User reviews

A good film is what A Few Good Men is. It is not perfect but especially the performances take this film to a higher level. Tom Cruise and Demi Moore as the 'good guys' are good, as is Kevin Bacon. But the 'bad guys' make this movie really good. Kiefer Sutherland and most of all Jack Nicholson are masterful.

The story is interesting and well told. We all know the truth from the beginning, or we think we do, but the movie is still exciting in its own way.

I liked this movie very much, it was never boring, and I was real pleased that some of the cliches you normally see in a movie like this one were left out. If you like a good story, good directing and perfect performances this is your movie. 9/10.

Neo military lawyer Danny Kaffee (Tom Cruise) defends Marines accused of murder; they contend they were acting under orders.

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone magazine said "That the performances are uniformly outstanding is a tribute to Rob Reiner (Misery), who directs with masterly assurance, fusing suspense and character to create a movie that literally vibrates with energy." Richard Schickel in Time magazine called it "an extraordinarily well-made movie, which wastes no words or images in telling a conventional but compelling story." Todd McCarthy in Variety magazine predicted, "The same histrionic fireworks that gripped theater audiences will prove even more compelling to filmgoers due to the star power and dramatic screw-tightening."

I just wanted to share that, because all I can say is I agree entirely.

Top Ten best reasons why 'A Few Good Men' is one of the best movies ever made.

#10 Direction: Reiner perfectly paces a 2+ hour film, giving all the cast freedom to actually act and develop the story beautifully without any scene dragging.

#9 Cinematography and score: excellent scenes and music; making you believe you are there.

#8 Despite your feeling on Cruise (God, I hate people who judge his couch-jumping to his talent on film) he delivers a perfect transfer from 80s hot-shot/top-gun to real acting. Watch him challenge Jessep in the closing.

#7 It simply had the unfortunate timing of coming out the same year as 'Unforgiven' and 'Scent of a Woman' and lost best pic. Both of those were excellent movies and it would be tough for any voter.

#6 All actors given time to show depth, creativity and originality. I absolutely loved Moore, Bacon, Sutherland, Pollak and Cruise.

#5 In addition, even though everyone's performance was spectacular and Nicholson's was a brief one, he still stole his scenes and strongly deserved an Oscar. (I mean, c'mon…'You can't handle the truth!' scene was worth an award.)

#4 The Dialogue. Please, the main characters were good enough at bantering back and forth, but just witness the conversation between Cruise and the newspaper man.

#3 Chess = Courtroom. If Cruise's Kaffee performance wasn't evidence the direct correlation between chess and courtroom, I don't know what will. (i.e. Where's the mess-hall?)

#2 How many movies since 1950 have you seen end with "The End"? They seemed to know this would be a classic, without excessive violence, language, no sex or nudity.

#1 Everything, and I mean EVERY THING in this movie worked…but simply judge it on one of the BEST SCENES of any movie ever: "You can't handle the truth!"

In one of the most telling scenes in this movie, Navy Lieutenant Commander Jo Galloway (Demi Moore), a lawyer who is helping to defend two Marines on trial for murder, is asked why she likes these guys so much. And she replies, `Because they stand on a wall, and they say ‘nothing is going to hurt you tonight, not on my watch'.' Which veritably sums up the sense of duty and honor which underscores the conflict of `A Few Good Men,' directed by Rob Reiner, and starring Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise. There is a code by which a good Marine must live and die, and it is: Unit, Corps, God, Country. But to be valid, that code must also include truth and justice; and if they are not present, can the code stand? Which is the question asked by director Reiner, who examines the parameters of that code with this film, which centers on the murder of a young Private First Class named William Santiago, who was killed while stationed at the Marine Corps base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The case draws the attention of Commander Galloway, Special Counsel for Internal Affairs in the Judge Advocate General's Corps in Washington, D.C. Galloway, taking into consideration the impeccable service records of the two Marines charged with the crime, convinces her superiors that a thorough investigation is warranted in this case, though there are those in high places who would rather see this one plea bargained and put to rest.

