The big screen's introduction to the words of Aaron Sorkin. And the big brother to his much-inferior Trial of the Chicago 7.

I miss the courtroom films of the 1990s. A Few Good Men, A Time to Kill... Grandstanding lawyers in movies that assumed the viewer was intelligent enough to understand a plot.

We have a young-ish Tom Cruise, riding high on his wave of a decade-long excellent output - some box office failures but mostly top-notch performances by the man himself. An extremely capable supporting cast and a brilliant performance by Jack Nicholson.

This film has spawned catchphrases - "You can't handle the truth!" being the most famous. And the whole film is a class-act under the direction of Rob Reiner.

Watching again after 25 years, I realised something at the end... This should have become the starting point for a quite brilliant legal drama on TV. Sadly the transition from film and TV back then was crossing a chasm in quality. TV writing was poor, movies were excellent. Had it been made today, you could expect a brilliant series to follow with a slight recasting of key actors and it could live happily on Netflix.

Instead sadly we got JAG. Life isn't fair.


9/10

A young Tom Cruise does a decent job at being a smug lawyer. Nicholson's monologue is legendary. The cast is pretty good. The writing is darn good and the delivery is excellent. This movie's a classic and you should watch it if you haven't.

[spoiler]
Me: You want a review?
You: I think I'm entitled to them.
Me: You want a review?!
You: I want the truth!
Me: You can't handle the truth!
Son, we live in a world that has movies, and those movies have to be watched by people with TVs. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lieutenant Weinberg? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for IMDB, and you curse the Trakt reviewers. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know -- that IMDB's downfall, while tragic, probably saved lives; and my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives.
You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me reviewing content -- you **need** me reviewing content.
We use words like "honor," "code," "loyalty." We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punch line.
I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it.
I would rather that you just said "thank you" and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a subscription and stand the post. Either way, I don't give a DAMN what you think you're entitled to!
[/spoiler]

A riveting courtroom drama from early-career Aaron Sorkin, one that's absolutely stuffed with taut suspense, gripping dialog and A-list actors delivering lifetime performances. Not bad for a first-time screenwriter. It's an intelligent film that smoothly toes the line between spelling things out and relying on legalese to skim the details. The audience gets a thorough understanding of the issue, the limits of the law and the goal of both teams, but that information is slowly rationed and rarely over-explained.

We see vivid flaws in our heroes and earnest values in our villains. Each important player gets their chance to shine, and boy, do they all smack the ball out of the park. None moreso than Jack Nicholson, whose "You can't handle the truth" outburst has become synonymous with the picture. That speech still holds incredible power today, not just for the substance of the words (which remain pertinent, nearly thirty years later) but for the raw, unguarded emotion of Nicholson's delivery. It's easy to overlook the fact that he's scarcely on-screen for fifteen minutes, that climactic delivery resonates for so long. Tom Cruise and Demi Moore also bring their very best - I don't think Jack's moment burns quite so bright without Cruise there to egg him on - and a whole mess of supporting players are equally motivated, but that's just water under the bridge. It's all about getting to that speech, about earning that speech, and then basking in the afterglow of what it meant.

Daring, unflinching, passionate moviemaking that keeps us guessing to the very last breath. It's still every bit as good as I remembered.

**An excellent film, which deserves the time we can give it, but which has a group of poorly conceived characters and a terrible protagonist.**

Personally, I really like courtroom dramas, it's a genre of cinema that I enjoy and that generally works very well for me. I also have a certain tendency to like films based on the military environment. This film, combining both things, seemed like the best of both worlds and perfect for me.

Actually, I really liked it. Directed by Rob Reiner and written by Aaron Sorkin, the film focuses on the team of lawyers who will defend two US Marine Corps soldiers in a military justice case in which they are accused of having killed a fellow soldier in the wake of a barracks prank, that is, an informal punishment for something done wrong. They claim that they did not know the comrade's health status and that they received discreet verbal orders to take that action, with the tacit knowledge of the unit commander, stationed in Guantánamo. But the evidence is completely non-existent, everything indicates that it is a completely lost case, and that they will have to make a deal to avoid a conviction and a harsh prison sentence.

