Watchable drama takes the easy route to nowhere

Rating: 4/10 (14 February 2005)

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (Panavision)
Sound formats: Dolby Digital / DTS
Following a horrific incident outside the US embassy in Yemen, during which US marines opened fire on a crowd of 'innocent' civilians, killing 83 of them, a former Army lawyer (Tommy Lee Jones) emerges from retirement to defend the colonel (Samuel L. Jackson) blamed for the massacre.
OK courtroom drama, directed with routine proficiency by former Hollywood wunderkind William Friedkin. Stephen Gaghan's script stacks the odds against Jones and Jackson from the outset, though the happy ending is something of a foregone conclusion. There's a few silly diversions along the way (including an ill-advised punch-up between Jones and Jackson at the midway point), but nothing too disastrous. Production values are solid, and the opening scenes depicting events at the US embassy in Yemen are genuinely potent, but the film paints everything in black and white and refuses to take risks with the material. A gaunt-looking Guy Pearce plays the lead prosecutor (ruthless, but humane), and Bruce Greenwood is the senatorial villain who would like to see Jackson buried for political reasons, but the starry supporting cast - including Ben Kingsley, Anne Archer, Blair Underwood and Philip Baker Hall - are largely wasted in virtual cameo roles.