frantic. The driver pulls up and… and… it’s a woman asking for directions. …then I recommend you go buy a copy of this on Blu-ray. As for me, I prefer to keep my red herrings relegated to my dinner plate or Italian giallo films, where they belong. Nearly every other scene has some shady characters acting in a slightly peculiar way, hinting that Judd is in imminent danger at every turn. But, amazingly enough, virtually none of them turns out to be anything more than, well… nothing. Yawn. Judd gives a reasonably good performance here, but why shouldn’t she? She’s been playing the same character for the last 6 or 7 years at this point. I expect her to nail a role like this in her sleep. Morgan Freeman is an actor whom I greatly respect and admire, but he doesn’t have much in the way of range. He’s the same person in “The Shawshank Redemption” (1994) as he is in “Bruce Almighty” (2003) as he is in “Wanted” (2008) as he is in… well, you get my point. The man is a damn fine actor with a voice soothing as whiskey on a cool summer night, but he’s always the same. That being said, he anchors the film with some gravitas it would otherwise be sorely lacking. If the direction seems to lack some cinematic flair, that could be because director Carl Franklin is a veteran of television. His IMDB directorial credits are none too impressive, but his acting resume shows stints on fabled 80’s series such as “The A-Team” (1983-1987), “MacGyver” (1985-1992) and “ALF” (1986-1990). I’m guessing he was partly inspired by his time on set to become a director. To his credit, the film is competently directed; it just also isn’t that exciting.
Video
The 2.35:1 1080p 24/fps AVC MPEG-4 encoded transfer looks quite impressive. After a rough, grainy-looking flashback opener, the film delves into a smooth picture with amazing clarity and fine detail. The image is razor-sharp for the most part, with only a few scenes looking a little on the hazy side. Nighttime scenes look a tad underwhelming in terms of black levels, but the overall image is pleasing to the eye. Considering Fox’s shaky track record on Blu-ray, this transfer is certainly among their stronger efforts.
Audio
The English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound track mixed at 48kHz/24-bit is mostly standard fare. The LFE track makes an appearance anytime Claire is in apparent danger. Surrounds fill out some of the track but are largely unused and unnecessary. Dialogue levels are consistent and clear. Though there isn’t much in the way of fanfare to liven things up, the track is solid for a film of this ilk. A French Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound track and a Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 surround track are also included. Subtitles are available in English, English for the hearing impaired, French, and Spanish.
Extras
“High Crimes” gets an audio commentary, a generous helping of featurettes, only one of which I found to be of particular merit, and the theatrical trailer, which is presented in high-definition. The audio commentary with director Carl Franklin is fairly dry, with discussions covering all aspects of shooting, how certain shots were achieved, as well as the visual aesthetic he was going for. I’ll say this, even if his film wasn’t particularly memorable, the man knows quite a bit about the technical side of making it and he provides some good insight into the film’s production. “A Military Mystery” is a featurette which runs for 7 minutes and 22 seconds. The writer of the novel on which the film is based, Joseph Finder, discusses the excitement of seeing the book turned into a feature film and some intricacies of the plot. “FBI Takedown Union Square” is a featurette which runs for 3 minutes and 34 seconds. This is a behind-the-scenes look at the shooting of the aforementioned scene on location in New York City. “A Different Kind of Justice” is a featurette which runs for 4 minutes and 58 seconds. This piece discusses the vast differences between laws for civilians and those for military personnel. This is some fairly interesting stuff, almost none of which I knew prior to seeing this. “Liar Liar: How To Beat a Polygraph with Sue Doucette” is a featurette which runs for 5 minutes and 52 seconds. Just as the title suggests, this examines how a polygraph works and what it measures to determine whether or not you are being truthful. “The Car Crash” is a featurette which runs for 2 minutes and 4 seconds. This is some more behind-the-scenes footage, this time of the film’s car crash. “Together Again” is a featurette which runs for 7 minutes and 31 seconds. Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman talk about what a joy it is to work together. Finally, the film’s theatrical trailer is presented in high-definition and runs for 2 minutes and 27 seconds.
Overall
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