Not bad at all

Rating: 7/10 (22 February 2002)

CAUTION: CONTAINS LOTS OF SPOILERS! Rules of Engagement is not a great film, and it does contain some bits which should have been thought through better, but overall it's very competent and very... well, engaging. I can't understand why so many people are so passionately and irrationally opposed to it.
Ignoring the many reviewers who have completely misinterpreted the film and quite honestly don't know what they're talking about, let's look at the more serious criticisms. For instance, why do so many people call it predictable? The predictable thing would have been for the Ambassador (or, more likely, his wife) to have qualms of conscience and come in and save the day at the last minute, or else to prove in court that he was lying and the National Security Advisor was blackmailing him. The predictable thing would have been for the captain being interviewed to admit that he was under such heavy fire that he couldn't tell where the bullets were coming from. The predictable thing would have been to have the video tape magically appear, or for Tommy Lee Jones to come in with such a convincing defense that all charges would be squashed, or to make a dozen other obvious changes. As it is, yes it's obvious that Jackson's character won't fry, but apart from that the movie keeps us guessing the whole way. Predictable? Come on.

And then, why do they say that the trial scenes were boring? I know boredom is only a matter of opinion, but the trial had me on the edge of my seat a lot of the time.
And then, there are the people who find it all ridiculous and unbelievable. Unbelievable that a trouble-maker might try to stir up feeling against Americans? That a hate-filled protest could get completely out of hand? That somewhere in the Middle East, women and children could possibly be armed? Unbelievable that a Government official could possibly destroy evidence? At least the film didn't depict anything completely ridiculous, like terrorists hijacking American planes and using them to kill thousands of American civilians. Then it really would have been unbelievable.