Few Good Men
Many of the earliest Tom Cruise movies seemed to follow a very particular formula, one that was so well defined they practically became their own type of genre: Idealistic young man in a given field faces a grave challenge, but using his own intelligence, determination and grit, rises above that challenge to achieve greatness. This 1992 release from director Rob Reiner and writer Aaron Sorkin stands alone as the absolute greatest Tom Cruise Movie ever made, helped in large part by an outstanding supporting cast and a subject matter that remains relevant to this day, the concept of bullying / hazing being done to an individual considered to be weaker than most others, in order to toughen him up given the environment that heās been placed in, whether it be the Marine Corps (as in this movie) or in the real life world of an NFL team as seen recently with The Miami Dolphins and of course various high school scenarios that oftentimes nowadays leads to suicides. Cruise plays Daniel Kaffee, an ultra slick and cocky Navy lawyer assigned the case of two Gitmo marines in Cuba on trial for murder in a situation that involved them tying up and gagging a weak, snitching fellow soldier only for the kid to succumb to a heart attack and die. Problem is, the two defendants claim to Cruise that what they were doing was a āCode Redā, an unwritten training technique designed to teach the offending soldier to clean up his act and shape up or life would be even worse for him. Moreso, they claim that they were given a specific ORDER from their commanding officer to carry out such an act, and that it was never their intent to kill him, and even when Cruise plea bargains the case down to involuntary manslaughter which will get them out in six months, they refuse, insisting that they had done nothing wrong and are willing to go to prison for the rest of their lives in order to show their honor as Marines. And so off to trial they go, as Cruise brings on the challenge of fighting against an unjust military system (as some would say) that would hang two guys out to dry for the sins of their superiors, but that in many ways is the brilliance of the writing, as many can walk away and wonder if such disciplinary measures may very well be justified in order to maintain discipline itself in such a strictly maintained place as The United States Armed Forces, of one of whose primary goals is protecting the well-being of The United States itself, so much so that many may find themselves siding with the so-called villain of the piece, Jack Nicholson brilliantly going outside his comfort zone as the hard-edged Col. Nathan Jessup, commander of the Gitmo base and the one who decided the substandard marine needed to be ābetter trainedā. Nicholson is imposing in his early scenes, making the decision to toughen up the ill-fated young soldier and then when he first meets Cruise himself, becomes annoyed at the young manās flippant nature and dresses him down in a scene that is and of itself a classic. And then later when Jessup enters the courtroom, he and Cruise engage in a psychological showdown of the highest order, with again Nicholson explaining to us in so many words how his ends (whether we agree with them or not) justifies his means, to the point to where many might find themselves in agreement as they walk away from the film while still being glad they donāt belong to The Marine Corps. Not to mention that Nicholson comes off as such an authentic military hardass that one can see why he nailed down an Oscar Nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The rest of the cast includes Demi Moore as the plucky co-counsel who encourages Cruise to keep fighting even in his darkest hour; Kevin Bacon as the Marine prosecutor (and good buddy of Cruiseās) whoās got no problem going to war in the courtroom after Cruise turns down his plea bargain deals; Kiefer Sutherland as the weaselly Lieutenant who gave the direct order to the two marines and tries to cover his tracks afterwards; Kevin Pollak as Cruiseās other co-counsel who does his best to work on the case even while admitting that he despises the two defendants for what they did; Wolfgang Bodison and James Marshall as the two defendants, one a well-disciplined badass and the other a gawky kid too scared to understand whatās going on; J.T. Walsh as the Lt. Colonel who comes forward with valuable information; and a host of others playing various military personnel including Christopher Guest, Noah Wyle, and Cuba Gooding Jr. Some may say that at its core (as Sorkin intended) the film is an attack on the military establishment and some of their ethics, but as rewritten by Oscar winner William Goldman (along with Nicholsonās acting), the film is more of a thoughtful examination of what goes on in that type of hardcore environment and even reinforces the standing idea that if you really donāt want to get your ass kicked, it might be better to seek out another line of work. Overall, a leading candidate for being the best courtroom drama ever made, featuring a stellar cast that includes another fantastic turn from one of the greatest to ever step in front of a cameraā¦
10/10