This is a different type of legal thriller, justice military style – otherwise it’s still a movie about a crime, a court, some villains and an ambitious group of lawyers. Yes, they dress in uniforms and carry a big stick, but the song remains the same. There is a murder on a Marine base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba – it was news to us Australians that the Americans have soldiers in Cuba! Apparently this is something to do with the Spanish-American War. As Jack Nicholoson says at one point, he eats his breakfast just across the way from some very mean Cubans who don’t like their American neighbours one little bit. The murder is more complicated than most – it is apparently part of something called a "Code Red", a kind of hazing that unofficially teaches recruits to tow the line. The two Marines charged with the murder, Pfc. Louden Downey (James Marshall) and Lance Cpl. Harold W. Dawson (Wolfgang Bodison), are defended by Lt. J.G. Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise), a graduate of Harvard, now a practising lawyer who has never set foot in a court but is always quick to plea bargain his cases. He’s clearly more interested in playing baseball than he is in trying cases (sounds good to us!). This is exactly what the navy brass are looking for – an easy settlement that will spare everyone unnecessary embarrassment. You can guess where this is going – the lawyer finds himself drawn into a situation where he cannot avoid the court, and so he has to face his own anxieties. This is mostly due to the assistant lawyer assigned to the case, Lt. Cmdr. JoAnne Galloway (Demi Moore), who hassles Cruise to keep searching for the truth. She is so persistent it’s painful. Of course there’s more to it than a straight out murder mystery – there are ghosts from the past, defendants more willing than not to see themselves sacrificed for the betterment of the military, and above all, the honour of the Marines. And the character of the deceased, who clearly was not what the Marines had in mind when they sought recruits for the cause. It’s revealing that the defendants have more in common with their accusers than they do with the people who want to rescue them – they need saving from themselves! This is where the movie explored idea of honour and country – the defendants, a couple of gung-ho recruits, think their lawyer (Cruise) is not fit to wear the uniform because he is not willing to subsume his personality to that of the greater good of the military. What is a code, and is it worth living your life according to it? The sets are quire realistic – you feel as though you’re really in the military now! We were taken by the fact that the two defendants were more concerned with a dishonourable discharge (that would follow a guilty verdict) than a prison term. It turns out that they were following orders – and orders are orders!! And thank heavens the scriptwriter doesn’t distract us with an unnecessary love affair between Moore and Cruise – it might have made the movie even longer! We were actually quite shocked that this most obvious (too obvious) cliché, the exceptionally good-looking Cruise and Moore in each other’s arms (after a good deal of tussling) was not taken up by the film makers. Jack Nicholson, of course. Three of the reviewers at Law in the Lounge were surprised at the ending – we can’t give it away, but tell us whether you believed the result of the confrontation between Nicholson and Cruise. Another thing about this confrontation – Cruise basically tells us exactly what he intends to do, and it turns out pretty much as he anticipates, which cheats us of some suspense. The issues are perhaps a little too serious – this is less about a murder mystery than questions of honour in general – we were more interested in the murder. It’s too long! Lt. J.G. Daniel Kaffee is renowned for settling his cases – this is what they call a "plea bargain" in American law. What does this mean? A plea bargain allows a lawyer to negotiate on behalf of a client, so that the client pleads guilty to one of the charges, allowing another of the charges to be dropped. This saves everyone a lot of time; the taxpayer a lot of money; and the defendant is still found guilty of something, which satisfies the prosecution! And don’t worry - plea bargaining is not just an American invention - there's plenty going on in almost every Australian court that handles criminal prosecutions. By the way, a "plea" is the answer a defendant gives when the judge says "how do you plead?" This is the time when the charge is formally read to the defendant. Usually the answer is "not guilty" or "guilty". Rob Reiner is the director of this film. It is interesting that a sub-plot of "A Few Good Men" is the emotional baggage carried by Cruise – he has the ghost of his famous father perched on his shoulder. The same has been true of Reiner, whose father Carl Reiner was a famous comic, the brains behind the early TV "Dick Van Dyke Show" and the director of four Steve Martin films. Rob