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The film centers on a relationship forged throughout the adult lifetimes of two Marine colonels, Hays Hodges ( Tommy Lee Jones ) and Terry Childers ( Samuel L. Jackson ). They fought side by side in Vietnam, where Childers saved Hodges' life by shooting an unarmed POW. That's against the rules of war but understandable, in this story anyway, under the specific circumstances. Certainly Hodges is not complaining.

Years pass. Hodges, whose wounds make him unfit for action, gets a law degree and becomes a Marine lawyer. He also gets a divorce and becomes a drunk. Childers, much-decorated, is a textbook Marine who is chosen to lead a rescue mission into Yemen when the U.S. embassy there comes under threat from angry demonstrators.

Exactly what happens at the embassy, and why, becomes the material of a court-martial after Childers is accused of ordering his men to fire on a crowd of perhaps unarmed civilians, killing 83 of them. He persuades his old friend Hodges to represent him in the courtroom drama that occupies the second half of the film. Although the story marches confidently toward a debate about the ethical conduct of war, it trips over a villain who sidetracks the moral focus of the trial.

Remarkable, though, how well Jones, Jackson and director William L. Friedkin are able to sustain interest and suspense even while saddled with an infuriating screenplay. Little is done to provide the characters with any lives outside their jobs, and yet I believed in them and cared about the outcome of the trial. If their work had been supported by a more thoughtful screenplay, this film might have really amounted to something.

Some of the lapses can't be discussed without revealing plot secrets. Here's one that can. Hodges makes a fact-finding visit to Yemen, and sees children who were victims of Childers' order to fire (the scene echoes one in " The Third Man "). He returns, drunk and enraged, and accuses Childers of lying to him. Childers punches him. Hodges fights back. They have a bitter brawl--two middle-aged men, gasping for breath--while we try not to wonder how a lame attorney can hold his own with a combat warrior. Finally, with his last strength, Hodges throws a pillow at Childers, and the two bloodied men start laughing. This works fine as an illustration of an ancient movie cliche about a fight between friends, but what does it mean in the movie? That Hodges has forgotten the reason for his anger? That it was not valid? Much depends, during the trial, on a missing tape that might show what really happened when the crowd was fired on. The tape is destroyed by the National Security Adviser ( Bruce Greenwood ), who tells an aide: "I don't want to watch this tape. I don't want to testify about it. I don't want it to exist." How do you get to be the National Security Adviser if you're dumb enough to say things like that out loud to a witness? And dumb enough, for that matter, to destroy this particular tape in the first place--when it might be more useful to the United States to show it? Much is made in the movie of the Marines' esprit de corps, of protecting the lives of the men under your command, of following a warrior code. Yet one puzzling closeup of Childers' eyes during the Vietnam sequence supplies an undertow that influences our view of the character all through the movie: Is he acting as a good Marine or out of rage? This adds usefully to the suspense (movie stars are usually found innocent in courtroom dramas, but this time we can't be sure). But eventually we want more of an answer than we get.

One entire subplot is a missed opportunity. We see the U.S. Ambassador ( Ben Kingsley ) and his wife and son as they're rescued by Childers. Later we hear his testimony in court, and then there's a scene between Hodges and the ambassador's wife ( Anne Archer ). Everything calls for a courtroom showdown involving either the ambassador or his wife, but there isn't one. Why set it up if you're not going to pay it off? I ask these questions and yet admit that the movie involved me dramatically. Jones and Jackson work well together, bringing more conviction to many scenes than they really deserve. The fundamental problem with "Rules of Engagement," I suspect, is that the filmmakers never clearly defined exactly what they believed about the issues they raised. Expert melodrama conceals their uncertainty up to a point, but at the end we have a film that attacks its central issue from all sides and has a collision in the middle.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Rules Of Engagement (2000)

Rated R For Scenes Of War Violence, and For Language

123 minutes

Tommy Lee Jones as Col. Hays Hodges

Samuel L. Jackson as Col. Terry Childers

Guy Pearce as Maj. Mark Biggs

Philip Baker Hall as Gen. H. Lawrence Hodges

Ben Kingsley as Hall Ambassador Mourain

Directed by

• William Friedkin
• Stephen Gaghan

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Rules of engagement, common sense media reviewers.

Tense but shallow military drama heavy on violence, language

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Mixed messages. Celebrates loyalty, camaraderie, h

Childers and Hodges are honorable men, tested in b

Combat scenes show heavy gunfire; graphic depictio

"Motherf--ker," "s--t," "

A party in a bar shows a large crowd with drinks.

Parents need to know that Rules of Engagement shows intense depictions of combat with a lot of graphic, gory gunshot wounds. There are many gory, bloody depictions of the injured and dead that include women and children as well as soldiers. Profanity is strong and frequent, mostly variations of "f--k,…

Positive Messages

Mixed messages. Celebrates loyalty, camaraderie, honor, service, and sacrifice of those serving in the military. Politicians are corrupt and morally repugnant; they'll hang anyone out to dry to save their careers or further a country's purported political needs.