Galloway persists, however, believing that Santiago's death may have resulted from a `Code Red,' a method of disciplinary hazing employed in certain circles of the Corps, though illegal. And if this was a Code Red, the real question is, who gave the order? Ultimately, her tenacity prevails, but though Galloway is a seasoned lawyer, she has little actual courtroom experience, so Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee (Cruise) is assigned to the case, along with Lieutenant Sam Weinberg (Kevin Pollak), with Galloway, as ranking officer, to assist. Kaffee, the son of a legendary lawyer, has skated through the first nine months of his Naval career, successfully plea bargaining forty-four cases. Outwardly upbeat and personable, Kaffee seems more concerned with his softball game than he does with the time he has to spend on the job. But underneath, he's coping with living his life in the shadow of his late father's reputation, which is an issue with which he must come to terms if he is to successfully effect the outcome of this case. And on this one he will have a formidable opponent: Colonel Nathan R. Jessup (Nicholson), who commands the base at Guantanamo.

As Jessup, Nicholson gives a commanding performance, and once he enters the film you can sense the tension he brings to it, which begins to swell immediately, and which Reiner does a great job of maintaining right up to the end. Jessup is a soldier of the old guard, a man of narrow vision and a particular sense of duty; to Jessup there's two ways of doing things: His way and the wrong way. He's a man who-- as he says-- eats breakfast three hundred yards away from the enemy, and he's not about to let a couple of lawyers in dress whites intimidate him. And that's exactly the attitude Nicholson brings to this role. When he speaks, you not only hear him loud and clear, you believe him. It's a powerful performance and, as you would expect from Nicholson, entirely convincing and believable.

Cruise, also, gives what is arguably one of the best performances of his career as Kaffee. He perfectly captures the aloofness with which Kaffee initially regards the case, as well as the determination with which he pursues it later. Cruise is convincing in the role, and some of the best scenes in the film are the ones he plays opposite Nicholson in the courtroom, the most memorable being one in which Kaffee exclaims to Jessup, `I want the truth!' to which Jessup replies, `You can't handle the truth!' And the atmosphere fairly crackles.

Moore is outstanding, as well, and she manages to hold her own and make her presence felt even in the scenes dominated by Nicholson and Cruise. It's a fine piece of acting by Moore, who deserves more than just a passing mention for it. Also turning in notable performances are Pollak, whose dry humor adds such an extra touch to the film, and Wolfgang Bodison, who makes an impressive screen debut as Lance Corporal Dawson, on of the Marines on trial for the murder of Santiago.

The supporting cast includes Kiefer Sutherland (Kendrick), Kevin Bacon (Ross), James Marshall (Downey), J.T. Walsh (Markinson), Cuba Gooding Jr. (Hammaker) and Christopher Guest (Dr. Stone). A powerful drama, superbly delivered by Reiner, `A Few Good Men' is a thought provoking, unforgettable motion picture that makes you take pause for a moment to consider some things that are for the most part out of sight and out of mind. Like who is on that wall tonight, and are we safe because of him. And it makes you reflect upon some things perhaps too often taken for granted. And that's what really makes this film so good; and it's all a part of the magic of the movies. I rate this one 10/10.

This is one of my favorite movies, and one of the best courtroom dramas ever. I can watch it over and over again. It's one of those movies that if I flip the channel and it's on, welp, that's it, I'm going to end up watching the entire thing. (Also in this category: Apollo 13. The constant? Kevin Bacon!) .. A Few Good Men is gripping. It's one of those rare films that is built almost entirely on it's dialogue, and succeeds brilliantly. The script is intelligent and thoroughly engaging. The directing is crisp and suspenseful. The performances are top-notch. Specifically, this is some of Tom Cruise's best work. There are, of course, a few unforgettable quotes, but the build up to these scenes is what makes them unforgettable. As the viewer, you feel like your fighting for justice right along side the cast. Their battle becomes yours, and the movie is all the more powerful for it.

Courtroom dramas are a favorite of mine and sometimes they work, sometimes not. A FEW GOOD MEN works, thanks to a fine script by Aaron Sorkin from his play, Rob Reiner's taut direction, and the extremely effective performances from a solid cast.

Not surprisingly, in a role that is tailor-made for his talents, JACK NICOLSON almost walks off with the film. Not quite, but almost. At least, he's the one who makes the deepest impression as the extremely bigoted, controlling officer who is never at a loss for explosive and sarcastic comments. He doesn't have that many scenes in the film, but when he's on camera, the fireworks are the strongest--and you know that there will be a final confrontation for the wind-up that will have him and TOM CRUISE face to face in a shouting match.

