Rules of Engagement 2000
This is a lousy movie. I thought with Samuel Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones that it would be pretty good. But it’s so completely lacking in any kind of depth that they are completely wasted. Much of the supporting acting sounds flat and recited.
The story itself is very thin, a Marine colonel (Jackson) who orders his Marines to open fire on a group of protesters outside the embassy while the marines are taking fire from snipers on nearby rooftops. That’s the setup.
The rest of the movie centers around Tommy Lee Jones, Jackson’s old Vietnam buddy, as a mediocre Marine lawyer who defends him. We learn more about the events and find out the State Department wants to crucify Jackson as someone who went crazy under battle (and guilty of murder) and thus deflect worldwide scorn from the US government.
There are huge holes all over the plot and the courtroom drama that ensues. First, I doubt a seasoned Marine officer would make his first active move as firing into a crowd. Later we learn the rules of engagement involve slowly escalating steps like we would expect and Jackson skipped over the first 4.
D+
The prosecution gets caught in really stupid lies that, even if they weren’t proved to be lies, wouldn’t help their case. The prosecution lawyer is presented as an elite Stanford educated boy wonder, but would he make such obvious mistakes? Tommy Lee Jones is presented as a bad lawyer, but he has obviously done a lot of research and presents a very good argument.
The State Department is so intent on nailing Jackson that they apparently forget that it would help them to prove that Jackson was being fired upon by the crowd.
This is just an all-around bad movie. Though it has some good moments and a very good cast (Ben Kingsley and Anne Archer as the ambassador and his wife, and the poindexter guy from L.A. Confidential as the prosecuting attorney), don’t be fooled into renting this one. Get A Few Good Men, Courage Under Fire, or even Three Kings instead.