Double Jeopardy (1999)

Tommy Lee Jones has been here before, chasing after a convicted murderer only to slowly realise they might not be as guilty as first thought. Jones won an Oscar for The Fugitive (1993) and starred in the lesser known (but perfectly acceptable) sequel U.S Marshals (1998). He may as well have reprised his role as Samuel Gerard for Double Jeopardy, but instead he’s parole officer Travis Lehman, who begins to think Ashley Judd’s Libby is perhaps not guilty of her husband’s murder. Libby wakes on a yacht early in the film where she’s been spending time with her husband Nick, only to find she’s covered in blood and her husband is nowhere to be seen. The coastguard turns up right at the same moment she picks up a knife, (well of course) and she’s bang to rights, in the slammer for six years. Once out, after six years of training herself in prison (cue an obligatory workout montage) Libby sets out to figure out exactly what happened. She swiftly learns that Nick isn’t dead, and is living under a different name. She also learns about the law of double jeopardy, a US law that prevents an accused person from being tried again on the same (or similar) charges following an acquittal in the same jurisdiction. If you haven’t worked out where the films going, you’re not trying, but that’s not to say Double Jeopardy isn’t a huge amount of fun, because it is. Ashley Judd is great in most things (her performance in William Friedkin’s Bug [2006] is exceptional but sadly under seen) and Tommy Lee Jones remains one of the most watchable screen presences in film history. It’s preposterous but thoroughly entertaining, not in the same league as The Fugitive, but certainly in the same mold. 6.7/10