TOM CRUISE does well as the lawyer defending two young marines on a murder charge and DEMI MOORE is satisfactory as his assistant. But their performances never quite reach the degree of power that Nicholson's does, restricted as they are by less showy roles.

Discovering the story behind the marine's murder and the facts surrounding that mystery is what holds audience interest from start to finish. Facts are revealed, little by little, and we know we're in for a final showdown between the rather callow young lawyer and the hardened marine officer with the chip on his shoulder. Compelling drama, well worth watching.

This is my all-time favorite movie. I've probably watched it 300 times and I can recite it line by line. I once wrote the script during the course of one semester in a class I hated. I still have the notebook.

Demi Moore definitely is the film's weakest link, but the acting is superb and Aaron Sorkin's story sucks you in from the opening minute. There is so much great dialogue, headlined by Tom Cruise's courtroom battle with Jack Nicholson at the movie's climax.

Too many people say the movie is average because it's "too slow," but I really believe anyone who appreciates good acting and good stories has to put this one near the top of their list.

One of better Tom Cruise movies ever made and an excellent movie for Jack Nicholson as well. A story about what it means to follow orders, what can be justified in the name of defending one's country and the laws of beasts lurking within us.

This movie has entered our cultural subconsciousness because of its speeches. We cannot handle the truth, indeed. And those speeches are truly great. Whenever the movie is in the courtroom and either Cruise or Nicholson says something aloud, the movie is beyond captivating. My full respect to both of them for their performances and to the writers for their poetry.

Yet those courtroom scenes are almost too good. Because the rest of the scenes simply do not match up. They seem almost banal in comparison. There's nothing outright wrong with them, but I have a hard time remembering what happened in them. I could almost quote the courtroom scenes word for word, but I'm less certain how Cruise even got pulled into this whole mess in the first place. Something about a grudge or proving himself to someone... or something.

That doesn't ruin the film, however. Let's make that clear. The rest of the scenes are fine, they keep the plot going, the supporting characters are interesting enough and the technical aspects of the film are just great. It's merely the difference of it being an above average film with great aspects, and it being an all-around great film. Now it's the former, though it had the potential of being the latter.

See A Few Good Men, if you haven't already, if you have a thing for great performances and/or courtroom dramas. You won't be disappointed.

A young hotshot naval lawyer (Cruise) is given what seems to be an open and shut case of two marines murdering another while he slept. Cruise, who has a reputation for plea bargaining was assigned by division, to defend the accused. Could it be so it never sees the inside of a courtroom?

Over seeing the defence of the accused is Demi Moore, from internal affairs, who is renowned for her attention to detail. She believes their innocence and suspects a cover up.

In charge of the marine unit in question is Jack Nicholson, a hard-ass marine who commands respect and demands the best.

With outstanding performances from Jack Nicholson, Tom Cruise, and Yes Demi Moore as well. The plot develops, and the conspiracy surrounding the case becomes apparent. And its up to Cruise to lay his career on the line to find the truth.

This movie is a powerful drama, and is fantastically well made.

I love it 10/10

A Few Men is a must see movie. With so many talented actor this movie is a classic. The performance of Tom Cruise is outstanding, one of his best movies yet. I recommend this movie for all people, and especially ex military or people who are planing to join the military. The overview of the movie is, fighting with your own conscience weather to follow the order given form your superior officer. The outcome of movie leaves you wondering whether or not we should follow orders that are ethically wrong to our beliefs, even if it comes for some one above you. Again I enjoyed this movie very much and I am in the process of joining the military and I guess I can envision my-self in a similar difficult situation.

Yes this is a well put together movie with an interesting storyline and a quality cast. But it is not a movie masterpiece and doesn't deserve the adulation its getting in these comments. I honestly can't belive all the comments from people calling this one of the best movies ever... blah, blah, blah. Rubbish. It is really nothing more than a fairly simple tale with a relatively predictable ending told just capably by its production team. This movie gets a solid 7/10

I saw this movie when I was serving my duty in the army and all I can say about the patriotism that the soldiers are shown to possess in this movie is that it is naive. Especially in the scene where the following words were uttered (found it in the quotes):

Lieutenant Sam Weinberg: Why do you like them so much?

