Posted: 04/11/2000

Rules of Engagement

(2000)

by Wayne Case

The rules of war collide with the politics and civil law in this fine drama.

Rules Of Engagement is a good, but not great, film. The potential for a much better film is definitely suggested, but many of the serious questions raised are abandoned rather than addressed. Further, this material seems familiar and brings to mind the far better A Few Good Men.

Mostly a military courtroom drama, the story concerns an attorney defending an officer accused of ordering his troops to fire on a group that included civilians who were storming a U.S. embassy in a third world country. Tommy Lee Jones (Double Jeopardy, Men In Black, The Fugitive) is the attorney and Samuel L. Jackson (Eve’s Bayou, A Time To Kill, Pulp Fiction) is the accused colonel. The two men are friends and fought together almost 30 years earlier in Vietnam where Jones saved Jackson’s life. Both actors deliver their usual excellent performances and add immeasurably tothe material.

As the honorable prosecutor, Guy Pearce (The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and L.A. Confidential) is terrific. Although he is Australian, his regional American accent is worthy of Meryl Streep! Ben Kingsley (Gandhi) and Anne Archer (Clear And Present Danger) play the rescued Ambassador and his wife effectively enough, but at least one additional confrontational scene including them is needed but missing.

Bruce Greenwood (Double Jeopardy, Here On Earth and the upcoming Thirteen Days) continues to impress as the evil National Security Adviser. The actor does what he can to make the stupid actions of the character believable, but the destruction of a crucial video tape really makes no sense. I also felt that, if this were a true story, the President of the United States would have been involved in a matter as volatile as the script leads us to believe this one is. Yet,there in not even a mention of that office.

My guess is that the writing is the weakest link in this film. I say “guess” since I didn’t see a shooting script and know that all sorts of things could have been deleted or changed in post production. Based on what appears on the screen, my problems with the film concern the unanswered questions and unresolved issues. Story is credited to James Webb, who is a U.S. Naval Academy graduate with no other writing credits. Script credit goes to Stephen Gaghan and while this is his first credited script, his next is the highly anticipated Traffic, which goes into production soon.

Direction by William Friedkin is straight forward and effective. To say that he has had a checkered career is a major understatement. It’s hard to believe that the same person delivered 1971’s outstanding The French Connection, plus 1973’s all-time top thriller, The Exorcist, then turned around and inflicted 1983’s all-time bad comedy, The Deal Of The Century and 1995’s non-thriller, Jade. Friedkin also directed Crusing, which has texture and tension, but is ultimately incomprehensible. Also include in his resume The Boys In The Band, which has its fans, and Good Times, which probably introduced the musical duo, Sonny and Cher, to the film going world.

Let’s all hope that RULES OF ENGAGEMENT will serve as a solid new foundation from which he will build a strong new career.

I would recommend RULES OF ENGAGEMENT and suspect that most audiences will be glad they saw it.

Wayne Case is a veteran of the Hollywood film industry.

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