Quality war-drama, better than "A Few Good Men"

Rating: 7/10 (17 September 2015)

Released in 2000, "Rules of Engagement" is about two Marine officers, Childers (Samuel L. Jackson) and Hodge (Tommy Lee Jones), who have a relationship going back to Vietnam. Childers is charged with murder after leading a team to the Yemen embassy to save the Ambassador and his family during a violent "demonstration" (more like an all-out attack) and calls on Hodge to defend him. To save face, the National Security Adviser (Bruce Greenwood) wants Childers to be the scapegoat at all costs, disregarding blatant evidence to the contrary. Can Hodge, an alcoholic and mediocre lawyer at best, save his buddy who once saved his life? Guy Pierce plays the prosecutor while Ben Kingsley & Anne Archer play the Ambassador and his wife.
This is a war-drama by the maker of 1973's "The Exorcist" and 1977's "Sorcerer" similar in tone/plot to 1992's "A Few Good Men." I like "Rules" better, despite some flaws (like being contrived). It may not have an iconic line like "You can't handle the truth!" but it has quality combat action (which "A Few" didn't have) and the story of the protagonists is just more compelling IMHO. The movie's effectiveness hinges on Jackson and Jones convincing us of their characters, their relationship and their crisis, which they easily do. Some critics have decried the film as "racist" (naturally), but it's more like telling the awful truth with 2012's infamous Benghazigate scandal lending support. Director Friedkin said the movie's not anti-Arab, anti-Muslim and certainly not anti-Yemen, it's anti-terrorist. Bear in mind that the King of Morocco had to read and approve the script before the filmmakers could use Morocco for locations and nobody participating from the Arab side of things felt the film was anti-Arab.
One critic complained about a peripheral character not resurfacing at the end, but why pan a story for NOT being predictable?
The blurb at the end makes it seem like the movie was based on a true story, but it's not. It simply reveals what happens to the characters after the story ends so the viewers aren't left in the air.
The movie runs 128 minutes and was shot in Morocco (substituting for Yemen), South Carolina (Vietnam), Virginia and Washington DC.
GRADE: B+