Positive Role Models

Childers and Hodges are honorable men, tested in battle, and both have served their country long and well. Prosecutor Biggs is slick and adept at working the system but also is honorable and refuses to further the political aims of the court-martial. The head of the National Security Agency and the ambassador who was rescued are traitorous and willing to lie and cover up evidence to save their own careers and to further what they see as the country's political needs.

Violence & Scariness

Combat scenes show heavy gunfire; graphic depictions of those being shot; blood and gore spraying, spattering, and spurting. Many gory, bloody depictions of the wounded and dead include women, children, and elderly men as well as soldiers. A POW is executed by a gunshot to the head; his body and bloody wound are shown. A mob throws rocks and Molotov cocktails, storms a building with a battering ram, and fires on the building with guns. An extended fistfight with punches and kicks shows bloody injuries to the face.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

"Motherf--ker," "s--t," "dammit," "f--k," "bulls--t," "ass," "f--king," "goddamn."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Drinking, drugs & smoking.

A party in a bar shows a large crowd with drinks. Hodges and Childers drink hard alcohol once each when they're upset; the only consequence is they get in a fistfight with each other that ends in laughter.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Rules of Engagement shows intense depictions of combat with a lot of graphic, gory gunshot wounds. There are many gory, bloody depictions of the injured and dead that include women and children as well as soldiers. Profanity is strong and frequent, mostly variations of "f--k," "s--t," and "damn." There is some drinking as well. End titles explaining what became of the main characters may make it seem like a true story; it's not. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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• Parents say (1)

Based on 1 parent review

Reinforces negative stereotypes about Arabs

What's the story.

Toward the end of a long and illustrious career in the Marines, Col. Terry Childers ( Samuel L. Jackson ) is sent in command of a rescue mission to the U.S. embassy in Yemen. The mission to evacuate the ambassador and his family goes south, and the platoon loses three Marines and gets pinned down. Childers orders his troops to fire on the rioting crowd, killing women and children. The backlash at home is intense, and Childers is court-martialed for murder. He asks his buddy from the Vietnam War, Col. Hodges ( Tommy Lee Jones ), to defend him. Hodges is by no means the best lawyer available, but Hodges will leave no stone unturned to help his friend. Will Childers be the scapegoat, or will justice be done?

Is It Any Good?

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT presents extreme graphic violence designed to shock and horrify, and it certainly succeeds in doing that. Unfortunately, even older teens who can handle the gore and prolific swearing won't be left with much to think about. The strong cast is serviceable but never really transcendent. The plot provides a lot of tension, and there's a fair amount of suspense over Childers' fate, but it isn't enough to sustain interest. The story takes on a lot: a disastrous battle in Vietnam, a rescue mission in Yemen gone bad, a long-term friendship, an investigation, a court-martial, politicians saving their careers. But the attempt to provide breadth only shortchanges depth and leaves the viewer mainly frustrated by the sense that there was a better movie in there somewhere.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about graphic violence in movies. How does what you see in this movie compare to others you've seen? Does it help tell the story? How does it make you feel?

Were you surprised by the outcome of the court-martial? Why, or why not?

Were the events and the actions of the characters realistic? What was easy to believe could really have happened? Was anything hard to believe?

Movie Details

• In theaters : March 30, 2001
• On DVD or streaming : October 10, 2000
• Cast : Tommy Lee Jones , Samuel L. Jackson
• Director : William Friedkin
• Inclusion Information : Black actors
• Studios : Paramount Pictures , Seven Arts Productions , Munich Film Partners and Company
• Genre : Drama
• Topics : Friendship , History
• Run time : 128 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : Scenes of war violence; language
• Last updated : February 28, 2024

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Rules of Engagement Reviews

Stephen Gaghan’s screenplay...huffs and puffs but never really gets anywhere. 

Full Review | Oct 5, 2023

...an often exceedingly deliberate drama that does, at a running time of just over two hours, feel substantially longer than necessary...

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Nov 5, 2022

A military drama scared to face its demons.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 16, 2021

The drama effectively combines combat and potboiler courtroom drama.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Jul 8, 2015

Tense but shallow military drama heavy on violence, language

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Apr 1, 2015

Something is missing

Full Review | Original Score: C | May 19, 2013

If the makers hadn't stuck so closely to the rules, this film would have been far more engaging.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jan 4, 2010

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 7, 2008

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jul 14, 2007

A flag-waving military drama that ultimately buys into a militaristic 'my country, right or wrong' philosophy.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Oct 21, 2006

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 6, 2005

Not exactly a triumphant return to form for maverick director William Friedkin, but it's not bad, either.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 23, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | May 14, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 8, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 8, 2002

Whereas a TV version of the same material might flounder, this slick, big-budget film works because there is legitimate doubt as to both the level of guilt of the accused and the outcome of the trial.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Nov 13, 2002

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 30, 2002

A thriller set in Yemen that turns into an ethical examination of the use of force by the military.

