If you have any previous doubts that Tom Cruise is an exceptional actor this movie once and for all will dispel them. A Few Good Men comes dangerously close to following that tried and true formula of the underdog facing impossible odds and trying to beat an unjust system to save the innocent.
If it did, it would be just another melodramatic piece of crap. Instead, it presents both sides of a legitimate issue, the need for absolute obedience versus the right of individual conscience in the military.
The film opens on a U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba where two Marines are seen bursting into the room of another where they gag him with electrical tape, tie his hands and feet with it and stuff a rag into his mouth. As we cut to the opening credits list, we are treated to a sequence of drills performed by a squadron of Marines in full formal dress who perform some fancy movements with their rifles.
As the film begins its basic run, we discover that the opening sequence has led to the death of the Marine ambushed and legal counsel is assigned to represent the two other Marines charged with the crime of murdering him. Lt. Commander JoAnne Galloway (Demi Moore) asks for the job but the assignment goes to Lt. Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise) who has only been out of law school and in the Navy a short while. Kaffee’s specialty is plea bargains. He is reluctant to go to court. His investigation of the case leads him to go to court eventually to defend the Marines charged with murder.
Kaffee’s colleague and the lead prosecutor is Capt. Jack Ross (Kevin Bacon) who is extremely convincing in this film and the matching of court skills between Bacon and Cruise is one of the film’s greatest strengths. There are no dirty tricks involved between the two in order for one to win his case. They are friends through and through the trial, and this, while not that noticeable at first, is one of the film’s greatest asset.
After reading a plot outline from any description of the film, it would lead you to believe that A Few Good Men has its share of good guys and bad guys. Partly true, and partly false because the characters perceived to be the villains believe in what they’re doing from an extreme position taken in their military duties and also believe they aren’t guilty of any crime because of their ’’code’’ in protecting their country.
Nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, A Few Good Men is a great story and it is told in great manner. This is a must watch film for everyone.