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Cast: David Rasche, Elisabeth Röhm, Eric Roberts, Chad Lindberg
Guilt-ridden ex-CIA agent Tommy Sparrow (David Rasche) longs to reconnect with his estranged daughter Josephine (Elisabeth Röhm), but he lacks the guts to face her. But when he realizes she desperately needs his help, Tommy valiantly risks life-threatening danger to save her.
From the outside I was thinking this was a straight forward thriller but as the story began I was pleasantly surprised to find out it was much more than that. The story is about a man who is finally retired from his job as a spy for the CIA, his past does play a part in the film but the real story is a human drama about a man that has regrets of not seeing his daughter since she was very little and now that he is back in town he sees that she is having problems of her own like raising a little girl on her own as well as having financial problems and a drinking one was well. To give anymore of the story away would only spoil it for those that are waiting on it's DVD release but I can tell you this is a solid character-driven film that is both suspenseful and at times touching as well. With any film such as this one that relies on it's characters to carry the story you are going to need a cast that is capable of doing so and I don't think they could of picked a better cast. For starters David Rasche takes the lead role as the father that will do anything to help his daughter, Rasche not only looks the part but he also delivers on playing a character that has a hard side to him but a much softer side as well and he does it with ease. Elisabeth Röhm who you may know from the hit Television show "Law and Order" in which she played Assistant District Attorney Serena Southerlyn plays the daughter here. This woman is really nice to look at but her acting is even more impressive, I am not sure why she doesn't get more roles because she is simply fantastic here. The cast rounds out, at least for the leads with the always incredible Eric Roberts, he plays a shrink who is seeing Josephine to help her with her problems but just happens to also know her father since he too is an ex-CIA agent himself. Roberts give a laid back yet strong performance here. The film hits it's climax when Tommy's past catches up to him while attempting to reconnect with his daughter but by doing so he draws her into the danger that awaits him. This is Director Garrett Bennett's third feature film and going off his short resume you can tell he has a great eye for creating a film such as this with a wonderful ensemble cast and deep character development. If you go into this thinking you are getting an action packed thriller you are going to be disappointed but if you're looking for an intelligent thriller with great drama then you are going to be as pleased as I was when watching this one. Crimes of The Past is a film about secrets,regrets and looking for redemption, the film grabs your attention right from the start and doesn't let go till the very end. Be sure to pick this up when it hits DVD on April 13th.
Released by Osiris Entertainment
**** Out Of *****