Full Review | Aug 21, 2002

Rules of Engagement

"Rules of Engagement" is a nuts-and-bolts, ramrod-straight military thriller that uses a distinctly unsavory case to defend the honor of the U.S. Marines’ way of life. Taking a broad and obvious approach to ambiguous material that’s virtually all plot mechanics with little nuance or characterization, William Friedkin’s combat-and-courtroom drama possesses sufficient action and conflict to put it over as a solid commercial attraction, and it will be easy for Paramount to suggest to the public that the picture is this season’s "A Few Good Men" or "The General’s Daughter," big hits both.

By Todd McCarthy

Todd McCarthy

• Remember Me 14 years ago
• Shutter Island 14 years ago
• Green Zone 14 years ago

“Rules of Engagement” is a nuts-and-bolts, ramrod-straight military thriller that uses a distinctly unsavory case to defend the honor of the U.S. Marines’ way of life. Taking a broad and obvious approach to ambiguous material that’s virtually all plot mechanics with little nuance or characterization, William Friedkin’s combat-and-courtroom drama possesses sufficient action and conflict to put it over as a solid commercial attraction, and it will be easy for Paramount to suggest to the public that the picture is this season’s “A Few Good Men” or “The General’s Daughter,” big hits both.

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The specifics of the situation, which were elaborated into a screenplay by TV writer Stephen Gaghan from a story by former Marine infantry commander and Secretary of the Navy James Webb, may be distinct from other screen military mellers, but the dynamics — the honor of the military view vs. the incomprehension and hostility of civilians — are pretty familiar.

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Probably the film “Rules” most resembles, notably in its stress on decisions made under difficult battle conditions and its concern with the truth about how and why tragic events occurred, is the 1996 “Courage Under Fire,” which also dealt with combat in the Middle East.

Ten-minute prologue illustrates the defining moment in the lifelong bond between Terry Childers (Samuel L. Jackson) and Hays Hodges (Tommy Lee Jones), which was cemented when the former saved the latter’s life during a mission in Vietnam.

Twenty-eight years later, Col. Childers presents Col. Hodges with a sword at his retirement party from the Marines before heading off for another arena of conflict, this time in Yemen.

With angry crowds besieging the American Embassy, Childers commands three Marine choppers that are sent to rescue the cowering ambassador (Ben Kingsley), his wife (Anne Archer) and son.

By the time the colonel and his men arrive, snipers are firing from rooftops across the street, and the mob is launching rocks and knocking down the doors to the ancient palace. Childers only barely manages to spirit out the government representative in the nick of time. But the fighting continues, Marines start to be killed, and Childers finally gives the order to start firing into the crazed crowd.

The result is an international scandal: Eighty-three Arabs are dead, including many women and children, with scores more wounded. Snapping into action, the transparently evil National Security Adviser, William Sokal (Bruce Greenwood), demands that the blame for the slaughter be placed squarely upon Col. Childers for giving illegal orders to “murder” unarmed people, so as to take responsibility off the United States in general.

In other words, the fix is in from the start, and there’s nothing that even sympathetic military higher-ups can do about it.

Rightly sensing he’s being hung out to dry, Childers asks his old buddy Hodges, who went to law school after Nam, to represent him at the court-martial.

Although Hodges insists, “I’m a weak lawyer,” he can hardly refuse his friend, who flatly states the film’s p.o.v. when he says, “If I’m guilty of this, I’m guilty of everything I’ve done in combat for the last 30 years.”

Hodges takes a quick trip to Yemen in search of anything or anyone possibly helpful to his client, but all he finds is heated anti-Americanism and mutilated victims, mostly children, of Marine bullets.

He returns mad as hell at Childers, but then the audience gets to see something that no one else sees: a videotape taken by an embassy security camera that clearly shows many of the “innocent” men, women and, yes, children in the crowd firing guns at the American compound and its defenders. Finding this evidence at odds with his intentions, Sokal tosses the one and only tape in the fire.

Final 45 minutes are devoted to the trial, in which callow bulldog prosecutor Maj. Mark Biggs (Guy Pearce) relentlessly attacks Childers’ alleged recklessness and makes him look pretty bad.

Hodges chips away at the government’s case as best he can, even managing to suggest that Sokal destroyed the tape he proves was sent to the State Dept. from Yemen. But it just doesn’t look like it’s going to be enough, especially in light of the weasely ambassador’s lies on the stand and Childers’ own unfortunate outburst at a crucial point.

“Rules of Engagement” gives fresh meaning to the term “narrative cinema,” since there is essentially nothing else here. A reserved man who says he wants to spend his retirement fly fishing, Hodges is divorced with a grown son and once had “a drinking problem,” but that’s all the information about him provided by either the script or Jones’ recessive performance.

Jackson has even less to work with, since Childers is defined only as Pure Marine — no family, no psychology, no nothing. A big fight between the two aging comrades-in-arms, in which Hodges assaults Childers after his return from Yemen, is clearly meant to be a classic Big Scene, with two stars beating up on each other, but Friedkin doesn’t stage it too well, and the underlying layers of comedy and love between the men don’t find expression.

