Tommy Lee Jones, Samuel L. Jackson, Nicky Katt

Director William Friedkin knows a thing or two about staging harrowing action sequences, and if you don't believe that, you've never seen The French Connection or To Live and Die in L.A....( read more  read more... ) He comes through niftily in this film as well, with an opening Vietnam battle sequence that sets the stage for the rest of the story, and then with the central moment in the film: a rescue mission involving Marines extricating the American ambassador from an embassy surrounded by hostile protesters in Yemen. Unfortunately, Friedkin can't do much about the implausible plot that follows, in which the Marine commander, played by the always-terrific Samuel L. Jackson, is accused of slaughtering innocent civilians (who actually were shooting at him and his men). He must rely on an old Marine buddy--a lawyer played by Tommy Lee Jones--to get him through the jury-rigged court martial. But the central premise--that an evil presidential aide would perjure himself and destroy evidence simply to maintain good relations with U.S. allies in the Middle East, rather than defending a highly decorated Marine colonel who risked his life--is inevitably hard to swallow. And the ending is even flimsier. --Marshall Fine

Flixster Users

61% liked it

44,686 ratings

Critics

38% liked it

94 critics

R, 127 min.

Directed by: William Friedkin

Release Date: April 7, 2000

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DVD Release Date: October 10, 2000

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Stats: 831 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (831)


  • September 22, 2008
    A mostly enjoyable distraction big on capturing the style of the marines but one that's a little short on plot; in a post-CSI world, I feel like they could have just done the 20-minute forensics and told us where the fire was coming from, and not needed half a movie of trial cove...( read more)rage to predictably get to the bottom of it. An interesting relic, though, as it is one of the few films that raise the spectre of terrorism originating from the Middle East before 9/11. And this was on TBS (sorry, I guess it's Peachtree now) like two days before the U.S. Embassy in Yemen was bombed last week... that's creepy, right?

    Anyway, Tommy Lee Jones is quite good (as always), Sam Jackson held his own, and while I wouldn't go out of my way to see it, it was at least engaging (haha) enough to watch front to back, no matter how many f-bombs were replaced with "forget".
  • September 6, 2008
    A decent war drama war as a mission is investigated in court to find out what happened.
  • May 3, 2008
    Interesting movie about decisions being made in the line of fire and the cover ups that go on. This wasn't as good as "A Few Good Men", however.
  • April 25, 2008
    An intensely gripping, nail-biting and exhilerating military thriller. Compelling, memerising and very exciting. A mixture of strong court room drama and some explosive action. Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson give electrifying performances. These two heavyweights deliver th...( read more)e greatness, showing us why they are indeed superstars. Abslolutely unforgettable and powerful. A superb and tremendous film. Director, William Friedkin's finest film. A classic. It grabs you and dosent let go for a second.
  • February 12, 2008
    In this film you'll learn why shooting at a crowd of children is OK as long as they are Yemenis and you are the US army? Not only the film is bad but it stinks of racism and militarism.
  • November 6, 2009
    4 of 5 stars for the military drama movie Rules of Engagement. Let's start by saying any movie with Tommy Lee Jones ad Samuel L Jackson is one that I will like, both are among my favorite actors. Our two lead characters fought together during Viet Nam and experienced extreme acti...( read more)on. Moving forward in time Jackson's character is still active in the Marines and is picked to do an embassy extraction in the middle east. His mission encounters heavy automatic weapon fire as they touch-down in the embassy compound. Extracting the Ambassador and his family, fire become heavier killing and wounding several Marines. Jackson eventually orders his troops to return fire killing over 80 people outside of the embassy. The key question was, were these people armed and firing upon the embassy? If so, they were combatants; if not they were civilians. The movie shifts to a legal and courtmarshall drama. Jackson asks his old friend Jones to be his attorney.

    A very well made movie. Great action intensely photographed. Solid characters and real drama. This is a long movie but well worth the time to watch. I do recommend it!
  • September 22, 2009
    very good drama.. a must see
  • August 8, 2009
    "Waste the Motherfuckers!" LOL
  • July 19, 2009
    Well, Hell! Jones & Jackson: what would you expect? An intense, well-done drama about Marines in combat and one cost of heroism. On a more cautionary note, the movie sustained substantial criticism for its portrayal of Arabs, something to consider.
  • July 15, 2009
    I am generally not a huge fan of the genre. . . But this movie was really good! The acting was great, the plot was very real and engrossing and it ended in a way that I did not expect. Sam Jackson & Tommy Lee Jones have great chemistry as 2 old vietnam war buddies that lead very...( read more) different lives all by the flipf a coin. Well worth your time.

Critic Reviews


January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

At the end we have a film that attacks its central issue from all sides and has a collision in the middle. full review

January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, At the Movies

At the end we have a film that attacks its central issue from all sides and has a collision in the middle. full review

View more Rules of Engagement reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • mariefuller80
    April 7, 2008
    This two-hour drama like A Few Good Men is worthy of your attention.
  • rasgenus
    September 17, 2007
    For those in active military duties, this provides unanswered questions about the desirability or otherwise of adhering to the Rules of Engagements in the event of war. The Geneva Conventions must be review to come to terms with the current realities.

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Rules of Engagement Trivia


  • This man has been Under Siege looking for a Fugitive, was Blown Away as Two-Face, learned the Rules Of Engagement to be a U.S Marshall so he could figure out what Double Jeopardy meant, dealth with a Volcano, and was The Man Of The House, who is he?  Answer »
  • In the movie rules of engagement, where did the first mission took place?  Answer »
  • In the movie Rules of engagement, in what year did the mission in vietname took place?  Answer »
  • In the movie rules of engagement what did Samuel L. Jackson as a marine, went back to the embassy for?  Answer »

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