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Review by Susan Granger
3 stars out of 4
It's the sheer star power of Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel
L. Jackson that propels this picture. Based a novel by James Webb,
former Secretary of the Navy, it revolves around a highly decorated
30-year Marine veteran, Col. Terry Childers (Jackson), who is
court-martialed. The case involves an incident in which the
U.S. Embassy in Yemen was surrounded by angry, fanatic
demonstrators. Amid the violence, Childers was ordered to take in
three helicopters and evacuate the terrified Ambassador (Ben Kingsley)
and his family. In the subsequent melee, three of his Marines were
killed and, following his explicit orders, his men gunned down 83
Yemeni civilians - men, women and children - and wounded many
others. Col. Childers became a scapegoat in the diplomatic outcry that
followed . To mount his defense, Childers chooses a wartime buddy, a
cynical, just-retired Marine lawyer, Hays Hodges (Jones), whose life
he saved in Vietnam back in 1968. Together, they face off against a
malevolent National Security Adviser (Bruce Greenwood) and a young,
zealous prosecutor (Guy Pearce) - but they lack the hard evidence
necessary to present a strong defensive case. Director William
Friedkin captures the intense tension of this combat-and-courtroom
drama but he's hampered by Stephen Gaghan's hackneyed, predictable
screenplay which is marred by superficial characterizations and
cliche-ridden dialogue. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Rules
of Engagement" is a slick, suspenseful 7. And, if you enjoy this kind
of provocative, what-really-happened enigma, I recommend "Courage
Under Fire" with Meg Ryan and Denzel Washington, which delves into a
combat incident during the Gulf War.
Copyright © 2000 Susan Granger
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