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Dom Robinson reviews
Paramount
- Cert:
- Cat.no: PHE 8030
- Running time: 122 minutes
- Year: 2000
- Pressing: 2001
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 15 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround
- Languages: English, French
- Subtitles: English, French
- Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Super 35)
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- Extras: Interviews, Featurette, Director’s Commentary
Director:
- William Friedkin
(Blue Chips, Cruising, The Exorcist 1 & 3, The French Connection, Jade, The Hunted, Rules of Engagement, To Live and Die in L.A., TV: 12 Angry Men)
Producers:
- Richard D. Zanuck and Scott Rudin
Screenplay:
- Stephen Gaghan
Music:
- Mark Isham
Cast:
- Col. Hayes Hodges: Tommy Lee Jones
Col. Terry L. Childers: Samuel L Jackson
Major Mark Biggs: Guy Pearce
National Security Advsior William Sokal: Bruce Greenwood
Captain Lee: Blair Underwood
General H. Lawrence Hodges: Philip Baker Hall
Mrs Mourain: Anne Archer
Captain Tom Chandler: Mark Feuerstein
Ambassador Mourain: Ben Kingsley
Rules of Engagementputs two Hollywood heavyweights together on the big screen and when I satdown to watch this film I thought it’d be the type of courtroom drama that’sdifficult to get into and sustain interest but it turned out to be theopposite and both Tommy Lee Jones as Col. Hayes Hodges and Samuel L.Jackson as Col. Terry L. Childers, the man who saved Hodges’ life inVietnam back in 1968, spark off each other very well indeed.
Fast-forward 28 years later and Hodges has retired from the army. Childerscontinues and is sent on a tough mission to Yemen to help out AmbassadorMourain (Ben Kingsley), but as push comes to shove he needs to helpthe ambassador and his family escape. Mission accomplished, but Childers andhis men are still being fired upon by snipers on the roof-tops and in thecrowd. A quick decision is made to return fire which wipes out the enemy buta stack of civilians too and when the US Army’s investigators get there theday after there’s no trace of any weapons.
While the story was created by Vietnam veteran James Webb and thetechnical advisor, Captain Dale Dye, who also has a cameo in the film,worked onPlatoon andSaving Private Ryan,the plot does sound a bit predictable because a case is built against Childersto put him in the frame for murder, but there’s a conspiracy along the wayand it’s the question of who’s involved, be it Major Mark Biggs (Guy Pearce),National Security Advsior William Sokal (Bruce Greenwood), theambassador or the man on the grassy knoll. Childers calls back Hodges to helphim fight the case and of course it’ll test their enduring friendship, etc., etc.
There are top-flight performances as usual from the two leads, plus an excellentturn from Guy Pearce as their opponent in court. The concept of thefilm doesn’t lend itself to Oscar-winning material, but it’s still a highlyentertainming two hours, although like most films that end in a courtroom dramait’s worth a rental first to see whether it stands up to repeated viewings inyour opinion.
The picture and sound quality are first rate on this disc. The colours arebright and the detail crisp. The 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen presentation iswell-filled by director Friedkin, although I haven’t been able to compare withthe Super-35 fullscreen version.The average bitrate is 6.38Mb/s, often peaking over 9Mb/s.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound (English and French) opens firein all combat scenes be they in Vietnam or Yemen and Mark Isham‘sscore expertly builds up the tension in the courtroom scenes.
In the extras dept. is a 13-minute second of Interviews with thedirector and principal cast members, a made-for-TV Featurette that runsfor 23 minutes and a feature-length Director’s Commentary.
More chapters are required as there’s just 15 spread throughout the 2-hourfilm. Dialogue and subtitles are in both English (and hard of hearing)and French. The main menu has some animation mixed with the score.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.