A Few Good Men 1992, Rated R Columbia/Tristar Home Video

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Starring Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore, Cuba Gooding Jr., Kevin Bacon, Kiefer Sutherland, J.T. Walsh, Kevin Pollack.

Written by Aaron Sorkin, adapted from his stage play, A Few Good Men is a powerful tale that gets at the heart of both the American style of life and the role the military plays in that lifestyle. Cruise stars as a Navy defense attorney assigned to defend two marines that have been accused of murdering another member of their corp. Cruise, as is his character's style, approaches this case like every other case he has worked on, and attempt to cop a plea-bargain. The marines refuse to accept this line of defense, steadfastly maintaining that they were ordered to give the marine whom they are accused of murdering a "code red", military speak for an unregulated, inter-corp disciplinary beating, which resulted in the marines death. If what the defendants are saying is the truth, and we know damn well that this is what Cruise wants, then they are innocent, and thus the crux of the plot is revealed. After some soul-searching and self-probing, Cruise tackles the case head on, looking to give his clients that ever-so-elusive sense of justice that they deserve as Americans.

The acting by Cruise, Moore, and especially Nicholson, who was nominated for an Oscar for his role, is strikingly solid, with the actors taking full advantage of the personalities and mannerisms that Sorkin created for them. In most films with 7 or 8 major characters, I have trouble keeping their names straight, let alone remembering what drives and motivates them all, however, I didn't have to worry about this in A Few Good Men. The plotline of Sorkin's script is very tight, and the amount of character development he manages to include in such a short work is amazing. Cruise is living in constant fear of failure (see article below), Moore wants success, Nicholson is proud to the point of being vain, Bacon trapped in job related rut, and so on.

What director Rob Reiner has created in A Few Good Men is a film that both satisfies ones desire to be placed within the confines of a captivating story--it is up to Cruise and Moore to figure out exactly what happened on that military base in Cuba--and ones desire to see characters grow as people. The great majority of recent films that Hollywood has produced have set their sights on one goal or the other; when filmmakers attempt to do both they generally fail miserably on both counts. You can have an action flick involving Steven Seagal--which I am guessing isn't going to have a sense of self retrospection amongst its characters--or we can have a movie like As Good As It Gets, where the plot is more of a string of everyday happening laced together, than of anything truly mysterious or out-of-the-ordinary. This isn't to say that As Good As It Gets or a Steven Seagal action flick isn't entertaining--God knows Steven delivers entertainment like Domino's delivers pizza--but they satisfy two different billings. And since A Few Good Men satisfies both billings, is has the potential to be a great date move; the guy, liking beer and things he can make with his hands, will watch and nod, thinking, "That was a cool mystery, and Demi Moore is really a babe", while the girl, liking quilts and crying, will watch and nod, thinking, "I really liked the way Tom Cruise confronted his emotions and then dealt with them, and, my God, does he have a nice ass".

A Few Good Men was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Picture in 1992, an award it truly deserved to win. Reiner's direction anchors the film, Reiner always knowing when to follow plot points or character points, and the acting by its performers breathtaking. If you think you can handle the truth, and a good movie, A Few Good Men will give you just what you desire.