Lieutenant Commander JoAnne Galloway: Because they stand upon a wall and say, "Nothing's going to hurt you tonight, not on my watch."

Do I have to say that almost every soldier in that cinema burst out laughing at that?

It's a well made movie, but I could not bear the naivete.

Starring: Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore This movie is for people who like lawyerly stuff and military type stuff. This movie is an episode of Jag on crack. This movie was made by Rob Reiner. Really, after that last statement, need I say more? If you didn't know that Rob Reiner did The Princess Bride, then hang your head in shame now.

It starts out in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, when a couple marines enter the room of another marine, stuff a rag down his throat, duct tape his mouth shut, duct tape his hands behind his back, duct tape his legs together, and so on. Then the credits roll and we cut to D.C., where we find out that the marine getting gagged and tied died that night. The two marines that were doing the gagging and tying are charged with murder and flown out to D.C.

The task of lead counsel is assigned to Daniel Kaffee (Cruise), a lieutenant junior grade with a track record for plea bargaining and smooth talking. Lt. Cmdr. Jo Galloway (Moore) is assigned to be co-counsel, despite the fact that she tried to get in as lead counsel. They start the investigation down in Cuba where they meet Col. Nathan Jessup (Nicholson), the man who ordered the two men to give Private Santiago the Code Red, which accidentally led to his death. Of course, Jessup doesn't tell this to Danny or Jo. Why would he? He'd look pretty bad for it, right? So when they get back to D.C. and do some legal maneuvering with their clients and the prosecution, Danny manages to get a deal for a mere two years of prison time, where they are actually home in six months. And the two that are charged turn it down on principle, because they still believe they have done nothing wrong. Danny decides that he wants to get a different lawyer assigned to the case because he doesn't want to go down with them, but then has a change of heart after talking to a few people and thinking about it.

So the trial starts, and that's when the movie really picks up speed. The skill that Danny has as he strides around the courtroom asking all the right questions and probing in just the right ways is phenomenal. It almost makes you want to be a lawyer.

There are some major setbacks along the way, some things go right, a lot more go wrong, but eventually everything turns out okay in the end. But like so many movies where we know how it's going to end, it was never really the ending we were banking on, but the fun of getting there.

Bottom Line: 4 out of 4 (own this movie)

This movie is certainly much better than a regular 7.6, the currently running rating. I think it deserves an overall rating closer to 9, its one of the best movies of all times.

There are actually very few evergreen movies that one likes to see again and again, this is one of them, you always feel great after watching it.

The final court room scene between Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson is electrifying. Without a single kiss, the chemistry between cruise and Moore is simply delicious, all characters are well developed, attention has been payed to every single detail.

One of my favorite scene is the one between Sam and Daniel after Downey's testimony where Cruise gets drunk - a really beautiful scene about how what our parents think about us, matters.

Worth collecting.

Guantanamo Bay is, apart possibly from the 38th Parallel in Korea, the only place left on earth where the US Military still confronts hostile Stalinism, eyeball to eyeball. Ceded to the USA after the Spanish-American War of 1898, Guantanamo is America's only outpost on the island of Cuba. Marines guarding the perimeter of the naval base are under immense pressure. Here in the Cold War's last remaining hotspot, they are responsible for protecting the Free World.

A border incident has occurred. A marine sentry has fired a 'live' round in the direction of the communists. One of his colleagues has informed on him, bringing on himself a 'code red'. The 'code red' is an unofficial disciplinary measure, imposed by a marine squad when a member offends against the unit's esprit de corps. Having been gagged, bound and beaten, the marine dies at his colleagues' hands. There will now be a court-martial.

Demi Moore plays Lieutenant-Commander Joanne Galloway, a lawyer in the Navy's Internal Affairs Department. A deft plot device has her rehearsing to herself a request to be assigned to the case as she walks across the parade ground, efficiently conveying necessary information to the viewer.

Dan Kaffee (Tom Cruise) is a smart, flippant, good-looking young Navy lawyer. His father was a renowned jurist, and Dan feels the burden of his father's reputation. Indeed, his casual, tongue-in-cheek attitude to the law is his way of avoiding comparison with his father. You can't fail if you don't even try.

