A Few Good Men (1992) Review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXMNGokxbQA

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

It’s always hard to get to the point on what’s true and what’s not. When you figure it all out though, you might start questioning if it was even worth uncovering.


PLOT


Based on a 1989 play written by Aaron Sorkin, 1992’s A Few Good Men begins with the shocking death of US Marine Private William Santiago (Michael DeLorenzo) beaten and succumbed to a poisoned gag in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base by Lance Corporal Harold Dawson & Private First Class Louden Downey over threatening to report one of them for an illegal fence line shooting. A flashback confirms William’s death to have happened after he broke chain of command by asking for a transfer and Colonel Nathan R Jessep assigned First Lieutenant Jonathan James Kendrick to train him under the grounds that the whole platoon is at fault for his substandard performance. With the fatal results of Santiago, this puts Dawson & Downey court martialled and accused of murder. Junior grade lieutenant Daniel Kaffee, son of a former navy judge advocate/attorney general who has no courtroom experience despite a record of expedient plea bargains, is paired with the experienced Lieutenant Commander Joanne Galloway and fellow junior Sam Weinberg to represent both men. Kaffee’s pairing with Galloway starts out awkward since he feels thrown off of her theory that Dawson & Downey may have been carrying out the extrajudicial ‘code red’ punishment. When they meet Kaffee & Kendrick, they’re only met with contempt as they deny use of the code red. This does lead to him reaching out to Judge Advocate Captain Jack Ross on a plea deal for the accused to be sentenced for involuntary manslaughter including six months of confinement that would enable them to avoid life sentences. Dawson is openly against this though as he remains firm that he & Downey never intended to hurt William. At the arraignment, Kaffee would enter the not guilty plea. The first person brought to the stand is Special Agent Robert McGuire (Arthur Senzy) who recalls getting Santiago’s letter and confirmed Dawson was the one shooting out of fence line, claimed he had engaged in some manner by the enemy. Corporal Carl Edward Hanmaker (Cuba Gooding Jr) is then called in to reveal how Kendrick told him of Santiago betraying code of honor but did not want him to be touched. The next day, Doctor Stone (Christopher Guest) explains it takes 20-30 minutes for the lactic acidosis poison to be fatal, and gives the opinion Santiago was in fact poisoned. Sam questions Joanne’s method to be so concerning and doesn’t see Dawson & Downey worth the hassle, whereas she rebuttals they are. She then asks Kaffee out to dinner and they bond over past cases and express their respect for one another, but the latter is still worried of losing. On the next session, Corporal Jeffrey Barnes (Noah Wyle)  is called in and he recollects wanting to give Santiago a code red himself for his incompetence but respected Dawson not allowing that, implying there’s been multiple code reds before. Kaffee would meet Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Andrew Markinson who went UA after his Guantanamo visit and would reveal to him Jessep never ordered William’s transfer and forged a signature the day of the Cuba meeting. He would then tell Jack about Markinson and tends to call Kendrick to the stand, but he believes that to be a bad idea because calling him or Jessep without proper evidence can have him court martialed for professional misconduct. This does establish Dawson to have a motive being previously received negative performance reviews from Kendrick, who confirms at the stand he denied him promotion after disobeying an order by smuggling food to a confined marine, denying the code red however. Through Downey though, he admits he wasn’t there with Dawson when Kendrick gave the order but still followed Harold’s lead. Shortly after this does Kaffee find Markinson dead via gunshot suicide who wasn’t willing to testify against Jessep and ashamed of failing to protect William. This disappoints him because without him to testify, Dawson & Downey would be at risk for longer sentences. Wanting to give up, Jo calls him out that he asked for the transfer order just to get Jessep’s reaction to get a hint of his involvement. Although Sam suggests not calling Jessep to the stand, Kaffee takes Joanne’s advice to do it anyway. On the day of, he is able to point out all the inconsistencies in his testimony that he ordered Santiago off base after already ordering him not to be touched and that he never packed the day before he died when he was scheduled to depart. Sam even shows up with two airmen mid argument to set up a bluff. In the heat of the moment, Jessep admits to ordering the code red and doctored the flight logs; The confession officially gets him arrested on the spot. Despite Dawson & Downey being cleared of murder charges, Judge Julius Alexander Rudolph (JA Preston) finds them dishonorably discharged convicted of conduct unbecoming. While this confuses Downey, Dawson realizes this comes from their failure to defend those who can’t defend for themselves. As Dawson salutes Kaffee for the first time to show respect for his efforts, the film ends with Jack departing to arrest Kendrick for perjury & conspiracy.


