Rules of Engagement is a military drama, much like A Few Good Men, although it has more action, less courtroom dramatics, and no female litigators to speak of. Samuel L Jackson stars as Colonel Terry Childers, commanded of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Special Operations Capable (24th MEU (SOC)). Tommy Lee Jones co-stars as Colonel Hays Hodges, another Marine, wounded in 'Nam and now a rather mediocre JAG lawyer about to retire.

The movie starts out Vietnam, 1968. Lieutenants Childers and Hodges are leading two Marine platoons through the jungle. Closing on their objective, there are two paths to cover, one that goes over a hill and another that goes through a swamp. They flip a coin and Childers takes his men over the hill.

Some time later Childer's platoon encounters some NVA. After a brief firefight they manage to capture an NVA Captain and his Radio Telephone Operator (RTO). Just afterwards, Hodges' platoon is ambushed by other NVA. They're being cut to pieces, too far away for Childers to get his men there in time to save them. In desperation, Childers threatens the NVA Captain to call off his men, then shoots the RTO to prove his point. The NVA Captain capitulates, but it's too late for everyone by Hodges, who has been wounded so badly that he will never again be fit for combat duty.

1996. Hodges' retirement party, which Childers attends. Here we find out that Hodges has been a JAG lawyer while Childers has just been given command of the 24th MEU (SOC) which is being deployed soon. Hodges laments the fact that he never got the chance to command a combat unit after Vietnam. Hodges is due to retire in a couple of months.

The Indian Ocean. The USS Wake Island, what looks to be a Landing Ship, Helicopter, is enroute to Yemen. Civil protests against the American Embassy are threatening to get out of control at any moment, and the State Department has ordered in the Marines to help evacuate the embassy personnel. Colonel Childers will personally lead a platoon of marines, which will be helicoptered into the embassy compound.

Once there the situation has deteriorated. Snipers are shooting at embassy personnel while the crowd has started throwing firebombs. As the marine platoon deployes, Childers finds the ambassador, who is quite panicked by now. They get the ambassador and his wife and son out, while the rest of the Marines continue to take heavy fire, which has already resulted in two casualties.

Colonel Childers then assumes command of the defenses. After seeing another Marine be killed, he orders his men to open fire on the crowd, which they do. The resulting 83 dead and 100 wounded causes a firestorm, which National Security Advisor William Sokal decides must be put out by sacrificing Childers.

Childers gets Hodges to defend him. The next third of the movie is Hodges gathering information to defend Childers, as well as seeing how the prosecution is preparing for the trial. Then the last third of the movie is the actual trial, where we get even more information on how it actually was, with more scenes from the battle in Yemen.

My thoughts on the movie. Tommy Lee Jones finally has a dramatic role and runs with it like he hasn't in years. I saw a statistic that Samuel L Jackson has been in more movies in the last few years than any other actor. It's a good thing he's a good actor, and he does another fine job in this movie as a man who thought he did what was right at the time.

Guy Pearce is good as Major Mark Biggs, the prosecuting attorney. He's a bit spooky looking though. Blair Underwood has a small role as Captain Lee, second in command of the Marines sent into the embassy. Ben Kingsley and Anne Archer have small roles as the ambassador to Yemen and his wife. Dale Dye once again plays a tough soldier, this time the Commandant of the Marine Corps.

Short recommendation: it's a good movie to watch. Good acting, good action in the first half of the movie, good drama in the second half of the movie. It's not at all obvious if Childers will be aquitted or not, just based on what's shown in the movie. Well recommended.