I'm sorry to disappoint this movie's multitude of fans, but, even though I like it on the whole, there is NO WAY this film deserves 9, much less 10 stars.
As a law student, I appreciate the attention paid to courtroom tactics and the film's honest depiction of a trial: the preparation, arguments over strategy, trying to put the pieces of your case together, and, most prominently, the lawyer vs. lawyer battle juxtaposed against the other courtroom players.
HOWEVER, the central showdown of the movie is UTTERLY PREPOSTEROUS!!!
1) No military attorney would ever behave so recklessly as Cruise did in barking at Col. Jessep, especially with no facts on his side.
All the painstaking effort used to construct an accurate and interesting film here crumbles into typical Hollywood nonsense, and Cruise's change of heart (his decision to accuse Jessep) is all the more ridiculous for it, especially considering how trenchantly he had already spelled out to Moore's character for the entire first half of the film the utter futility and senseless risk of doing so.
2) NO WITNESS WOULD EVER BEHAVE LIKE JESSEP WHILE ON THE STAND. In particular, no Colonel would:
--insult the judge,
--walk off the stand before being dismissed,
--make sarcastic and condescending remarks to the questioning attorney,
--and he certainly WOULD NOT admit to the "Code Red" or turn the witness stand into his own personal soapbox about "men on a wall."
The latter is what really sours me on the film--when Nicholson's character opines with such memorable tripe as:
"Ever put your life in another man's hands, asked him to put his life in yours?"
"We follow orders, son. We follow orders, or people die. It's that simple."
"Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns."
"You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you NEED me on that wall."
Give me a break. This movie is dripping with melodrama.
7/10
JEM
As a law student, I appreciate the attention paid to courtroom tactics and the film's honest depiction of a trial: the preparation, arguments over strategy, trying to put the pieces of your case together, and, most prominently, the lawyer vs. lawyer battle juxtaposed against the other courtroom players.
HOWEVER, the central showdown of the movie is UTTERLY PREPOSTEROUS!!!
1) No military attorney would ever behave so recklessly as Cruise did in barking at Col. Jessep, especially with no facts on his side.
All the painstaking effort used to construct an accurate and interesting film here crumbles into typical Hollywood nonsense, and Cruise's change of heart (his decision to accuse Jessep) is all the more ridiculous for it, especially considering how trenchantly he had already spelled out to Moore's character for the entire first half of the film the utter futility and senseless risk of doing so.
2) NO WITNESS WOULD EVER BEHAVE LIKE JESSEP WHILE ON THE STAND. In particular, no Colonel would:
--insult the judge,
--walk off the stand before being dismissed,
--make sarcastic and condescending remarks to the questioning attorney,
--and he certainly WOULD NOT admit to the "Code Red" or turn the witness stand into his own personal soapbox about "men on a wall."
The latter is what really sours me on the film--when Nicholson's character opines with such memorable tripe as:
"Ever put your life in another man's hands, asked him to put his life in yours?"
"We follow orders, son. We follow orders, or people die. It's that simple."
"Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns."
"You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you NEED me on that wall."
Give me a break. This movie is dripping with melodrama.
7/10
JEM