The anti-Arab defamation crowd could conceivably mobilize itself for this one, since all Yemeni adults but one are seen as hate-filled marauders. Still, none of them is as clearly nefarious as the National Security Adviser, who, rather than the military, is meant to represent the poison that infects the American establishment.

It cannot be denied, however, that such a story develops a pull and momentum of its own, that the issues of justice, honor, professionalism, patriotism and bonds between soldiers can generate feelings independent of the characters who embody them, and that courtroom dramas aren’t that difficult to make interesting and even gripping.

Friedkin has an affinity for the trappings of the genre, even if he doesn’t do much special with them this time out, and the 15-minute action sequence of the Yemeni siege and evacuation undeniably builds to a blood-coursing level of intensity. But the picture’s outlook on the events it depicts is strictly legalistic, never broadening to assume anything resembling a political, moral or philosophical position.

All performances are as narrowly defined as the storytelling approach. Visually, pic is disappointing, with the widescreen compositions lacking boldness and drab color schemes predominating everywhere but in the foreign locales in Nicola Pecorini and William Fraker’s lensing.

Mark Isham’s score hits predictable military chords rounded out with a few exotic sounds, while other production values, notably the sound work, are good. Locations in and around Ouarzazate, Morocco, fill in nicely for Yemen.

• Production: A Paramount release presented in association with Seven Arts Pictures of a Richard D. Zanuck/Scott Rudin production. Produced by Zanuck, Rudin. Executive producers, Adam Schroeder, James Webb. Co-producer, Arne Schmidt. Directed by William Friedkin. Screenplay, Stephen Gaghan, story by James Webb. [###]
• Crew: Camera (CFI color, Deluxe prints; Panavision widescreen), Nicola Pecorini, William Fraker; editor, Augie Hess; music, Mark Isham; production designer, Robert Laing; art director, William Cruse; costume designer, Gloria Gresham; sound (Dolby Digital/DTS), Russell James II; sound designer, Steve Boeddeker; special visual effects and digital animation, Digital Domain; military technical adviser, Dale Dye; stunt coordinator, Buddy Joe Hooker; assistant directors, J. Michael Haynie, Newt Arnold;. Reviewed at Paramount studios, L.A., March 30, 2000. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 128 MIN.
• With: Col. Hays Hodges - Tommy Lee Jones Col. Terry Childers - Samuel L. Jackson Maj. Mark Biggs - Guy Pearce National Security Adviser William Sokal - Bruce Greenwood Capt. Lee - Blair Underwood Gen. H. Lawrence Hodges - Philip Baker Hall Mrs. Mourain - Anne Archer Ambassador Mourain - Ben Kingsley Capt. Tom Chandler - Mark Feuerstein Major Gen. Perry - Dale Dye

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Rules of Engagement

Where to Watch

Tommy Lee Jones (Colonel Hayes Hodges) Samuel L. Jackson (Colonel Terry Childers) Guy Pearce (Major Biggs) Ben Kingsley (Mourain) Bruce Greenwood (Bill Sokal) Anne Archer (Mrs. Mourain) Blair Underwood (Captain Lee) Philip Baker Hall (General H. Lawrence Hodges) Dale Dye (General Perry) Amidou (Doctor Ahmar)

William Friedkin

An attorney defends an officer on trial for ordering his troops to fire on civilians after they stormed a U.S. embassy in a Middle Eastern country.

More about Rules of Engagement

Rules of engagement.

How's this for chutzpah? Early on, Rules Of Engagement shows U.S. Marines firing into a crowd of protesters—killing …