The film, overall, is excellent and highly recommended. It wonderfully entertains the audience and time passes so quickly that we don't even notice it. The direction is pragmatic and effective, the editing is quite correct and, technically, it presents us with cinematography with magnificent colors, impeccable sets and costumes, convincing realism and a sense of credibility in which not even the story seems exaggerated or stilted.

However, the film has a huge problem, called Tom Cruise. I don't know the actor personally, I don't know how he is when dealing with people, but the idea that Mr. Cruise conveys of himself to others is that of someone who is deeply arrogant and a little rude. I'm not saying that he is like that, but that this is the image he conveys in interviews, in public appearances, when dealing with fans, etc. and that this perhaps has a certain impact on the type of works that are presented to him, and which almost always end up being boastful, arrogant characters, with little respect for others and egoic. That's what happens in this film, where his character is terribly irritating to everyone and everything for no reason and adopts behavior that is completely unacceptable for a military officer, even deserving of an internal disciplinary process. The character is unlikely and very difficult to swallow, considerably ruining the film.

Demi Moore is also not one of the actresses I like to watch, but she is frankly more palatable than Cruise. The actress does what she can with the character she was given, and her biggest problem is the character's weakness, which is terrible. She is an officer who does not have the firmness and authority that a superior officer should have, regardless of her gender: she is publicly disrespected by a lower-ranking soldier, she does not immediately take action to demand the respect she is due and, later, still acts like it's her fault. What kind of officer is she? In addition to this, the flirting scenes between her and Cruise should never have been included in the final cut. They are an absolute shame.

To add to all this, we have Jack Nicholson, who played the Marine commander in Guantánamo. The actor does not deserve criticism, especially because he offers us the best and most complete dramatic exercise in this film. He is one of the great actors of the 20th century, capable of shining even with unpleasant characters. And there is no doubt that this is an unpleasant character: a arrogant, arrogant officer who seems to forget that there are duties inherent to the burden of command, which always include respect for all subordinates and care for their health and safety. your needs. The mission is fundamental, discipline is essential, but humanity cannot be left behind, much less for an officer commanding troops on campaign.

“You can’t handle the truth!”

RELEASED IN 1992 and directed by Rob Reiner, "A Few Good Men” is a military drama about a smart-axx young Navy Lawyer (Tom Cruise) who’s never seen a courtroom because he lazily arranges plea bargains. Perhaps this is why he’s assigned to defending two young Marines stationed at Guantanamo Bay who are accused of murdering a fellow Marine. They maintain that they were ordered to enact a “Code Red,” which took an unforeseen turn. Demi Moore and Kevin Pollak co-star as the lawyer’s partners while Kevin Bacon heads the prosecution and Jack Nicholson plays the arrogant commanding officer of Guantanamo. J.T. Walsh is on hand as the Colonel’s weak subordinate.

The movie does a good job of depicting the honor code of hardcore Marines, particularly in the sequence where Lance Cpl. Dawson (Wolfgang Bodison) refuses to confess to something he didn’t do in order to get a minor sentence. The characters are well written and casted, e.g. Kaffee (Cruise) and his penchant for baseball. The story is dialog-driven and maintains your attention without action/thrills.

Nicholson is commanding and intimidating as the pompous colonel. Kaffee discovers his talent as a courtroom lawyer and realizes that the only way to take him down is to use his egotism against him. Other than the cringe-inducing “A Ten Hut” scene at the end, this is a gripping drama.

THE FILM RUNS 2 hours, 18 minutes and was shot entirely in Southern Cal (Point Mugu, Crystal Cove, etc.) and Washington DC. WRITERS: Aaron Sorkin (play) and Aaron Sorkin (screenplay).

GRADE: B+