Reiner originally made his name not as a director, but as Archie Bunker’s son-in-law "Meathead" in the classic television series "All In The Family", a number one show in the U.S. for years (he received two Emmys for this work). He directed his first film in 1984, the merry "This Is Spinal Tap", the all-time favourite spoof on the rock industry. Check out this list of directing credits: the inventive "The Princess Bride"; the Meg Ryan/Billy Crystal vehicle "When Harry Met Sally"; Stephen King’s "Misery"; the wonderful "Stand By Me" (worth seeing on video). His production company, Castle Rock, is the force behind numerous films and "Seinfeld" on television. You can see him acting in "Postcards From The Edge" (he’s Joe Pierce); "Regarding Henry" with Harrison Ford; and as Jay in the megahit "Sleepless in Seattle". The screenplay comes from a successful Broadway play by the playwright Aaron Sorkin. Jack Nicholson is Col. Nathan R. Jessep. Nicholson was no overnight sensation – he earned his stripes in various horror and other B-Grade movies (titles such as "Cry Of The Baby Killer"; "The Terror"; "Back Door To Hell"). Then along came "Easy Rider", a movie that began the era of cheap independent films that bankrolled a thousand marijuana-filled Hollywood mansions – Nicholson got an Academy Award nomination for his role as the layabout lawyer. "Five Easy Pieces" was next – few who have seen it will ever forget the scene in the diner ("I’ll have a chicken salad sandwich on wheat toast, hold the chicken…"). Then Mike Nichols’s artful "Carnal Knowledge" with Art Garfunkel and Candice Bergen; "The Last Detail", an hilarious romp with two sailors on a mission of mercy; and "Chinatown", one of the grand post-war movies directed by the great John Huston – after this collection Nicholson was king of Hollywood. He won an Oscar for "One Flew Over The Cukoo’s Nest", in some ways a lesser performance than some of the others. If you want to see a supporting actor steal a movie, check out "Terms of Endearment" with Shirley MacLaine (also brilliant in her role), where Nicholson is unforgettable as the demented astronaut. Recently seen in a duel role in Tim Burton’s nutty "Mars Attack", and "Evening Star", the sequel to "Terms of Endearment". Nicholson is a Hollywood icon, and deservedly so. He has been nominated for ten Academy Awards. Is he the Last Great Movie Star? Tom Cruise is Lt. J.G. Daniel Kaffee, which is a long way from his days as a teenager in "Losin’ It" (guess what that’s about?). "Risky Business" was a wonderful coming of age movie, intelligent and well acted; "All The Right Moves" is a very good football film, and worth seeing on video if you like Cruise as a youngster; and of course, "Top Gun", where the stars and stripes go hurtling into the wild blue yonder. But Cruise has made his name by acting with more prominent co-stars. There was Paul Newman in "The Colour of Money"; Dustin Hoffman in "Rain Man"; Jack Nicholson in this movie. He is clearly not afraid to test his mettle. His best performance has been as Ron Kovic in the Vietnam War saga "Born On The Fourth Of July", directed by Oliver Stone, for which he received an Oscar nomination. There have been a few stinkers ("Cocktail – what was he thinking? – and "Days of Thunder", which we could not even finish) and the role of the ambitious lawyer in "The Firm". He lost a few friends as Lestat, the vampire in "Interview With A Vampire", and many fans of "Mission Impossible" in the movie version of that television series (which made a truckload of money anyway). He more recently acted in one of his better efforts, "Jerry Maguire" (another Oscar nomination), and Stanley Kubrick’s "Eyes Wide Shut". Demi Moore is Lt. Cmdr. JoAnne Galloway. Moore is the sort of actor who is hard to separate from her image – she is so well known for her off-screen life that it often intrudes into the on-screen stuff. She got her start in the television soap "General Hospital", before her first big screen role with Michael Caine in "Blame It On Rio". Her best early role was as the vampish Jules in "St Elmo’s Fire", a not too bad brat pack movie that collected many up and coming actors under the direction of Joel Schumacher (later director of two Batman movies). She made the commercial grade, big time, with "Ghost", where she distinguished herself as a superlative crier – there were more tears than a stadium of Collingwood supporters in September. It is actually quite surprising that she has remained on the A-List, because there have been few hits – "Indecent Proposal" with Robert Redford depended more on a gimmicky plot and a first class advertising campaign; this movie, where she does little; "Disclosure", where Michael Douglas is the focus of attention; and not much else. Lately there has been the absolute fiasco of "Striptease", a movie so bad they couldn’t give it away to the Eskimos. Moore is often better known for her pregnant pose on the front of "Vanity Fair" and advertisements for Donna Karan originals. See her with a shaved head in "G.I.". Kevin Bacon is Capt. Jack Ross. He got himself known in the all-dancing all-singing "Footloose". Things have improved since then. He was the rich boy in the excellent "Diner"; a killer in "Criminal Law"; in Oliver Stone’s "JFK", where he excelled; pitting himself against the elements and Meryl Streep in "The River Wild"; a fine performance in the prison movie "Murder in the First" (worth seeing on video, though a little depressing). Kiefer Sutherland is Lt. Jonathan Kendrick. He’s the son of a great actor, Donald Sutherland (who’s still going strong as a wonderful character actor). He got his start in an episode of the television series "Amazing Stories" (don’t turn your nose up at this – the episode was directed by Steven Spielberg). You probably first saw him in the quirky "Stand By Me", then as a vampire in "The Lost Boys"; and "Flatliners" with a few pals playing at death. Nicholson is none too subtle as Col. Nathan R. Jessep – whether this is good or bad depends on your opinion of Nicholson – we liked it, and thought his style (finger pointing, cigar chomping Cold War angst) was what you might expect from a Marine leader who looks like he wouldn’t be scared to jump into the ring with Muhammad Ali (or a division of Russian soldiers). To be fair, we should admit a bias in favour of Jack Nicholson – one of our reviewers (who didn’t review this movie) just can’t stand him! Nicholson was nominated for an Academy Award for this role (he lost out to Gene Hackman, who was brilliant that year in Clint Eastwood’s "Unforgiven"). There’s nothing wrong with Tom Cruise in this film, except he appears to be too young to tackle Jessep – of course, this is precisely the point of the movie, so who are we to criticise? But we weren’t convinced he’d have the guts to take him on – he’s not as convincing as he was in "Born On The Fourth Of July", where his courage was born out of great suffering and therefore entirely believable. As far as Demi Moore is concerned – well, there is a division in the Law in the Lounge ranks. We all agreed on one thing – she doesn’t have a lot to do. One of us thinks she can’t act her way out of a paper bag (though she might look good out of it); another found her unconvincing as a lawyer (though we’ve seen some very unconvincing lawyers in real life) – the consensus is that she doesn’t have much room to show her stuff – as one of the reviewers commented, "gimme more" (get it? Gimme/Demi More/Moore). There are some really terrific supporting performances. Kevin Bacon continues to improve with every outing. There is a lot to admire in Bacon – he could have gone the way of a pretty boy actor, especially given his lightweight earlier roles (such as the all-dancing "Footloose"), but he’s made some interesting choices that have required some real acting (check him out in Ron Howard’s excellent "Apollo 13"; with Meryl Streep in "The River Wild"; and especially in Oliver Stone’s "JFK"). If you’re looking for a rock n’ roll analogy, he is the John Mellencamp of acting (remember Johnny Cougar?). Kiefer Sutherland is a revelation as Lt. Jonathan Kendrick, the person Jessep was in his youth, and the last person you would want to meet in a dark alley. Sutherland makes you believe he would jump on a live hand grenade if Jessep told him to! There is one really good thing going for this movie – it’s entertaining! Yes, it goes on too long, and yes, Demi Moore has nothing much to do, and yes, there is a very dubious ending – but thankfully it remembers that amongst all the high minded stuff about honour it has to entertain the audience. The cast is the equivalent of a three star general – and in command, as always, is Jack Nicholson. He takes this movie up another notch, and it’s hard to think of an actor who could have shown the same controlled emotion as Nicholson – believe us, we would never have taken him on! Nicholson is the Marines, brass-buttoned and steely-eyed. This movie makes you wonder – sometimes, are the rules meant to be broken for the common good? And if so, whose decision should that be? It is a big ask for a stage play to be successfully translated to the screen – usually it is either ruined by the need to pace it for the big screen, or it has that stilted feel that is fine on the stage but doesn’t suit the screen. Scriptwriter Sorkin has made the transition from his play very well. It’s hard not to think that this is a good film that could have been better. But if you want a good, long video that will keep your attention throughout, this is for you. No, it’s not the greatest film ever made, but how many movies deliver on entertainment with a top cast and an intelligent script? This film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. Read this: The legal information contained above is intended to be general information about the law. It is not a substitute for legal and other professional advice. Lawscape Communications P/L does not accept responsibility for loss to any person, who either acts or does not act because of this information. |