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April 7, 2000 FILM REVIEW `Rules of Engagement': It's a War Out There, Soldier, and the Uniform Is Made of Cynicism and Pain Related Articles Current Film Video Selected Scenes and Trailer From the Film 'Rules Of Engagement' Forum Join a Discussion on Current Film By ELVIS MITCHELL bitter veteran looking to gain a shot at long-lost glory takes on one last big job, maybe even against his better judgment. That's Tommy Lee Jones, the star of "Rules of Engagement." He plays a Marine lawyer who barely escaped Vietnam with his life and now takes on a court case to defend Samuel L. Jackson, as the man who got him out alive. But that plot line could also describe the trajectory of William Friedkin, whose seminal genre films "The French Connection" and "The Exorcist" put him on Sugar Mountain in the 1970's and who has been trying to rekindle the legend ever since. "Engagement" starts with a Vietnam moment as Hays Hodges (Mr. Jones) and Terry Childers (Mr. Jackson) slog through the mud and Hodges is caught in a firefight. Taking control of the situation, Childers makes a command decision that helps bring Hodges back alive. Almost 30 years later Hodges is retiring from the corps. "He got blown up in Vietnam, went to Georgetown Law and became a cynic" is the way Hodges is described, although he's not nearly as cynical as the people behind this movie. When Childers becomes involved in a situation in Yemen that seems a contemporary My Lai, he seeks out Hodges as legal counsel. "I don't want some Starbucks drinker who's never seen combat," Childers growls. In rescuing the United States ambassador (Ben Kingsley, employing the same dead-voiced American accent he used as the vice president in "Dave") and his family from the embassy while under attack, Childers ordered a retaliatory strike on a crowd. He's the only surviving member of his unit to have witnessed the crowd's fire on the defenders, but to the rest of the world it looks as if he initiated an attack on innocent civilians. Childers is targeted as a scapegoat, since he has made a potential mess of American relations with moderate Middle Eastern countries. It doesn't matter much that he's telling the truth, especially to Sokal (Bruce Greenwood), a national security adviser who destroys a videotape showing that Childers was justified in his actions. Anyone looking for an epic clash of acting styles, or even sparks, between Mr. Jones and Mr. Jackson is bound to be disappointed. Because they are fiery actors with intense and contrasting approaches, the idea of the theatrical Mr. Jackson's going nose to nose with Mr. Jonesof the proud mein and military directness (even his "good morning" sounds threatening), has the promise of a welcome collaboration. But there's not much going on here, and since "Rules" makes the tactical error of showing Childers's innocence at the outset, there is little suspense. The closest thing to a twist is that Mr. Jones doesn't fall back on his characteristic command. He is shaken and unsure of himself, starring in a movie that is basically like the world's most expensive episode of the television show "JAG" as written by Aaron Sorkin ("A Few Good Men"). Mr. Jackson gets to blow out a few of the cobwebs, but not enough of them. Mr. Jones and Mr. Jackson get into a fistfight so they can bond, a Friedkin ritual that was hoary even in "French Connection" days. They show up in court, bruised but unbowed -- bloody brothers, closer than ever. Mr. Jones works hard on dramatic points that seem lifted out of "The Verdict" (on which Richard D. Zanuck was also a producer); he's an alcoholic who vomits just before he enters the courtroom. The supporting cast mostly serves as kindling for Mr. Jones and Mr. Jackson to burn through on their way to proving the truth. Guy Pearce, as an honorable prosecutor, seems to have been cast because he can bite out hard enunciations as well as Mr. Jones, although heaven knows what kind of accent he's supposed to have. With actors like Mr. Jones and Mr. Jackson, "Rules of Engagement" doesn't need to stack the deck so heavily in its favor. While making this picture, Mr. Friedkin must have fondly thought back to the 70's, when movies weren't so pro forma and stars could even lose every once in a while. PRODUCTION NOTES "Rules of Engagement" Directed by William Friedkin; written by Stephen Gaghan, based on a story by James Webb; directors of photography, William Fraker and Nicola Pecorini; edited by Augie Hess; music by Mark Isham; production designer, Robert Laing; produced by Richard D. Zanuck and Scott Rudin; released by Paramount Pictures. Running time: 123 minutes. This film is rated R. WITH: Tommy Lee Jones (Col. Hays Hodges), Samuel L. Jackson (Col. Terry Childers), Guy Pearce (Maj. Mark Biggs), Bruce Greenwood (William Sokal), Blair Underwood (Captain Lee), Philip Baker Hall (Gen. H. Lawrence Hodges), Anne Archer (Mrs. Mourain) and Ben Kingsley (Ambassador Mourain).    "Rules of Engagement" is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It includes intense combat violence and profanity.

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• DVD & Streaming

Rules of Engagement

• Drama , War

Content Caution

In Theaters

• Samuel L. Jackson as Col. Terry Childers; Tommy Lee Jones as Col. Hays Hodges; Guy Pearce as Maj. Mark Biggs; Bruce Greenwood as William Sokal; Ben Kingsley as Ambassador Mourain

Home Release Date

• William Friedkin

Distributor

• Paramount Pictures

Movie Review

U.S. Marine Col. Terry Childers, a much-decorated combat veteran, is sent with a team of Marines to assist the U.S. Embassy in San’a, Yemen, which is being besieged by Islamic fundamentalist protesters. As their helicopters come into view, snipers on a rooftop open fire on the choppers and the embassy. Childers’ team lands, evacuates the ambassador and his family, and then are pinned down on the embassy rooftop by heavy weapons fire that seems to be coming from all directions. As more and more Marines are hit, Childers finally gives the order for his Marines to return fire. The result is more than 70 dead, apparently unarmed civilians in the town square. The public relations fiasco puts the United States in a bad position, and Childers is charged with murder. For his defense, Childers turns to his old friend, Col. Hodges, a Marine lawyer whose life he saved in Vietnam.

Positive Elements: A strong element of faithfulness to duty, courage, and the pursuit truth and justice runs through the entire film. Many scenes of Marines risking their lives to help fellow Marines.

Spiritual Content: Not much. An Islamic cleric urges followers into jihad against the United States.

Sexual Content: None.

Violent Content: Extreme during combat scenes. Blood sprays across a tree trunk, a man’s head explodes, blood gushes from the mouth. Photos of dead and mutilated bodies are shown frequently during courtroom scenes. Combat scenes are harrowing.

