Films at their best: Double Jeopardy

Welcome back to my weekly blog series.

This week we will be reviewing a 1999 movie called Double Jeopardy. A movie full of commitment and dedication.

Warning - Spoilers 

(L-R) Ashley Judd, Benjamin Weir, Credit - Courtesy of Paramount Pictures Corporation 

Plot 

Libby and Nick Parson live on Whidbey Island with their four-year-old son, Matty. At the beginning of the film, the couple hold a private school fundraiser at their home, where Nick displays three original 1911 watercolour paintings by artist Wassily Kandinsky. Meanwhile, he is also facing embezzlement charges and financial pressure. Later on, Nick surprises Libby with a weekend getaway on her favourite sailboat. They part, and Matty stays with Libby's friend Angela.

Aboard the boat and during their first night, Libby awakens to the sight of blood all over the boat. Nick is missing, but the coastguard arrives after receiving a call from Nick claiming to have been stabbed. He arrives and finds Libby on deck with a knife in her hand.

Libby is convicted of murder, and Nick's body isn't found. Her assumed motive is a $2 million life insurance policy, and her knowing that Nick was facing embezzlement. Libby asks Angela to adopt Matty while she serves her prison sentence. Angela stops bringing Matty to prison to see Libby, so she tracks them down and finds out she is residing in San Francisco. She calls Angela, and while the pair are talking, Matty calls out "Daddy," and the phone line disconnects. Libby realises Nick faked his death.

One of Libby's inmates tells her that she can kill Nick without fear of being charged under the Double Jeopardy Clause in the US Constitution. After six years of training, Libby is moved to a halfway house under the supervision of a parole officer named Travis Lehman. However, she is caught breaking her curfew when she is found in Matty's old school to retrieve Angela's records. As she is taken back to prison, she drives Lehman's car off a ferry and swims to shore. She visits her mother and borrows some money and an old truck from her.

Libby finds out that Angela moved to Colorado but later died from a natural gas leak after marrying another man. Fast forward, and Libby spots one of the Kandinsky paintings that she and Nick bought in an old newspaper clipping in Angela's home and traces the sale record to New Orleans, where Nick is currently running a boutique hotel under a new identity.

Libby confronts him during a party and demands that he return Matty in exchange for her not exposing him. She arranges to meet Nick at a cemetery the next day. However, Nick pays off a look-alike boy to act as Matty and tombs her in a casket, but Libby frees herself. Lehman gets a photocopy of Nick’s driver's license and goes to his hotel to confront him. He settles for $100,000 in return to keep quiet. However, Libby enters with a gun and is told that Matty is in a boarding school in Georgia. Libby kills Nick after shooting and injuring Lehman. Later, she visits Matty's school, and they embrace after he recognises her.

Analysis 

This movie was a brilliant example of suspense and drama. It truly had me on the edge.

Ashley Judd's acting was excellent. I was left thinking, what master plan will Libby come up with next? It was also very emotional at times to see her portray a mother who would go to such extreme lengths to see her child again.

The action scenes were executed very well, especially the car stunts and Libby’s attempt to free herself from the locked coffin.

This is a perfect watch for those looking for a thrilling, entertaining and action-packed movie.