A waste of good talent in 'Rules of Engagement'

A waste of good talent in 'Rules of Engagement'

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Rules of Engagement, ** out of four stars
Drama/Thriller, 128 minutes
Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Samuel L. Jackson, Guy Pearce,
Bruce Greenwood, Ben Kingsley, Anne Archer.
Directed by William Friedkin
A Paramount Pictures presentation
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By Joko E.H. Anwar

JAKARTA (JP): I always find two kinds of films intellectually
stimulating, one on politics and two if it is a satire.Wag the
Dog is among the recent best in this category along with military
film-like A Few Good Men.

These two categories usually make reliable subjects for a film
due to their exclusivity from the rest of the world. They have
their own codes of honor, which ordinary people find amusing, and
when these codes are judged with our common sense of morality, it
is then we get our time for brain exercise.

Still, military-themed movies are preferable since they
usually involve politics as well, a double treat for the
audience.

Marine courtroom drama Rules of Engagement, however, can do
more. However, it fails to engage the audience due to the
filmmakers' lack of faith on which truth they really stand for.

It's as if the filmmakers left the final resolution of the
movie for us to decide while they were still trying to convince
themselves on the issue.

We can clearly see this from the lack of real ending in the
film. It seems like the film just stopped, leaving the audience
hungry for a payoff after watching this pretty long film.

The film itself opens pretty well, making me hope that it
would be as gripping as the underrated military drama The Siege
with Denzel Washington and Annette Bening, which shared a similar
theme, and, just like Rules of Engagement, only received luke
warm reviews.

However, as you sit through patiently for more than two hours,
you will not feel properly rewarded.

Excellent Jackson and good Lee Jones play two marine officers,
Hayes Hodges and Terry Childers respectively, whose friendship
goes way back to the Vietnam War in 1968 where they fought side
by side.

In the war, Childers saved Hodges' life by shooting an unarmed
POW, which is against the Marine's Rules of Engagement, but he
also released another which makes us believe that he is basically
a good person.

Wounded in the war, Hodges becomes unfit for real action.
Still, he cannot get away, and manages to get a law degree and
becomes a Marine lawyer.

Childers, however, continues his career on an excellent path,
leading a rescue mission into Yemen where the U.S. ambassador is
trapped inside his office with angry demonstrators firing from
outside.

The mission turns ugly after Childers orders his men to open
fire on the crowd. Eighty-three people are killed and hundreds
more wounded.

The next day, the massacre, which also takes the life of women
and children, becomes headlines in every newspaper in the U.S.,
and probably in the world.

The official statement has it that the protesters were
unarmed, although National Security Advisor Bill Sokal (Bruce
Greenwood) has a videotape which can prove otherwise.

However, Sokal thinks that it is better to blame Childers for
the killings instead of the entire country.

Soon, Childers is court-martialled and his career is in
jeopardy.

As expected, he wants Hodges to defend him. In fact, it seems
only Hodges, and not even the ambassador (Ben Kingsley), can help
him.

The second half of the film focuses on the trial where
prosecuting attorney Major Biggs (Pearce) is determined to bring
Childers down.

None of the trial scenes, however, is interesting enough to
keep us watching. After a few scenes, I did not even dare compare
the film with the great A Few Good Men, which also tells of a
decorated Marine officer being tried for misconduct.

Anne Archer, who plays the ambassador's wife, testifies
against her husband and helps to get Childers off the hook, seems
to be nothing but a character who can be disposed of.

She is great but the film does not give her space to do more.

Jackson and Lee Jones are reliable always. But they hardly had
their moments like they did in their earlier films.

The film remains a misfire from a director of such good movies
like The Exorcist and The French Connection. So, maybe, you
should just wait until it appears on VCD.