Crude or Profane Language: The f-word, and its many variants, gets a workout. The Lord’s name is also taken in vain many times. Other crudities and obscenities throughout.

Drug and Alcohol Content: Marines drink beer during an officer’s retirement party. Col. Childers gets drunk in his quarters. He’s shown with an empty bottle of whiskey by his side.

Other Negative Elements: During a flashback scene to Vietnam, Childers threatens to execute an unarmed Vietnamese prisoner if his commander does not call off an attack. He carries out the threat in a graphic scene reminiscent of the classic Vietnam War photo of a prisoner being shot in the head point-blank. The film is ambivalent about this: it’s clearly treated as the atrocity it is, yet it also tries to show that it was an exigency of war, one necessary to save the lives of his comrades—and to maintain Childers’ status as the film’s protagonist.

Summary: Rules of Engagement is a classic good vs. evil movie. But it doesn’t resort to caricatures. Even the Marine prosecutor, Maj. Biggs, is shown to be driven by duty, and he warns his civilian bosses that he is not their hatchet man; his concern is with truth and justice. I was pleased with the truthful portrayal of all the Marines, warts and all. The free flow of obscenities is troublesome, but I can vouch by personal experience that it is in line with what you would hear on a Marine base any day of the week. (Of course, that reality doesn’t make it appropriate family entertainment.) In the end, Engagement ’s positive moral lessons vie with significant amounts of crude language and graphic violence.

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Rules Of Engagement Review

11 Aug 2000

127 minutes

Rules Of Engagement

Typified by the likes of 'A Few Good Men', 'Courage Under Fire' and, most brilliantly, 'Breaker Morant', the military legal drama is a variety of movie that allows big themes of the ethics and ambiguities of war to be hurled around among all those familiar dramatic highs that the wood-panelled courtroom can muster. Frustratingly, though, Friedkin's thriller is big and bloated, diving for cover in crass, flag-waving hysteria and grinding formula.

Using flashback to present the Vietnam backstory (seemingly shot somewhere deep in the Blue Peter garden), and bounding to the present and a Middle Eastern crisis, the film opens in a flurry of combat to deliver the central set-up as Childers' men attack the inflamed rioters. Immediately, there is a fascinating dilemma here: is it permissible to open fire on women and children if they are firing at you in a combat situation? Can necessity ever overrule morality?

However, the lumpy script waves away ambiguity and boils the film down to a simplistic courtroom showdown. Moreover, as the film nastily insinuates, this was the American embassy, sovereign soil and these were marines the gibbering maniacs were shooting at - so anything is permissible.

Surprisingly, the performances, from such a reliable pair as these, are thin. Jones is marginally the better, playing the worn-down, post-'Nam cynic with a shrugging apathy. Jackson just lazily retreads various bits of previous turns - the fury and bluster of Pulp's Jules, the edgy emotion of 'The Negotiator's Danny Roman and that shouty thing where he is required to shriek "motherfucker", like he does in every movie.

And while it is delivered with due Hollywood professionalism and is kind of watchable, the aftertaste is definitely a sour one.