Kaffee is assigned to defend the two marine privates accused of killing the informer. Why a junior officer should be given conduct of such a serious case is baffling, unless of course the Marine Corps wants these men to be found guilty, in order to protect somebody more important...

Colonel Nathan Jessep is fascinating. Jack Nicholson always turns in a magnetic performance, but this one is special. He makes his character by turns urbane, self-assured, sarcastic, professional and menacing.

Gradually, Demi and Tom start to pull together and to function as a defence team. The 'code red' doctrine is exposed as a pernicious practice.

If the film is a stock courtroom drama pretty much like all the others, it certainly has qualities which set it apart. Three outstanding performances from the stars, Nicholson, Cruise and Moore, make it a bit special. The denouement is very hard to believe, but there are things in the film which linger in the memory and compensate for the exaggerations of the plot.

The opening credits roll over lovingly-filmed images of a precision-drill rifle squad in action. The viewer is, from the very start, placed emotionally in the context of a severe, inflexible discipline which is both admirable and unnerving. Kaffee indulges in some sparkling legal jockeying. Though he may lack trial experience, we feel that he will defend these men ably. He is nobody's fool. The flirtatious bickering between Kaffee and Galloway is well done. Jessep's walk to the witness stand is a moment of high drama, with Nicholson filmed from a low angle, emphasising the formidable authority of the man.

This clever, highly-polished film finally convinced me that Cruise can act. As for Demi, I am still unable to figure her out. What is it about her that remains stubbornly unsympathetic? She has abundant intelligence and talent, and is exquisitely beautiful, and yet is is impossible to warm to her. Does she get these parts because of her dark personality, or do the roles colour our perception of her?

This is certainly an excellent movie, with great cast that give amazing performances.

I must have watched it 5-10 times and it will always attracts my attention till the end.

Yet one thing that always annoyed me is that effort in the script to make everyone's lines pompous throughout the movie. It is as if every character has to keep saying things that will shake every one else and the audience.

This could be true come from Jessup's character, Cedricks' or perhaps one of the marines who surely express a passion of their work and duty.

But it is tiring to hear heavy lines from everyone throughout the movie. Especially in a court drama it is distracting from the points /meanings the story is trying to pass.

This is officially my favorite film of all time! A bold statement, but one I truly stand by. The reason it rates so highly? Well, there's quite a few, but the most important being the glorious cast and the amazing script. Two factors that, when not in tandem, can seriously derail a film. But here it works together perfectly in sync.

There are quite a few career-best performances to be found here: Jack Nicholson at his growling best, Demi Moore as a true legal ball-buster, but it's Tom Cruise who deserves the most praise. His character, Daniel Kaffee, is a wise-cracking young lawyer who's in for the trial of his life. But the way Cruise infuses his character with slight nuances and cocky grins make him seem very charming, plus all the witty one-liners uttered by Cruise should keep you chuckling every time he and Demi Moore's Lt. Galloway face-off at each other.

The script is a fantastic courtroom drama, the kind of movie I love where as an audience you get to participate because you want to solve the case as well. This proves tricky, because early on, you know who's the guilty party, but the momentum of the film is carried by trying to prove that fact. Made trickier, when your case involves the U.S. military, where terms like God, country and code make up their daily life.

A consistently smart legal thriller, one that I continue to watch at least once every second week. Love that Tom Cruise wit.

There's a lot for me not to like. Tom Cruise's charm is wafer thin as it is, and barely present here. Demi Moore is one of the blandest actresses ever, she brings absolutely nothing to a movie. Sorkin's smug, sarcastic dialogue is grating, and the film's messages are not at all subtle or clever. The formulaic plot mechanics of the courtroom drama are in full effect, and Reiner's direction is artless as usual, relying on hacky montages, musical cues and trumped up emotional moments (in one particularly groanworthy scene, Cruise whines about his daddy issues). And yet, I will admit I was somewhat entertained. I guess it's that certain comfort that comes from the courtroom drama... you don't know exactly what the turning point will be, but you know it's coming right when the hero seems down for the count, and justice will prevail. And that scene (certainly the movie's most famous scene) is a satisfying one. It doesn't ring true in the slightest, but it's a dynamite exchange. Oh, and I'm pleased to have made it through this review without any hackneyed "You can't handle the truth!" jokes.

