A great movie, but...

Rating: 8/10 (9 April 2000)

For my money, Rules of Engagement is the best movie so far this year. I wish that were saying more, because this film isn't great, but it should have been.
Rules of Engagement has a lot going for it, including a perfect cast and superb direction. Jackson, Jones, Pearce, Kingsley - all give great performances, especially Jackson, who is even more intense than usual (check out his eyes in this movie). Also, Jackson and Jones have a particularly good onscreen chemistry, neither overshadowing the other when they're in a scene together. Add to that Friedken, a director with a good sense of atmosphere (the scenes in Yemen are especially well done), and one would think the movie would be perfect.
And it almost is. So what kills it? The last fifteen minutes or so. I understand that this script went through several rewrites, and the story's original writer, James Webb, came close to completely denouncing the film. It shows towards the end of the film, at which point the movie suddenly makes incredible leaps in logic and realism that it has no business making. It's just another example of Hollywood pandering to its audience when it doesn't need to, and, in my mind, the entire rest of the film points toward an opposite ending. Rules of Engagement could have been a high 9 or a 10 if the ending had been better, so its good points still make it worth watching. Still, I can't help but wish the film had stuck to the real world a little bit more. 8/10