High Crimes: SE

Already available on DVD as a rental, High Crimes is now available to buy, and as there is already a great review on this site available here I won't try to re-invent the wheel too much.

Ashley Judd plays Claire Kubik, a successful lawyer who, with her husband, is ambushed by FBI police and TRG whilst out shopping Christmas Eve. It is her husband, Tom (James Caviezel) they want, and he is charged with the murder of nine civilians in el Salvador 12 years ago while stationed there with the rest of his marine buddies. Claire decides that she is the best lawyer for her husband, with the help of the assigned military lawyer, 1st Lt. Terence Embry (Adam Scott). She also ropes in Charlie Grimes (Morgan Freeman), a notoriously good military lawyer, but a reformed alcoholic.

The more Claire uncovers about her husband's past, the more she realises she doesn't know, and as lies become truth, truth becomes lies and every answer throws up more questions, she begins to doubt just about everyone in her life. It seems there are some rather nasty skeletons in the cupboards.

The cast are great and the film chugs along nicely, offering a few unexpected, though believable, twists. My only criticism would be the ending. It's another of those 'just when you thought he was dead' type endings, where characters turn their backs on the 'dead' guy only to have him get up and clobber someone. Note to scriptwriters, directors, whoever - please stop doing this!

The rental release seems to have been blessed with a decent audio and video transfer and this is also evident on the sell-through version. There are a number of pretty interesting and varied extras if military crime films are your thing. There's also an M16 load of subtitle options that have been added.

As with the rental version, this is an anamorphically enhanced aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and is pretty damned good. The image is sharp throughout, with good use of a natural colour palette with a hint of oversaturation. There is also a short section in Chapter 22 where the background in a night scene has a very blue haze to it. Otherwise, there is mostly acceptable shadow detail and blacks are good and solid.

There is occasional grain and some obvious edge enhancement, but these are only minor distractions. There are just one or two white spots that pop up, but you'd really have to be looking for them, and if you're the type that does this for fun then stop it and just enjoy the bloody film!

The layer change is almost unnoticeable at 55:30 and is neatly placed between scenes.

The only audio option is English Dolby Digital 5.1, and it is a nice full, encompassing mix that makes great use of the rear channels in creating ambience. This is mostly a dialogue driven film, however, and most sound is predominantly across the front speakers with clear and well-synched dialogue placed in the centre speaker. The rears are also used in the action sequences and the subwoofer gets a workout on these occasions, especially in a car crash scene. The score also makes great use of surround sound, but is essentially quiet and subdued. In general, this is a well-balanced and suitable audio track.

Unlike the rental version, there are a number of extras, being mostly informative featurettes that are best watched after the film as they could be considered as containing a spoiler or two.

Audio Commentary: This is courtesy of director Carl Franklin and he approaches it from the actor/director angle, in that, having been both, he can give insights from both sides. The commentary is solid, and a typical director’s commentary. He talks about the actors, location filming, tricks of the trade, sets, acting methods, lighting, set design, and many anecdotes about this film, plus other projects he has worked on, and actors he has worked with. The pauses increase in length as the commentary winds up, but no one person can keep up the info-rate for two hours solid. This is an enjoyable commentary from a man who clearly enjoys his work.

A Military Mystery: Joseph Finder (writer of the novel and cameo actor in the film) spends 7:07 minutes sharing his thoughts on writing, film making, selling the rights, his time on set and other titbits. There is some very obvious editing of the piece and he appears to be answering questions fired at him, though we are not privy to them. Regardless, he still has some interesting things to say.

FBI Takedown in Union Squire: This is a sort of 'behind the scenes' look at the shooting of the 'arrest' scene of the two main characters whilst Christmas shopping. We get to see a rehearsal, as well as the actual take, and in all it's an interesting three and a half minutes.

A Different Kind of Justice: Alice Cate, an attorney at law specialising in court martial cases spends 4:48 minutes explaining the similarities and differences between civil and military courts. She obviously knows her stuff.

Liar Liar: How To Beat a Polygraph: As regular watchers of The Rikki Lake Show will know, a polygraph is more commonly known as a lie detector (Rikki uses it on her show to nail guys who deny they have knocked up their girlfriend's best friend and the like). However, watch this and in less than six minutes you will learn from Sue Doucette, an FBI consultant, that you can be trained to beat the damned thing (and thereby go around knocking up more best friends maybe?), and that the evidence is not admissible in court. It sounds as if, in the right hands, this is nothing more than a toy.

Together Again: Ah, I knew this DVD had to have a backslapping featurette on it somewhere and here it is. Watch this for over seven minutes of warm fuzzies as the cast and crew espouse how great Freeman and Judd are together, what a joy it all was, how they have great chemistry, how they saved the world from global warming, and blah, blah, blah...

Car Crash: This is another short (two minute) look at the filming of the car crash scene, employing split screen to compare the filming of the stunt and the tricks used to how it looked in the film.

High Crimes, as summised by Adrian T, is not the best military crime film around, but it's certainly worth a look. The cast is great, the script is tight, there is sufficient intrigue and mystery and nothing is what it seems - or is it? Enjoyable.