I'm sorry to disappoint this movie's multitude of fans, but, even though I like it on the whole, there is NO WAY this film deserves 9, much less 10 stars.

As a law student, I appreciate the attention paid to courtroom tactics and the film's honest depiction of a trial: the preparation, arguments over strategy, trying to put the pieces of your case together, and, most prominently, the lawyer vs. lawyer battle juxtaposed against the other courtroom players.

HOWEVER, the central showdown of the movie is UTTERLY PREPOSTEROUS!!!

1) No military attorney would ever behave so recklessly as Cruise did in barking at Col. Jessep, especially with no facts on his side.

All the painstaking effort used to construct an accurate and interesting film here crumbles into typical Hollywood nonsense, and Cruise's change of heart (his decision to accuse Jessep) is all the more ridiculous for it, especially considering how trenchantly he had already spelled out to Moore's character for the entire first half of the film the utter futility and senseless risk of doing so.

2) NO WITNESS WOULD EVER BEHAVE LIKE JESSEP WHILE ON THE STAND. In particular, no Colonel would:

--insult the judge,

--walk off the stand before being dismissed,

--make sarcastic and condescending remarks to the questioning attorney,

--and he certainly WOULD NOT admit to the "Code Red" or turn the witness stand into his own personal soapbox about "men on a wall."

The latter is what really sours me on the film--when Nicholson's character opines with such memorable tripe as:

"Ever put your life in another man's hands, asked him to put his life in yours?"

"We follow orders, son. We follow orders, or people die. It's that simple."

"Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns."

"You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you NEED me on that wall."

Give me a break. This movie is dripping with melodrama.

7/10

JEM

After what is in this day and age a remarkable run for a drama on Broadway, 497 performances from 1989 to 1991 Aaron Sorkin's A Few Good Men was given the class A treatment in terms of a cast. It was also nominated in several categories for Oscars, including Jack Nicholson as the powerful and malevolent commandant of the U.S. Marines on the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba for Best Actor.

One of the many Nicholson quoted lines by impersonators is that famous "you can't handle the truth" during a cross examination. Tom Cruise who asks the question for which that's the answer is not so certain he can and neither is the audience which is riveted to their collective seats watching this courtroom duel.

Every player worth his salt wants a courtroom drama in their resume because of the inherent conflict and drama built in on a good case. The case here is two marines, Wolfgang Boddison and James Marshall, who are on trial for murder of a fellow marine on Guantanamo Bay. They are being prosecuted by Kevin Bacon and are defended by a team of navy lawyers that include Tom Cruise, Demi Moore, and Kevin Pollak. This death turns out to have national implications as Nicholson is up for a big Pentagon job. Of course there's a lot more to it than that, but can we handle the truth.

Paramount had the good sense to get playwright Aaron Sorkin to adapt his own play for the screen and he and director Rob Reiner do a grand job in bringing it to the screen. There's no trace at all of the stage origins of this story, they've done their work that well.

Besides those I've already mentioned pay attention to J.T. Walsh as Nicholson's conscience stricken second in command and Kiefer Sutherland as the hard-nosed platoon leader of the accused men.

My favorites in this film are the two defendants and Tom Cruise. Cruise does a wonderful job as a navy lawyer who grows from a deal maker to a passionate advocate for what Nicholson says he can't handle. Cruise's scenes with the defendants, especially Boddison, are the most touching in the film. You will get a tear in your eye when Boddison smartly salutes Cruise and offers the review title quote.

To me A Few Good Men belongs on the top five list for all of the cast members involved. Don't miss it if it's broadcast, it's the best military court martial film since The Caine Mutiny.

A Few Good Men is the first film written by screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, who also penned the screenplay for the Broadway play and later for Oscar-nominated films such as Moneyball and The Social Network. The latter films are two I'd consider to be some of the strongest dramas of recent years, while A Few Good Men I'd consider to be one of the more overrated. This is a film that proves that if something easily-digestible, spelled out enough for the audience, given a reasonable amount of believability and unbelievability, and have some A-list stars at its core, that it can make American audiences mistake an adequate movie for a great movie.