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Rules of Engagement

• An attorney defends an officer on trial for ordering his troops to fire on civilians after they stormed a U.S. embassy in a Middle Eastern country.
• Hayes Hodges finds his career aspirations dashed when he's wounded in Vietnam. He returns to America and becomes a disillusioned lawyer who goes up against the Service to defend Colonel Terry Childers, who is accused of inciting an incident that leaves many demonstrators dead. Hodges is in no position to decline: Childers saved his life in Vietnam. — Ronos
• Colonel Terry Childers is a 30-year Marine veteran: a decorated officer with combat experience in Vietnam, Beirut and Desert Storm. But now, the country he served so well has put him on trial for a rescue mission that went terribly wrong. For his attorney, he has chosen Marine Colonel Hayes Hodges, a comrade-in-arms who owes his life to Childers. Hodges is not the best lawyer in the service, but Childers trusts him as a brother Marine who knows what it's like to risk death under fire. Bound by duty and friendship, Hodges reluctantly takes the case, even as he begins to doubt the man who saved his life in Vietnam three decades ago. — Anonymous
• Colonel Terry Childers is a 30 year career Marine. He is ordered to go to the American Embassy in Yemen, when it's learned that the situation there is starting to unravel. After evacuating the ambassador and his family, Childers orders his men to fire at the crowd because he believes that they are armed. Back in the U.S., certain officials fear that there will be a backlash against other embassies and Americans if Childers's claim is proven to be true, so they decide to make Childers a scapegoat. Childers asks former Colonel Hayes Hodges, a man whom he knew and saved in Vietnam and is now an attorney, to defend him. While there is no evidence or witnesses that can back Childers's claim, Hodges feels that he owes it to Childers to do what he can to defend him. — [email protected]
• In 1968, a disastrous American advance in the Vietnam War has Lieutenant Terry Childers (Samuel L. Jackson) executing an unarmed prisoner in order to intimidate a captive North Vietnamese army officer into calling off an ambush of U.S. Marines. His act thereby saves the life of the wounded Lieutenant Hayes Hodges (Tommy Lee Jones), though many of Hodges' men die in the battle. In 1996, now a Colonel, Hodges is about to retire from the Marine Corps and is reminiscing about his years in uniform. As a result of wounds he sustained during Operation Kingfisher, he was no longer able to continue as an infantry officer, so the Marine Corps sent him to law school and he continued his career as a JAG officer. He subsequently enters the Camp Lejeune Officers Club, where numerous Marine officers wait to honor his service at a pre-retirement party. Hosting the event is his old friend, Colonel Terry Childers, who is now the Commanding Officer of a Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU). Subsequently deployed to Southwest Asia as part of an Amphibious Readiness Group, Col Childers and his embarked MEU are called to evacuate the U.S. Ambassador to Yemen from the embassy grounds, as a routine demonstration against American influence on the Arabian peninsula and in the Persian Gulf turns into rock-throwing and sporadic automatic rifle fire by snipers from nearby rooftops. After escorting the Ambassador Mourain (Ben Kingsley) and his family to a waiting helicopter, Childers returns to the embassy to retrieve the American flag; meanwhile three Marines are killed by snipers on nearby rooftops with more gun fire following. Childers then orders his men to open fire on the crowd and "waste the motherfuckers", resulting in the deaths of 83 civilian protesters and injuries to over 100 more. Back in the U.S., the U.S. National Security Advisor, Bill Sokal (Bruce Greenwood), pressures the military to proceed with a court-martial to try to deflect negative public opinion about the United States, shouldering all the blame for the incident onto Childers and salvage American relations in the Middle East. Childers subsequently approaches Hodges and asks him to be his defense attorney at the upcoming Court Martial. Hodges is reluctant to accept, knowing that his record as a JAG officer is less than impressive and Childers needs a better lawyer. But Childers is adamant, because he would rather have an attorney who has served in combat. With little time to prepare a defense, Hodges visits Yemen only to find uncooperative government officials and firsthand account of the serious injuries the crowd members endured after encountering hostile civilians. Most of the evidence is stacked against Childers, particularly the fact that no one else in his team can testify to having seen gunfire coming from the crowd, in particular Captain Lee (Blair Underwood) who hesitated to follow Childers' order. Sokal is determined for him to be convicted and is met by the overzealous prosecutor, Major Biggs (Guy Pearce) who believes Childers to be absolutely guilty and wants to make an example out of him. Sokal at one point, burns a videotape of security camera footage revealing that most of the protesting crowd were indeed armed and firing at the Marines; evidence that would potentially exonerate Childers. He also blackmails the ambassador Childers rescued into lying on the stand and saying both that the crowd had been peaceful and that Childers had been violent towards him and his family during the evacuation. Colonel Hodges meets with Mourain's wife after the Ambassador's testimony to hear her side of the story. Although she admits Childers had been valiant, she refuses to testify and destroy her marriage. Back at the trial, Hodges presents a shipping manifest proving that a tape from an undamaged camera which had been looking directly into the crowd-the tape Sokal had burned-had been delivered to Sokal's office, but failed to show up at the trial, arguing that this tape would have been damning evidence against Childers if it had, in fact, shown the crowd was unarmed. Captain Lee is grilled on the witness stand by Major Biggs and despite trying to give favorable testimony, leaves doubt of Childers' innocence. Childers himself eventually takes the stand, with he and Biggs locked into a fierce verbal battle. Biggs produces an audio tape which contains the recording of Childers' poor choice of words when giving his order. While defending his actions, Childers loses his temper while stating that he would not sacrifice the lives of his men to appease the likes of Biggs. Already at an advantage, the prosecution presents the Vietnamese Colonel, who witnessed Childers execute a POW in Vietnam, Colonel Cao, as a rebuttal witness, trying to drive home the idea that Childers is malicious. Hodges cross-examines him and gets him to testify that had the circumstances been reversed, Col. Cao would have done the same thing. After the trial, Hodges visits Sokal and asks him what had happened to the tape; Sokal denies its existence and Hodges replies "Have you ever had a pissed off Marine on your tail?" The film ends with Childers being found guilty of the minor charge of breach of the peace (for having disobeyed his order to just show his Marines' presence), but not guilty of the more serious charges of conduct unbecoming of an officer (eligible for Dismissal from the Service, similar to a Dishonorable discharge for enlisted personnel) and murder (eligible for life imprisonment, and even the death penalty). A final title card reveals that no further charges were brought against Childers and that he retired honorably from the Marine Corps. The title card also explains that both Sokal and Mourain lost their jobs after being convicted of destruction of evidence and perjury respectively.

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RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

"exciting military drama".

