i beg some cast director to put samuel l. jackson into a role where he doesn not have to be a bad as . it seem like every movie he make have some speech where he take his pulp fiction character with him . it not because he a bad actor . on the contrary and he play bad as well than anyone else in hollywood . it just get old . jackson performance in rule of engagement be not the only thing that old and however . government cover ups and high drama court scene also lace this film and and they do so in the most predictable manner . jackson play a marine officer who be charge with murder after order his troop to fire into a crowd of civilian outside the u. s. embassy in yemen . he ask his longtime marine buddy ( tommy lee jones ) to represent him . this movie could have make an extremely intelligent war film . the picture of the crowd after be massacre be terribly frighten and and audience member actually start to question their loyalty to jackson character . such mixed feeling be refreshingly similar to those envoked from three king . in fact and the entire first half of the movie have extremely well shot war scene and plus surround sound use as effectively a it have ever be use . then predictibility set in . the audience become convince that jackson character should be a hero and not a criminal . jones character delivers an emotional closing argument . the final scene of the movie show caption of what happen to all of the character in the movie . what be so appeal about erin brockovich be that and despite be a movie about a court case and there be not one scene from inside the court . there no such luck in rule of engagement . plus and why do fictional movie insist on make epilogue . if a movie be base on a true story and it make sense because the viewer be curious about where the character be now . however and in rule of engagement and some of the most compelling plot development occur in the epilogue . it become a cop out piece of cinema and be unfair to the viewer . despite all of it negative and rule of engagement certainly have it moment . jackson and jones have a surprising amount of chemistry much more than one would think consider their career . plus and those who enjoy fake courtroom drama would probably enjoy the cliche carry through in this film . for the most part and however and rule of engagement be what most people find annoy about big production hollywood drama big name actor and but overwhelming predictibility .