With the high-praise the film has garnered, it would seem that Americans want recognizable faces, long-winded dialogs that come off as rants, unrealistic behavior in a mature setting, and redundancy in their court films rather than a film that relies on plausible characters and wasn't so reliant on trying to get their actors to spew out the next monologue that feels as if it should be concluded by a deafening applause.

The story concerns the death of a marine at the Guantanamo Naval Air Station on account of a hazing incident. Two Marines are in custody and Lieutenant Commander JoAnne Galloway (Demi Moore) is assigned to the case, along with the lazy, back-talking Navy Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise), who just happens to have a polished record of settling court cases. Lieutenant Kaffee is certain they could settle this dispute out of court, with the additional help of Lieutenant Sam Weinberg (Kevin Pollak), until they discover that the hazing incident may've been ordered by the strict and self-assured Colonel Nathan R. Jessup (Jack Nicholson). The film details the proceedings on the side of the defendant as well as the lengthy trial, where Lieutenant Commander Galloway and Lieutenant Kaffee go up against Kevin Bacon's Jack Ross, a Captain in the Marines.

The scenes that concern planning the trial and formulating arguments range from intriguing to monotonous, depending on Sorkin's focus at the time. When the three Marines look to analyze their arguments and hunt for witnesses make up the film's strongest hour, combined with the energy provided by the cast. When Lieutenant Kaffee throws a fit because Galloway and Weinberg are going in a different direction from him is when the film stalls and goes nowhere. Don't get me started on the drunken fit of rage he has towards the end, which is nothing but a tacked-on obligation in storytelling. I can't believe I'll ever say such a thing about Sorkin's writing style, which is usually subtle and very conversational.

Unsurprisingly, the most intense work comes during the court scenes, but they themselves have an odd staged feeling to them. Simply put, the characters don't seem to talk like real people in court, but rather people putting on a show for the courts and an audience, as if the trial is being televised. It's also safe to say that Kaffee's behavior is not only something that becomes grating on a particular viewer, as it does the characters in the film, but it is also one of the more unrealistic elements of the movie. I'm not wholly knowledgeable on the military, but I have enough to make the inference that a Lieutenant Commander would likely not tolerate the verbal cockiness and disrespect provided by that of a lower Lieutenant. Especially a female Lieutenant Commander, who likely had to prove herself to be granted such a position.

It's that and the utter nonsense the film puts us through, such as the film's conclusion, which makes no mistake at a flag-waving moral that attempts to make us shed a tear. What comes before this, on the contrary, is a very solid speech by Nicholson that has some truth and honesty to it (was I not supposed to side with him in the long run?) By the end of the film, I found myself liking Colonel Jessup a bit more than our protagonist Kaffee. Unlike Kaffee, who talks in the condescending way that he knows everything, Jessup could pass for knowing everything, being older, being more experienced, and more intelligent in the long run. I'm not saying Cruise does a poor job at portraying Kaffee, it's just his character is made a grating, unrealistic Marine stereotype instead of a person we can find appealing outside his shell of arrogance.

A Few Good Men does have one subversive quality and that is it's able to refuse adding a relationship subplot between Lieutenant Commander Galloway and Lieutenant Kaffee, unheard of for a film as mainstream-Hollywood as this. At the beginning of the film, based on what I thought was downplayed mutual attraction between Kaffee and Galloway, I was fully expecting a relationship to brew between the two, but one never brews. This is a delightfully mature element for Sorkin, who provides just a taste at what he'd do later in his career. He would later become more skilled at handling numerous characters, events, subplots, and small instances that take place over a long period of time. In A Few Good Men, he feels like he's doing ample work on a project for screen writing. The more I watched the film, the more I wished for a documentary on how military men and women are able to twirl their weapons and perform drills, marches, and stances with incredible precision, which is what the film opens with.

Starring: Tom Cruise, Demi Moore, Kevin Pollak, Jack Nicholson, Kiefer Sutherland, and Kevin Bacon. Directed by: Rob Reiner.

I suppose the plot has been covered in other comments so I will mostly skip it except to emphasize that a Marine private who is both innocent and physically ill is killed in the course of an attempt to bring him up to Marine Corps standards and to teach him not to squeal on his buddies for harmless infractions. Extra ecclesia nulla salus. There is no salvation outside the church, Maggot.

