A Few Good Men (1992)

Directed by Rob Reiner. Starring Tom Cruise, Demi Moore, Jack Nicholson, Kevin Pollak, Kevin Bacon, Kiefer Sutherland, Wolfgang Bodison, James Marshall, J. A. Preston, J. T. Walsh, Christopher Guest, Noah Wyle, Cuba Gooding Jr., Xander Berkeley, Matt Craven. [R]

Thoroughly engrossing military courtroom drama based on Aaron Sorkin’s play about two U.S. Marines stationed at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base who are accused of murdering one of their own, about the lawyers assigned to defend them that argue they were following “Code Red” hazing orders from a superior officer, and about the uncovering of a conspiracy with far-reaching implications. The script (by Sorkin and William Goldman) may have a few blemishes—lead counsel Cruise’s heavy-handed “daddy issues,” which even he calls out (“Oh, spare me the psychobabble father bull—-!”)—but also plenty of smart, crackling dialogue and carefully-designed conversations that let the characters “talk shop” without confusing all the laymen in the audience. Not a lot of surprises but plenty of fireworks, especially during the memorable climax. What puts this one over the top, though, is the first-rate acting from pretty much the entire cast; Cruise is compelling, deftly straddling the line between “star” performance and “character” performance, while Nicholson (as the Guantanamo base commander) dominates with sheer steely-eyed magnetism in his limited scenes. The only actor to carry over from the original stage production is, amusingly, Joshua Malina in a bit part as Nicholson’s clerk down in Cuba.

92/100