| Rules of Engagement | 
 enlarge | Director: William Friedkin
Actors: Anne Archer, Kim Delaney, Bruce Greenwood, Philip Baker Hall, Samuel L. Jackson
Studio: Paramount
Category: DVD
List Price: $9.98
Buy Used: $0.46
You Save: $9.52 (95%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  147 reviews
Sales Rank: 16041
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 128
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
DVD Layers: 2
DVD Sides: 1
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: PARD332174D
ISBN: 0792168186
UPC: 097363321743
EAN: 9780792168188
ASIN: B00003CXGV
Theatrical Release Date: 2000
Release Date: October 10, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Part war movie part courtroom thriller this gripping drama finda a war hero put on trial for a rescue mission gone terribly wtong with only his doubtful friend and fellow marine to represent him. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 04/11/2006 Starring: Tommy Lee Jones Samuel L. Jackson Run time: 127 minutes Rating: R Director: William Friedkin
Amazon.com
Director William Friedkin knows a thing or two about staging harrowing action sequences, and if you don't believe that, you've never seen The French Connection or To Live and Die in L.A. He comes through niftily in this film as well, with an opening Vietnam battle sequence that sets the stage for the rest of the story, and then with the central moment in the film: a rescue mission involving Marines extricating the American ambassador from an embassy surrounded by hostile protesters in Yemen. Unfortunately, Friedkin can't do much about the implausible plot that follows, in which the Marine commander, played by the always-terrific Samuel L. Jackson, is accused of slaughtering innocent civilians (who actually were shooting at him and his men). He must rely on an old Marine buddy--a lawyer played by Tommy Lee Jones--to get him through the jury-rigged court martial. But the central premise--that an evil presidential aide would perjure himself and destroy evidence simply to maintain good relations with U.S. allies in the Middle East, rather than defending a highly decorated Marine colonel who risked his life--is inevitably hard to swallow. And the ending is even flimsier. --Marshall Fine
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| Customer Reviews: Read 142 more reviews...
 Interesting as a Snapshot in Time October 5, 2007
Interesting scenario; Battle hardened Marine Colonel drops in to secure a besieged embassy and evacuate the staff. His men are getting killed by snipers and a hostile crowd. He gives the order to engage, but is the only person among the group with a clear view of the armed bad guys in the crowd. The Marines fire on the crowd and it creates a firestorm in the press and the State Department with everyone trying to save their careers by sacrificing the Colonel.
Even more interesting to me is what this movie portrays almost exactly a year prior to 9/11. Although very relevant post 9/11, I suspect that nobody would touch this script with a 10-ft. pole today.
One of the stronger images in the movie, also more relevant today than when it was released, is when the Colonel leaves the courthouse after the verdict and is verbally attacked by the media and public but saluted by his former enemy, the North Vietnamese Colonel.
Not a great movie, but one worth watching. If nothing else, it gives a fictional example of why you should not believe everything you hear/see from the media.
Courtroom Drama September 17, 2007
A good portion of this is set in the courtroom. Samuel L is a Marine officer tasked with guarding the US Embassy in an Arab country. An attack occurs and he is put on trial for violating the rules of engagement. He enlists the help of his friend and former lawyer to find the truth and defend him. Everything in this movie is JUST good (acting, storyline, entertainment value), not great.
Leaves the wrong message June 30, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I don't understand why the filmmakers were trying to convince everyone that Samuel L. Jackson's character couldn't have violated the rules of engagement. The opening scene sets his attitude pretty well when he blatantly kills a Viet Cong prisoner to encourage the enemy commander to call off his unit which is killing everyone in Tommy Lee Jones's platoon. While the plot is different, the atmosphere of old, beat-down, used-up has-beens reminds me of Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven. The problem lies in the ending.
I think it could have been a good movie, but it lacked a key ingredient. I lost that suspension of disbelief that makes it necessary to enjoy the movie. I will illustrate this point next, but beware...
SPOILER AHEAD...
When the old Viet Cong commander who stopped the attack on Tommy Lee Jones's platoon shows up in the court room to testify, I was stricken with how unlikely that would be. When he testified that Samuel L. Jackson murdered his radio operator to force him to call off the attack, I figured it was a done deal. Regardless of all the emotion brought forth by Tommy Lee Jones's defense, which sounded good, but didn't change the facts, the whole time I'm watching this I'm thinking "guilty, guilty, guilty." I was sure they weren't going to convict the main character, I was just wondering how he was going to get out of it. The ultimate defense was Tommy Lee Jones asking the Viet Cong commander if he would have done the same if that had been his friend's platoon being killed. Of course, the guy says "yes." So the viewer is supposed to believe that makes it ok? Since when did the American military hold the values of the Viet Cong up to such high admiration that they condoned flat-out murder, point-blank, in the head, to an unarmed prisoner? This is just too unbelievable.
 A Lot of Nothing January 12, 2007
0 out of 10 found this review helpful
This movie goes from Dumb, to Dumber, and finishes with Dumbest.
Important questions, disappointing answers July 23, 2006
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
The charisma of Tommy Lee Jones & Samuel L. Jackson & the gripping theme of this film make it quite watchable. Hard not to be taken in. I rented it; I'm not sorry. Would I buy it? No.
In the last analysis, it's a cynical and manipulative film, not least because the final captions suggest it is a true story -- and I see from some basic internet research that it is not.
Also, it mericilessly milks a number of stereotypes: some of them concern the Yemeni characters; others Vietnam; the relationship between the black and white characters; the main characters' relationships with their families (the lawyer with his overshadowing father, estranged wife, and pacifist son; the colonel Childers with the Marine Corps, the flag, and his non-existent family). Finally, this is a gripping film that does not do justice to its underlying themes, which include a racial aspect that goes entirely unexplored.
Today -- July 22, 2006 -- there are desperate issues in the world that could have been illuminated by a film like this one. They are not, which may explain why Secretary of the Navy James Webb, who reportedly originally worked on the concept, ultimately withdrew. These are questions -- when does war become murder? what counts as torture? what as innocence? how complicit must civilian populations be before they become targets themselves? -- that are too important to be left to films as un-self-conscious as this one.
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