Tom Cruise plays a cocky young lawyer who is insubordinate, self-confident, and otherwise obnoxious. Demi Moore is his earnest superior who wants to save two young Grunts who are accused of conspiring to kill the innocent private. She thinks they were "just following orders." Cruise doesn't care at first whether they were following orders or not. He just wants to plea bargain and get them off lightly without a trial. Jack Nicholson is Colonel Jessup, deep into his "ironic" mode here, not putting much into the role of an initially charming but ultimately prideful commander of the Marines at Guantanamo Bay. J. T. Walsh is his sympathetic Executive Officer, a humanistic weakling according to Marine norms.

I've tried to like the movie and I can't do it, not even after several viewings. The same things bother me, each time a bit more than previously. The movie is contemptuous towards the authoritarian command structure of the military. Reiner and his writers simply cannot get inside the skins of the Marines, or the Navy for that matter. (Cruise is nothing more than a civilian putting in his obligatory three years before going on to greener pastures.) Make no mistake. (I love to say those words -- "Make no mistake".) In four years in the military I met people who ranged from the ironically distanced to the sadistically personal. Both the military and I rejoiced at my separation. (Later I taught for a few years at New River Marine Corps Air Station in North Carolina, where I had some of the sharpest students I've had anywhere.) This movie is unfair and propagandistic. The innocent private's death is the result of a rather complicated link of commands, hints, and innuendos, all of them involving gung-ho Marines. The one person who thinks "Code Reds" -- an informal punitive act that accidentally results in the private's death -- are wrong is Walsh, who is forced by his sense of guilt to off himself in the prescribed military manner.

The only character development to speak of is shown by Tom Cruise, who changes from a carefree kid to a defense counsel who is determined to bring The Truth to light. Aye, there's the rub. "The Truth". Cruise takes the big chance of putting Nicholson on the stand and harassing him until he explodes with anger and screams his big speech -- "The Truth? You can't handle the truth." This is absolutely predictable in movies. The guilty party breaks down on the witness stand at the end and, either defiantly or remorsefully, shouts out, "I DID IT! I DID IT!" In Nicholson's case, he does it defiantly. In the old Perry Mason TV series, the ratio was about half and half.

As for the iconic speech itself, it's treated by Reiner as one of those jaw-dropping well-written revelations, but it's nothing we haven't heard before. The line, "You can't handle the truth", has become a well-known tag line, but it leads nowhere. Nicholson's big speech is hot air. It boils down to the argument that nobody who hasn't been in the front lines doesn't understand the importance of the job that Nicholson and his men are doing. Sure, it's hard, dirty work sometimes, but somebody's got to provide you with protection. "You need me on that wall!" A million cop movies have made the same point, usually leaving it illustrated but unspoken. "A Few Good Men" makes "Dirty Harry" look like a work of art in comparison.

Now this is essentially unbelievable. Nicholson is nothing if not a severe case of self-discipline, and very clever, a man used to commanding himself as well as others. He's given no redeeming features. Early on, he makes sexist remarks to Demi Moore. He has no family that we know about, no sense of responsibility for the death of the innocent private. Not only does he pop open under some shouting by Cruise, but he's stupid enough to shout that, yes, "You're damned right" he ordered the Code Red. And then, after insulting the court, he stomps off the witness stand without permission and is SURPRISED to find that he is restrained by MPs! The two grunts who carried out the lethal Code Red under orders are severely punished. We have never really solved the conundrum of the "I was only following orders" defense, have we?

What are we supposed to make of all this? The military is a vast right-wing conspiracy liberally sprinkled with smug, strutting fascists and that superior humanistic civilians will eventually root out the evildoers. What other conclusion is possible? There is only one redeemable career officer shown in the movie, Demi Moore, and she is the equivalent of the "good German" of the post-war combat movies. And as a lawyer, she doesn't come near measuring up to Cruise's hot-shot Harvard graduate.

Anyway, it's a middle-brow movie because it isn't obvious garbage, but it doesn't provoke any new thoughts in the viewer either. It confirms what Reiner seems to think we already believe about the military. So we can all sit back and bask in the glow of our own self-righteousness. There's no challenge in that.