Review – Rules of Engagement

If you liked A Few Good Men, then like as not you’ll also enjoy this macho military mouthpiece movie. This time around a grizzled old Marine Corps lawyer (Tommy Lee Jones) is defending an old buddy (Samuel L. Jackson) against charges that he ordered his troops to open fire on unarmed civilians. I won’t presume to second-guess the morality of the notion that all Yemenis – even children – are secretly agents of an anti-American jihad, nor should I question the wisdom of shooting non-combatants and prisoners of war. However, even if such issues are set aside this picture still comes up wanting. Even if the characters are morally right, they’re still not all that sympathetic. The sinister government conspiracy to frame Jackson’s character is cartoonish at best. And at the conclusion of the drama far too many loose ends are cleared up via recourse to reassuring text overlays. So overall this is a vaguely entertaining but poorly crafted and morally questionable production. Mildly amusing