Rules of Engagement (2000, DVD)

Throughout military history, one of the burning questions that has confronted soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines is: when is an order not an order? Is it ever right for a person to refuse an order from a higher ranking officer or non-commissioned officer? For members of the United States armed forces, the answer, of course, is that an order must be lawfully given and must not require the recipient(s) of that order to do something illegal. This tenet of American military law dates at least as far back as the Civil War, when Captain Henry Wirz, the Confederate commandant of the Andersonville.

Opening Scene It s the year 1968 in a place called Vietnam. Terry Childers and Hays Hodges are leading their troop when they spot a Vietnamese troop just a ways ahead. They decide to split up, each taking a troop around the Vietnamese troop to catch them off guard. After a flip of a coin deciding the fate of each one, they take off. Childers group begins to receive fire. After a few casualties, he captures the Vietnamese commander just as Hodges group begins an intense battle. Childers threatens the Vietnamese solider to call off his troop attacking Hodges. When the man does not respond, he...

This movie works at the box office. The whole idea and plot is one that has been done many time before. Make a few variations, get some great actors with universal appeal, and you have a hit. Now, I don't want to cut this movie down too much. I enjoyed it for the most part. Tommy Lee Jones has been a favorite of mine since Lonesome Dove and Pulp Fiction turned me on to Samuel L. Jackson. Both are excellent actors and are believable in their parts. Jackson is a Marine colonel sent to Yemen to help peacefully end a demonstration outside the American Embassy or, as a last resort, evacuate the...

"Rules Of Engagement" is a movie that offers up an interesting premise, then delivers a story that fails to make sense. It's the story of a Marine colonel, Terry Childers (Samuel L. Jackson) sent to lead a mission to extricate the American ambassador to Yemen (Ben Kingsley) and his family from hostile and violent Yemeni protestors. A number of Yemenis fire on the Marines, and Childers orders the troops to return fire, and many Yemenis die in the skirmish. The Marines successfully accomplish the rescue, but the national security advisor (Bruce Greenwood) wants to save face with Middle Eastern..