THOUGHTS


As I really pushed my interest in film as a teenager, courtroom dramas were really a subgenre I didn’t think I’d enjoy. It’s the kinda setting where fact & fiction matters most and every second matters when it comes to finding a proper solution for who’s right & wrong. Sorkin and director Rob Reiner were successfully able to set up a compelling atmosphere that is all about vast ethics that occur in military communities and in any background, accountability should be required everywhere. I can go on and on pointing out how compelling of a score you get from Marc Shaiman, the intro drill straight up defines the whole movie before on how important teamwork & conformity is in life itself. Once that passes, you’re following an incredible ensemble that ends up defining such morals then on. Daniel Kaffee is a standout performance from Tom Cruise because you’re instantly impressed with his cynicism that makes him find quicker and you relate to how insecure he is in wanting to protect his dad’s legacy. For years, he avoided taking his trials to court because he was afraid of failure because despite the annoyance, he knew Downey & Dawson had their duties and that inspired him to realize he needed to do the same like his dad would. The dynamic duo did push his limits since they were taught what they were ordered to do cannot be their fault when they couldn’t have anticipated what would happen to Santiago. Wolfgang Bodison showed the latter to be most indoctrinated in his youth while James Marshall showed the latter to be too naive since he couldn’t grasp with a personal agency compared to his brethren and only made obedience the sole aspect about him. Nevertheless, they accept the consequences because they realize they were still out of line for what they did to Willie ordered or not. On the other hand, no one can argue Kaffee would’ve not taken it to the limit had he not been pushed by his peers. Kevin Pollak may portray Sam as the pragmatic one who knows where he’s coming from, Demi Moore shines heavily when portraying Joanne as the more driven one who idealizes everyone deserves a fighting chance in every environment. She may too be annoyed of how Kaffee takes the easy way out, but she’s willing to admit she respects how smart he is and knows he can do more than necessary. If she didn’t believe in him, Kaffee would never take the absolute risk that would change every they think they knew. I also dig Kevin Bacon as Jack because while on the opposing side, he’s got his own duty bound morals that make him work with a clear conscience which is how he and Kaffee respect each other throughout and maintain it once the case is over. When you grow up learning about superior officers in the military, you want to respect their positions of vast responsibilities but that never means you have to like in how they approach the absolute. In his 10th Oscar nomination, Jack Nicholson is an instant menace as Jessep because he feels more entitled to manipulate his authority and deems Santiago’s death to maintain integrity as if that’s more important than morality. The climax between him and Kaffee is an acting lesson for the ages because it’s a duel involving pride & ego and he lets both get the best of him the more he’s pressed about it. Despite Jessep having a point that no one would handle the truth he carries with him, he was destined to lose the moment they first met in Cuba. Had Kaffee not caught onto him faking omniscience the moment he tells him his father died, Jessep would’ve kept acting like he owned more than what he thought he did. Kiefer Sutherland definitely came off quite rigid in obedience as Kendrick as he too believes in elitism, but Markinson does feel like an unsung hero since he has enough of a conscientiousness to tell the truth, but going up against a brethren he’s known for years was too much for him to bare hence taking his life. Had he not told Kaffee the truth however, he would’ve not figured out the evidence that was in front of him. Again it’s not an ideal happy ending for Dawson & Downey to be discharged after Jessep confessed to the orders he gave, but that’s still part of the point everyone’s gotta be held accountable. The one bright side that comes from this is that Kaffee has more confidence in himself than before after all the extra effort he gave and will continue to embrace it going forward. This movie is always gonna impress me overtime, but then there are some things that have confused me upon rewatching. Like for starters, how did people in the 80s/90s get charged for marijuana possession like Kaffee’s first client if the guy actually had oregano? That ain’t a fucking case, that’s a big misunderstanding that can be mistrial for crying out loud. And if Kaffee visits the crime scene only a week after, I’m kinda surprised the tape wasn’t removed yet nor was the room touched. Also if Markinson is supposed to be a ghost like authority figure, Joanne was wasting time thinking a phone call would find him. It’s even out of pocket that Sam is with Kaffee when he goes to tell Joanne in the rain that Jessep will be called to the stand because if Kaffee was drunk given the disappointment about Markinson’s death, he should’ve been the one driving. Lastly, I don’t like Joanne having second thoughts moments before Jessep is called because she wanted it to get this far believing in Kaffee. It’s good advice to tell him to back out if he feels he can’t get his confession, but it feels like something Sam should say since he had already advised him not to take the risk anyway. Ignore these flaws however, then you can still enjoy A Few Good Men as an impressive courtroom drama that feels bigger than it appears the more you think about it, earning its Best Picture nomination. If courtroom dramas are your jam, check this out when you can.