worth the cost of a rental ...

Rating: 7/10 (23 November 2000)

especially if you're either a samuel l. jackson fan (which i happen to be in a major way) or a fan of tommy lee jones.
i agree with some of the other reviewers ... there are a number of holes in the flick, but not enough to take away from its overall entertainment value, especially if you're a "fan" as i mentioned above.
this was a typically great performance by jackson, although there was one outburst of his in the courtroom that was just a bit too similar to his "negotiator" character ... but again, not enough to take away from his overall performance (look at the job he does when jones comes to visit him and has to let himself in the door ... he pulled that scene off brilliantly). and jones closing argument alone was worth the price of the rental in my book.
jones has some other brilliant moments in his visit to yemen ... shows some very good emotion. in fact, if you're expecting a repeat of his "sam gerard" character a la "the fugitive" and "u.s. marshalls" (as i was), you'll be pleasantly surprised by the range of emotion he shows.
there were a couple of scenes that had me going back and forth ... i mean, at one point, i was totally behind jackson, at another point i was seriously questioning whether he acted correctly, and then i was back in his court (no pun intended). this type of involvement is what makes a movie enjoyable to me.
on the whole, i felt all the characters were very believable, although some (like kingsley's wimpy ambassador-diplomat role and bruce greenwood's evil nsa director) were pretty stereotypical. guy pearce does a very good job as prosecutor (i have to watch "l.a. confidential" again to remember him in that) ... i'd hate to have him prosecuting me. blair underwood also has a very very nice, but small supporting role.
there was a couple of "over the top" scenes ... was it really necessary to have that fistfight?????? i mean, puhleeease!!!! and jackson's distorted flashback didn't do anything for me.
i have to say i was disappointed in the closing comments that come up on the screen at the end of the movie. please understand, i feel i should be vague, because i don't want to reveal anything ... but the closing comments left me feeling "incomplete" ... they brought to mind questions like "well, how did that happen? based on what?" but it wasn't enough though, to take away from my overall enjoyment of this flick.
overall, i give jackson and jones each a "9" rating for individual performance and the movie a "7". i hope i didn't steer you wrong.

jeff