'Double Jeopardy' (15)

DVD release

After being convicted for the murder of her husband, Libby is sentenced to prison where she begins to suspect that she has been set up. Whilst in prison she is informed that she cannot be convicted of the same crime twice, meaning that she could actually kill her husband upon release if she wanted to and not be penalised for it. Yeah, you can see where this is going. After being released, she begins a relentless search to track down her estranged son, stopping at nothing to uncover the truth.

This film is really stupid. Libby’s character (Ashley Judd) is really annoying and wracks up so much in the way of criminal damages whilst driving around America in the search for her son that she should really go back to prison. She seems to be able to escape anything, be it being handcuffed to a car or locked in a coffin, which is itself inside a big stone crypt. Having not travelled to America I can’t say much for their domestic flight system, but I’m pretty sure you’d need some form of idea to, y’know, get on a plane or hire a truck. I’m not sure whether we were meant to find her ‘badass’ or not… but then, I don’t really care. Then there’s the Tommy Lee Jones character, who we learn nothing about except through hearsay, who we’re suddenly expected to care about. It’s such a shame because Tommy Lee Jones plays the ‘grumpy old man with a past’ character really well, and his ‘you’ve got to be kidding me’ face is one of life’s simple pleasures. Because of Tommy Lee Jones, this film gets an extra star.

On the poster, a critic has said that ‘Double Jeopardy’ is ‘stylish, sexy and suspenseful … an exhilarating and riveting cat and mouse action-thriller’. I would love to know what film he’s talking about because it isn’t this one.

Comments

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