Grand acting and a common plot...

Rating: Null/10 (27 January 2001)

If not for the expected, and solid, grand acting of Jones, Jackson and Pearce, this movie would deserve to sit on the shelves gathering dust next to old Super Bowl clips. Jones and Jackson craft believable and interesting characters within the confines of a common plot-did the Marine exceed his bounds in war? Well, there's a juicy question-always was, always will be. But, I'm not sure more movies should be made about it, at least not without a twist. That's not to say, that we should stop asking the moral question for the ages ("how far is too far in war"). Even though we viewers are shown, at the onset, what happened at the scene of the "alleged crime," we still must opine if the alleged offender went too far. Although the movie answers the question legally, it doesn't answer it, morally. In taking us through this story, Friedkin does not offer up the kind of suspense he did in his grand, French Connection." That's not to say the film is ever boring. It is not boring. This is a guys' movie. Pour a beer, or better yet drink out of the bottle, light up a robusto, put the feet up on the table, and watch Jones, Jackson and Pearce do their swaggering so well. The acting is to be enjoyed, and then it's time to get back to doing the family taxes. I just may watch it again, and push the taxes aside. Oh yes, and I'll continue to ponder the quesion, "what's too much in war?"