Honorable Mention.

Rating: Null/10 (10 April 2000)

I'm glad to see Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson star in a film like RULES OF ENGAGEMENT. Because I was beginning to worry, after such duds like DEEP BLUE SEA and DOUBLE JEPORADY, I was wondering if Jones and Jackson were losing their touch with good movies. But not only Jones and Jackson are back in good form, but so is director William Friedkin, who can place this film on his sucessful list along side with THE FRENCH CONNECTION and THE EXORCIST. RULES starts with two Vietnam soldiers, Hayes Hodges (Tommy Lee Jones) and Terry Childers (Samuel L. Jackson). They split up thier platoon, only to have Childers capture the Viet Cong colonel and the radio operator, while Hodges gets shot and his men killed. Childers makes a very horrifying and scary move towards the Viet Cong colonel to call the Viet Cong men off of shooting at Hodges. The colonel agrees, and Childers saves Hodges' life. Twenty-eight years later, Hodges and Childers are now both colonels themselves in the Marines. Hodges is about to retire, until Childers gets himself in a terrible situation. Childers was rescuing the ambassador of Yemen (Ben Kingsley) and his wife (Anne Archer) and child. But while in Yemen, the crowd was rioting and there were snipers shooting at the Marines and Col. Childers. Childers orders his men to shoot at the crowd, and the press publicizes it around the world. The U.S. government, especially the Secertary of Defense, William Sokal (Bruce Greenwood) want to point the blame on Childers, and are willing to take him to trial and court-martial him. They recruit a young and intelligent Major Mark Biggs (Guy Pearce), to proscute Childers. While Childers gets the some what law student Hodges to defend him in trial. RULES is like a typical court room thriller. While I was watching this film, it reminded me of such films as A FEW GOOD MEN, A TIME TO KILL, and even TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. But it did matain suspense and intrest, so I did enjoy it. Friedkin even has the viewer saying to themselves while watching this film, what would you do in Childers' situation? The acting by both Jones and Jackson are very well done. Jones has his Sam Gerrard of the FUGITIVE scarcasim, but he has a sensitive and hurt side, which I haven't seen in him before. And Jackson is a mixutre of his roles in A TIME TO KILL, and THE NEGOTIATOR, where you're wondering if this is a man or a monster. And supporting roles from Guy Pearce, Ben Kingsley, and Bruce Greenwood (the slimy husand in DOUBLE JEPORADY), are all good as well. But the credit should go to William Friedkin, who does a great job of keeping the pacing good, the acting great, and the story believable. After such duds like JADE, Friedkin takes a good story and makes it memorable. There are some scenes in RULES that will have scenes stick in viewers minds for weeks. It is at times bloody, but it is combat, and nobody said that combat was pretty. RULES was a good movie, and fairly enjoable. It's not the best courtroom thriller, it's not the best Jones and Jackson film, but it is a movie the works well from start to finish. Being that it's the pre-summer season, RULES is a good and entertaining film that will please those action hungry movie fans until GLADITATOR and MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2 are released. Until then, this film is worth seeing! ****1/2 (out of five)