No. 80 High Crimes (2002) 13 of 100

 

When this film came up on my list I thought it was a stoner comedy so wasn’t too jazzed about watching it. It is in fact a military legal drama and although that sounds somewhat dry it was decent albeit with a dubious ending.

The film opens with news footage of some dead El Salvadorians. We then cut to Ashley Judd and Jim Caviezel having some quality time. They are keen to have a child and Judd manages to find time for some foo-foo before heading off to court to win a big case.

Their happy times are interrupted however when following a break in at their home Jim is arrested. It turns out he’s living under an assumed name and the finger prints taken by the cops have flagged him up as an AWOL soldier, and one who has been tagged for those El Salvadorian deaths we saw at the start.

Despite this being a military case Judd takes up JC’s defence, assisted by Adam Scott’s young military lawyer character. To complete the team, and why not, they also get onboard with Morgan Freeman’s old soak lawyer who used to work in the JAG office.

The case has all the hallmarks of a big cover up with our team’s digging putting them in the cross hairs of the military. There are various threats, home invasions and a low rent car crash but our people won’t be deterred. More digging establishes that five of the seven witnesses to the massacre have been killed and one of the two remaining is up for parole from Jail. Freeman intercepts this witness and it’s our friend Mr Shannon who only gets one scene in this film. It is a good one though, as Freeman’s hooker friends encourage him to spill some details about the conspiracy. Alas his evidence isn’t used as he’s disappeared by the bad shits after they learn of his loose lips via a bug in the phone. It’s not clear if he’s been bumped off or just sent away, but we wish him well all the same.

After a flurry of ‘objection!’ ‘denied’ kind of stuff we are all set for the courtroom showdown. But wait! JC, possibly using his Jesus powers, gets off. That’s that then. But wait again! There’s twenty minutes left and a few twists to go!

I’m not the biggest fan of courtroom dramas but this one was decent and bounced along for its two hour run time. Judd was a good lead although a poor judge of character. Freeman was a bit miscast as the drunk, motorcycle riding bad boy lawyer but he’s always good value. I did like Adam Scott as the inexperienced military law man and I was glad he got a bit of redemption after being side-lined for a while.

The plot was as you’d expect all over the place, with evidence offered up that was later contradicted. We get a lot of flashbacks with the massacre re-enacted with differing viewpoints which kept us guessing. The ending was a fair twist but it was a bit unsatisfying given all that had gone before. They should just have let the legal process take its course and saved us all some time!

Shannon was good fun as the slightly stoned military man enjoying his first day out of the stockade. His loose lips cost him any further appearances in the film, but he did make a memorable impression.

All in all, this was a decent if unremarkable legal thriller, and I bet if I watch it again in five years I’ll have forgotten who the baddie actually was!

When is Shannon-On? - 58.10

Outcome? Disappeared

Film 3/5

Shannon Stars 2/5