Rules of Engagement (2000)

2 out of 4

Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Tommy Lee Jones, Guy Pearce, Bruce Greenwood, Ben Kingsley, Anne Archer

Director: William Friedkin

Time: 128 mins

Here we go again. Another military crime drama. Ever since Aaron Sorkin's blistering play A Few Good Men exploded onto the screens with some testosterone-charged exchanges between Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson, it seems a criminal investigation revolving around the defence forces is ripe fodder for Hollywood scribes. 1996 saw the very good Courage Under Fire, last year the less engaging The General's Daughter, and this year the courtroom fisticuffs of Rules of Engagement. The air of secrecy usually surrounding the military has created this tantalising goldmine of high-powered cover-ups, court cases, and court martials. There is also the potential of some gun-toting action, just in case the drama loses a bit of steam. That's what Rules of Engagement sums up to: a couple of sequences where guns are all ablaze, followed by a dramatic aftermath. Where it fails is it offers nothing new: courtroom confrontations (A Few Good Men) and battlefield conspiracies (Courage Under Fire) have already been covered. The denouement is also fairly anti-climactic - a disappointment for a film with such a good cast and well-known director.

Colonels Terry Childers (Samuel L. Jackson) and Hayes Hodges (Tommy Lee Jones) are good friends and battle-hardened colleagues, ever since Childers saved Hodges' life during the Vietnam war. Hayes has since retreated to a life of being a lawyer for the US Marines, while Childers is still leading missions into trouble spots around the world. His latest operation is to evacuate US Ambassador Mourain (Ben Kingsley) and his family during a hostile protest at the US Embassy in Yemen. When his men are under attack, Childers orders retaliation gunfire on the crowd. With the subsequent outcry against American brutality, National Security Advisor William Sokal (Bruce Greenwood) is determined to point the blame at one man - Terry Childers. As his hopes dwindle, Childers calls on his old friend Hayes Hodges to defend him.

With the majority of the film being a courtroom drama, Rules of Engagement has a lot to live up to. From the Agatha Christie-penned Witness for the Prosecution (1957), to the hard-hitting Anatomy of a Murder (1959), to more recent legal thrillers like Jagged Edge (1985), Presumed Innocent (1990), and A Time to Kill (1996), a big trial and its associated points, counterpoints, and stunning last-minute pieces of evidence and twists, usually provide for some sizzling dialogue and dramatic firepower. Rules of Engagement, sadly, has little of either. It begins well enough, with a couple of well-orchestrated battle sequences that establish the central conflict as well as the relationship between Childers and Hodges. But when the movie shifts into investigation and trial mode, the spark disappears. The court scenes never really rise to any great heights, and the resolution is surprisingly weak. The film repeatedly focuses on a videotape that may have evidence that clears Childers, but then it just becomes a footnote before the end credits roll. Huh? If it was only good enough to be an "Oh, let's put this little note in at the end to remind people what happened" plot device, then why focus so much on it? There's also a silly punch-up between Childers and Hodges that does nothing except to give these two "tough" men a chance to show that they're... uh... tough.

Samuel L. Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones have both turned in memorable performances over the years, from Jackson's Bible-quoting hitman Jules in Pulp Fiction to Jones' Oscar-winning turn as US Marshal Sam Gerard in The Fugitive. Jackson gets to deploy the same intense man-in-trouble portrayal that he honed in both A Time to Kill and 1998's The Negotiator, complete with the same, damn-it-all, wild outburst that featured in those films. Jones is less effective as the relatively unsuccessful lawyer who is plagued by self-doubt - it's amazing how these washed-up lawyers seem to reform themselves in time to blow (figuratively speaking, of course) the witnesses and evidence away. Still, a lesser Jones is better than what many other actors have to offer. Fellow Oscar-winner Ben Kingsley has a relatively small and thankless role as the Ambassador, while Anne Archer has the only substantial female part in the cast as his wife. Australia's Guy Pearce is very good as the prosecuting attorney, though one can sense his struggle with the accent with his first few lines. After a while, though, he has it down pat. Canadian Bruce Greenwood plays another of his slimy bad guy characters, after similar roles in Double Jeopardy and Disturbing Behaviour.

Director William Friedkin has struggled to reach the same level of success he had in the early 70s, when he directed films like The Exorcist and The French Connection. He has done sporadic work since then, mostly on TV. With Rules of Engagement, his string of mediocre films continues. Though there is undeniable star power with the likes of Jackson and Jones, the film lacks that bit of sizzle that would have made it more watchable.

(c) Joe Wong (20 August 2000)