War, war never changes. Oddly enough, this is a video game reference and not a movie one. Fallout is one of my favorite, if not The Favorite, video game franchises, and one responsible for this quote. None other than Ron Pearlman was the narrator for the original Fallout, back in 1997. Featuring a stellar cast and a thought-provoking story, Rules of Engagement is a military court martial drama with a bit of action. It follows Colonel Terry L. Childers, who, during a rescue operation in Yemen, ordered his troops to fire upon the enemy. As a result of that decision, a lot of innocent people died, or at least that’s the claim the military higher-ups are pushing forward.
Under fire, Childers calls his old friend Colonel Hayes Hodges to defend him. And so the games begin. In the lead roles, we have two veterans, Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson. It goes without saying they were terrific, along with young Guy Pierce. Rules of Engagement is not a great movie, it’s a bit messy, slow, and melodramatic. On top of that, the incident itself is ridiculously skewed and over-the-top. However, if you’re in a mood for a bit of courtroom drama, it will do the trick. A bit of courtroom drama with a twist, since this is a military court and not a regular, civilian one. The story feels quite cynical and authentic, for lack of a better word.
It shows behind the scenes schemes and political angles that I feel would happen in real life. U.S. National Security Advisor Bill Sokal, played by Bruce Greenwood, is one sly motherfucker. So, we have this constant shifting of the focus from the perceived broader US interests to the personal level of the people directly involved in the “incident”. This brings me to the main story in the movie, which echoes a couple of real-life incidents that will happen several years after its release. Since Childers is trying to rescue a US ambassador in Yemen, a connection to the 2012 Benghazi attack is obvious. Do check out 13 Hours for more on that topic.
Secondly, just a couple of months after the premiere of this movie, Al-Qaeda carried out an attack on USS Cole while it was being refueled in Yemen. This attack triggered a huge discussion about, you guessed it, rules of engagement. Just to be perfectly clear, the script for the movie Rules of Engagement has been in development since the early 90s. It was written by Jim Webb, a retired Marine who was also Secretary of the Navy and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, among many other things. Moreover, before the filming began, the script was sent to the Marine Corps.
They replied with a positive review and a number of suggestions, all of which made it to the final cut. The director of the movie is my homeboy William Friedkin. Yes, the same Friedkin behind such classics as The Exorcist, Sorcerer, and others. He loved courtroom dramas, and his last movie was quite similar to the one we’re talking about today. So, if you’re interested in this subgenre, do check out The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial. It’s better than this one. What I think lacks the most in this movie is the proper development of the “antagonists”. We learn very little of the attackers and their motivations, further fueling the claims that Rules of Engagement features a lot of Islamophobia.
In my personal opinion, I think there are some glaring issues here. The most obvious one is the lack of response from the rescue soldiers while under heavy fire. Secondly, we’ve seen enough war footage to know that this is not how people behave during attacks. I’m referring to the Yemeni attackers with women holding small babies right next to them, firing upon the embassy. I could go on, but I’m more interested in what you think. Just for the record, Friedkin denies these claims vehemently.
Director: William Friedkin
Writers: Jim Webb, Stephen Gaghan
Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Samuel L. Jackson, Guy Pearce, Ben Kingsley, Bruce Greenwood, Anne Archer
Fun Facts: The original script for the movie Rules of Engagement was quite different featuring a Central-American country instead of Yemen and an affair between a female prosecutor and male defense attorney.
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IMDb Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0160797/
