directed by : william friedkin written by : james webb ( story ) , stephen gaghan " rules of engagement " , the new film from william friedkin ( you remember , the guy who directed " the exorcist " way back when ) , is something of an enigma . it's one of those films which is entirely predictable , not particularly well written , and it's all stuff we've seen before . however , there is something about it that holds your attention despite all of this . i suppose it could be the two leads , tommy lee jones and samuel l . jackson , two of the better actors working in hollywood today . it could also be that friedkin somehow manages to keep the action going throughout the entire film so that you're never distracted by having seen all this before . whatever the reason , " rules of engagement " is one of those bizarre movies like " the 13th warrior " which has no discernible redeeming qualities , but i was incapable of disliking . colonel terry childers ( samuel l . jackson ) is a decorated marine and vietnam veteran . his latest assignment is to fly into yemen with a squad of marines and rescue an ambassador ( ben kingsley ) and his family from protestors at the american embassy . when the protestors turn violent and marines are killed , childers orders his men to open fire on the crowd , killing over 70 people . now he faces a court martial and up to fifteen years in prison unless he can prove that the crowd had weapons , and he was only returning fire . his attorney is colonel hayes hodges ( tommy lee jones ) , a friend whose life childers saved in vietnam . the prosecuting attorney is the slimy major mark biggs ( guy pearce ) , who has been hired on by the even slimier william sokal ( bruce greenwood ) , who wants everything pinned on childers so the us can save face . as i said , this is hardly an original movie since obvious similarities to 1992's " a few good men " exist . there are several things besides the lack of originality which really hurt this film . one is the absence of a good score . in fact , there is hardly any music at all in " rules of engagement " . during the courtroom and battle scenes , where the tension is palpable and the audience is on the edge of their seats , a nice dramatic score would have been welcome . instead , we are given overwhelmingly loud sound effects of explosions and gun shots which make it impossible to hear what is being said . on the bright side , the battle scenes are very realistically filmed , especially the opening scene of the skirmish in vietnam involving childers and hodges' unit and a vc squad . the acting in " rules of engagement " is certainly the film's high point . samuel l . jackson is the perfect choice for his role . a man consumed with passion ( jackson is at his best when playing a character consumed by passion ) for his job and his country . jones may be a bit miscast as an alcoholic loser of a lawyer , but he turns in a great performance anyway . ben kingsley ( " species " , " what planet are you from ? " ) is given nothing to do other than look shifty eyed and stutter over his testimony in court . guy pearce , who gave a brilliant performance in " la confidential " , is horribly miscast as the prosecuting attorney . there is something about pearce's performance that makes major biggs seem incredibly slimy ( too much so in fact ) despite the fact that his introduction sets the character up as something of a boy scout . there are certain things about this film which make very little sense . for example , bruce greenwood's ( " double jeopardy " ) character is given a video tape that would not only clear childers of all charges , but would get the us out of trouble as well . instead of submitting the tape as evidence , he tells his aid : " i don't want to think about it , i don't want to see it , i don't want it to exist . " not only does it not make sense that he didn't want it to exist , but it makes even less sense that he would tell a witness . the only other thing that bothered me was the poor editing job performed here . not only are long , sometimes boring sequences not edited down to size , but we are sometimes given quick camera cuts from person to person during the courtroom scenes which make things very confusing . " rules of engagement " runs a little too long at 127 minutes . i recommend it to fans of tommy lee jones and samuel l jackson since they are both given a chance to shine here . i give the film two and a half out of five stars . comments ? feel free to e-mail them to : <a href= " mailto : johnbeachem@dependentfilms . net " >johnbeachem@dependentfilms . net</a> for past reviews , movie news , and other fun stuff , visit : <a href= " http : //www . dependentfilms . net " >http : //www . dependentfilms . net</a> * * * * * - one of the greatest movies ever made , see it now . * * * * - great flick . try and catch this one . * * * - okay movie , hits and misses . * * - pretty bad . see it if you have nothing better to do . * - one of the worst movies ever . see it only if you enjoy pain . 
