Story
In order to get the baby on the road, an irritable Claire visits Tom at the workshop in the morning and starts a Beast with Two Backs session. She then makes her way before the court to argue on behalf of one of her clients who has been charged with rape. Following her successful pursuit of a second opinion, Claire returns to her workplace, where her supervisor offers her a potential promotion and her coworkers congratulate her on her accomplishment.
After a few calm days, save for a thug-initiated robbery attempt, Claire and Tom go Christmas shopping when an FBI squad unexpectedly arrests Tom, putting Claire to the ground and handcuffing her in the process. Claire objects to her husband’s detention at the FBI office because the warrant lists Ron Chapman’s name, but Agent Mullins informs her that Tom has been identified by Marin officials after his fingerprints were taken. Following the burglary, there was a 12-year FBI file for a crime that Claire was not allowed to know about because it was under military court jurisdiction.
After this, Claire is still in a precarious situation because she has also managed to get her younger sister Jackie back. After that, she flies to San Lazaro Military Base, where Tom is being detained. After he confesses that his true identity is Ron Chapman and that he apparently said nothing to her out of fear that she would reject him in front of her husband, Claire starts to have doubts about him. Lieutenant Terence Embry, Ron’s lawyer, notifies Claire that Ron faces several charges related to his service, including first-degree murder. Despite Ron’s protests, Claire chooses to stand up for him because she doubts Embry’s professionalism. She finds out during the interrogation that her husband was reportedly duped by Major James Hernandez and General Bill Marks.
Claire goes to Charles Grimes, a former judge advocate general who was removed from office due to an affair with a superior’s wife, after her supervisor suggests that she look for military attorneys to assist her. When Ron finds out that Major Waldron is the opposing prosecutor, Charles suggests that he enter a guilty plea and work with the judge. After thereafter, Claire runs into Lola, a client of Charles’s who tells her that Charles is only competent when he moves and pushes for Claire to see Grimes as soon as possible.
After an unexpected visit, Claire decides after dusk to take in Jackie, who is suddenly homeless. When Claire and Embry arrive at the military base in the morning, Grimes is waiting for them. He gives the young woman advice on how military justice operates while also cautioning her that Colonel Farrell, the judge, will be difficult for them. Grimes’s fairly aggressive pleadings almost make things worse in the courtroom, where the start of hearings is pushed back to a week. Grimes claims he is the joker when Claire confronts him over there because he knows that terror would encourage the other camp to retaliate.
After reviewing Ron’s file, Claire, Grimes, and Embry look into the deaths of the soldiers who saw the massacre 12 years prior. When this proves fruitless, Embry suggests concentrating the defense on Ron acting alone, which makes Claire doubt the lieutenant and sparks a dispute between the sisters. Then, as Grimes had hoped, the lawyer gets a call from the major for a negotiation. Ron, however, obstinately rejects this compromise, so Grimes and Claire go inform Waldron that there will be no haggling.
When Claire gets home, a man who survived the carnage viciously attacks her and accuses Ron of committing the murder. When the attacker scares Embry away, an injured Claire approaches her husband, who immediately blames Hernandez. She becomes quite irate when she finds out that Jackie and Embry had sex a short while later. Claire thinks she’s being followed by a car and is scared as she drives home.
Claire discovers that Ron has been trained to trap the lie detector from a former police officer she encounters while grocery shopping with her younger sister. She then approaches Ron to discuss it and lets him know how upset she is with his lack of candor. After that, Ron starts shouting like a crazy person, claiming to be a psychopath, and the pair sobs together.
Another day, Grimes gets battered while trying to get intelligence at a bar frequented by the military; Claire tends to his wounds. When Embry also shows up, Claire fires him after scolding him for being in the bar while he was speaking with the prosecutor.
Claire becomes increasingly agitated after Grimes’ recording is turned down, especially after Ron advises her to quit before something terrible happens to her. Claire then questions Marks, but she is unable to get anything and can only provide him with the recording. Through the media, she is able to meet the man who had previously attacked her, and it is through him that she finds out about the events leading up to the horrifying massacre in El Salvador, as well as the fact that Hernandez murdered students by mistake in an explosion and falsely accused the rebels. She then heads out to find a Grimes who has had a drink again, but while they are driving, they get ambushed and their car ends up in a river.
Claire wakes up in the hospital with Jackie, and she is devastated to hear from a nurse that she lost the baby in the accident. After returning home, Claire gets a visit from Grimes and his dog, who reassures her of her abilities, and then she gets a visit from Embry, with whom she makes amends.
The investigation comes to a conclusion when Claire, with the assistance of her friends, obtains Hernandez’s medical records and uses them as leverage against Marks.
When her husband is at last freed, Claire bids Jackie and Embry farewell as they head back to Marin.
As they relish their newfound bliss, Claire gets a call from Grimes. She is upset with him for missing the trial until the very last minute, but Grimes reassures her that it is crucial. After Ron leaves, Claire follows Grimes’ instructions to examine her computer. To her horror, she finds that Ron killed a bombing witness, whose wife had admitted to being ambidextrous. Claire is devastated by this revelation, and her bad luck is exacerbated when Ron finds her and admits to her that he has killed all of these individuals without feeling guilty. Claire tries to flee after becoming alarmed, but Ron stops her and locks her in the workshop where he intends to kill her until the Salvadoran shows along and slays the evil madman, exacting revenge on all of his victims. Claire laments over the death of the man she thought she truly loved after escaping and the Salvadoran is gone.
After recovering from these terrible occurrences, Claire eventually partnered with Grimes.
High Crimes Movie 2002 | Key Facts
Without any logic or nuance, the plot recycles cliché thriller tropes including a military cover-up, an all-encompassing conspiracy, a frame job, a woman-in-peril threat, and a False Traitor (who is naturally followed by the Real Traitor). As the plot develops, the conspirators’ motivations grow more hazy rather than more obvious. The beating of a character is implied to be a warning that he was approaching something too closely, then what was the purpose of the beating if it turned out that the guy was following a false lead? Again, wouldn’t there be more discreet, less obvious, and less indiscriminate ways for military personnel to murder an American civilian (!) than splattering oil all over the person’s car’s windshield and spraying gunk all over it, causing the vehicle to skid off the road and into a river (along with how many other cars)? Wouldn’t they have more discrete, less obvious, and maybe less deadly ways to issue a warning if they only wanted to warn the person rather than kill them?
Jim Caviezel, who played two distinct roles in one, did a great job in his double role. Though their side story may have worked better as a part of the main plot, Adam Scott and Amanda Peet were good in the supporting roles.
High Crimes Movie 2002 Netflix
High Crimes Movie 2002 | Movie Trailer
