RULES OF ENGAGEMENT R
Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Tommy Lee Jones, and Guy Pearce
Eric says: ******* (7)
For my money, Sam Jackson is Hollywood's best orator. If a director casts him and doesn't give him an emotional speech to deliver, they're wasting him. Who could forget the bible-quoting from Pulp Fiction, or the impassioned "Yes I killed them!" scene from A Time to Kill. Even his less successful films have the trademark - my favorite line from Negotiator is when he asserts, "You are NOT in control!". And then there's the great scene in Deep Blue Sea, with admittedly different results.
He brings those same talents with him, again to ROE, as a career soldier who may have disobeyed the strictest definition of those very rules when ordering his men to open fire on a croud of women, children, old men, etc.
Old friend Tommy Lee Jones, a man who owes his life to Jackson, is asked to defend his comrade in the court marshall. Guy Pearce - of L.A. Confidential fame- is the government's star prosecutor, straight out of Stanford.
The next 90 minutes or so offer nothing new, but Jackson and Jones bring the movie up a few notches with their performances. You sense a real friendship based on mutual respect and geniune like between the two. And while Jackson has given powerful courtroom speeches about killing people before, that doesn't make this one any less enjoyable.
Just a warning to those looking for straight drama, there are a few intense scenes of violence, so be prepared. But if you can handle that, and you're a Jackson fan, I suggest you march on down to a theatre and enjoy.
David says he'll see it later, maybe.
-CURRENT MOVIES-
U-571
THE SKULLS
BLACK AND WHITE
AMERICAN PSYCHO
RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
ROAD TO EL DORADO
FLINTSTONES:VIVA ROCK VEGAS
FREQUENCY