High Crimes
(2002/Fox Blu-ray)
Picture: B-
Sound: B Extras: D Film: D
Carl Franklin is a good director who is capable of making
a good film, but in an effort to secure a hit, made the terrible, silly
thriller High Crimes (2002) with Morgan Freeman and “thriller woman” of
the moment Ashley Judd. She plays an
attorney (the exceptionally smart kind) whose husband (the always interesting
Jim Caviezel) is accused of murder from 15 years ago! What took them so long?
She then teams with a lawyer who used to be in the
military (Morgan Freeman) to save him, but something even more bizarre is going
on and she is determined to find out… even if it kills her.
Unfortunately, the Yuri Zeltzer/Cary Buckley screenplay
(based on Joseph Finder’s book) is dead on arrival and should be charged with
the high crime of having zero suspense and is guilty of abusing every formula
thriller film in the last few decades, several of which Miss Judd has
graced. No doubt Franklin tried to make
this work and he’s got some good actors (even Amanda Peet shows up), but this
never begins to work and is very quickly forgotten. I even had more than one person laugh when I
told them it was on Blu-ray. They had
all forgotten it even existed. Again, I
can see why.
The 1080p 2.35 X 1 AVC @ 18.85 MBPS digital High
Definition is soft and from what definitely looks like an old HD master, so Fox
is just issuing this out of the vault to be completist and for those who might
want to see it. The DTS-HD Master Audio
(MA) lossless 5.1 mix is barely better with some fullness in playback and
Graeme Revell’s score is the largest beneficiary. Still, like the film, playback is
underwhelming and not the best Blu-ray out there from Fox or anyone else.
Extras include the original theatrical trailer, two
making-of featurettes (Liar Liar tells you how to beat Polygraph/Lie
Detector machines, while A Different Kind Of Justice is about
the differences between Military & regular/Civilian Law) and a
feature-length audio commentary by Franklin that is better than the film.
- Nicholas Sheffo