What You Need To Know:

(BB, FR, LLL, VVV, AA, M) Moral worldview that explores the moral dilemmas soldiers face in combat plus a few very brief references to Islamic religious slogans & Islamic terrorism, a false religion that distorts Judaism & the historical teachings of Jesus Christ; 54 mostly strong obscenities & 26 mostly strong profanities; very strong combat violence such as explosions & gunfire hitting bodies with blood spurting (but not as bad as the gruesome images from SAVING PRIVATE RYAN) plus bloody images of wounds & two men engage in brutal fistfight in a house; no sex; no nudity; alcohol use & one scene of drunkenness; and, villainous character hides evidence that would exonerate another man of a murder charge, but is defeated in the end, & another man lies to protect his career.

More Detail:

Director William Friedkin brought gritty police work to the screen in his Oscar-winning movie THE FRENCH CONNECTION. Now, after toiling for more than two decades doing second-rate, and even third-rate, work, Friedkin brings gritty Marine drama to life in a powerful movie called RULES OF ENGAGEMENT. Starring Samuel L. Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones, it is a fiery, thrilling work that intelligently explores the moral dilemmas American soldiers sometimes face when they serve their country in tense, often excruciating, combat situations.

The story opens with a violent combat scene set in 1968 in the jungles of Vietnam. Two American platoon leaders, Terry Childers (Jackson) and Hays Hodges (Jones), decide to divide their men into two forces as they trek through a swamp and up a hill. Childers takes the hill with his men while Hodges takes the swamp. The North Vietnamese soldiers, however, decimate the American soldiers in the swamp, leaving a wounded Hodges under intense fire. After taking the hill with his men, Childers tries to force the commanding North Vietnamese officer and his radio man at gunpoint to pull their men back from the swamp in order to save the life of his friend, Hodges. They refuse, so Childers kills the radio man to show the CO that he means business. The CO finally agrees, and Childers promises to let him go.

Thirty years later, Marine Col. Childers congratulates Col. Hodges at his retirement party. Because of his injuries in Vietnam, Hodges became a Marine lawyer, a desk job. After the party, Childers gets an assignment to a Navy ship. Cut to a scene on the ship, where Childers is ordered to beef up security at the American embassy in the country of Yemen in the Middle East. The embassy is under siege from a group of Muslim protestors. When Childers and his men arrive with three helicopters, they find that the embassy is also under sniper fire from rooftops. The scene escalates as Childers is able to finally get the Ambassador, his wife and his son on one of the copters. As he and his troops come under heavier fire, several Marines lie dead, wounded and dying. Childers orders his troops to fire on the protestors, including the women and children in the crowd. The death of many of the protestors stops the combat immediately.

Back in the United States, the scene of 83 dead Yemeni protestors enrages National Security Advisor William Sokal, played by Bruce Greenwood. Sokal orders the military to court martial Childers. Among the charges, murdering innocent civilians. Sokal, however, also deliberately hides a videotape that might show the protestors also were firing at Childers and the Marines. Of course, Childers turns to his old friend, Col. Hodges, to defend him. Arrayed against them are public opinion, the United States government and a very determined military prosecutor, played by another extremely talented actor, Guy Pearce of L.A. CONFIDENTIAL.

An excellent piece of work, RULES OF ENGAGEMENT deals provocatively with the moral ambiguities of war, the split-second decisions soldiers must make in combat, the character of the people who serve in the United States Armed Forces, and the bonds of friendship that tie one man’s fate to another’s. It leaves several moral questions up to viewers to decide, such as whether it’s really okay to fire upon civilians, even if they are firing back at you and especially if you don’t give them some warning shots over their heads first. Another tricky moral issue is the combat scene set in Vietnam. Although, technically, the North Vietnam CO and his radio officer are POWs when Childers threatens to kill them, they are also still technically combatants because they have the means and the opportunity to order their fellow soldiers to cease fire upon Hodges and his position.

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT is also a tailor-made movie for the acting talents of Jones, Jackson and Pearce. All three characters they play are likeable men, despite some very strong foul language in the dialogue. All three actors manage to exude the kind of military bearing that one might imagine such people to project. Director Friedkin has always had a deft hand with his actors, even in some of his mediocre movies. Here, he has the aid of a great script by Stephen Gaghan, who has worked on the award-winning TV dramas THE PRACTICE and NYPD BLUE. Friedkin this time also manages to dazzle viewers once again with his ability to create tense, exciting drama. The only time he falters is in a couple abrupt scenes at the very end that perhaps should have been re-thought.

All of the above elements work together to create a wonderful drama that, even more so than the acclaimed SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, has a strong moral worldview that honors the United States military and the people who serve there. This is a very patriotic American movie that, despite its pro-American flavor, still manages to communicate universal themes that transcend any one country, although some Arab or Muslim groups may still be upset by some of the content in this movie. Regrettably, however, the movie does contain more than 75 strong obscenities and strong profanities and some very violent combat footage. It also avoids any religious content, even though it includes a few very brief references to Islamic religious slogans & Islamic terrorism. Such content requires extreme caution. Even adults who might be attracted to this kind of material will want to exercise discernment before they decide to see it.

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Wednesday 25 July 2012

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