Neo military lawyer Danny Kaffee (Tom Cruise) defends Marines accused of murder; they contend they were acting under orders.

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone magazine said "That the performances are uniformly outstanding is a tribute to Rob Reiner (Misery), who directs with masterly assurance, fusing suspense and character to create a movie that literally vibrates with energy." Richard Schickel in Time magazine called it "an extraordinarily well-made movie, which wastes no words or images in telling a conventional but compelling story." Todd McCarthy in Variety magazine predicted, "The same histrionic fireworks that gripped theater audiences will prove even more compelling to filmgoers due to the star power and dramatic screw-tightening."

I just wanted to share that, because all I can say is I agree entirely.

Many powerful dramas have been made throughout the history of motion pictures. This is one of few to combine intense meaningful drama with a funny script, full of witty dialog. The ensemble of nothing but renowned competent actors ensures excellent performances throughout the movie. This would have been an almost perfect film if it wasn't for one little consistency issue regarding Colonel Jessep. Until the very end of the film, the script portrays the events from Jessep's point of view with gruesome accuracy, but after his confession he becomes a man with no apparent sense of causal relations. The fact that the man who formerly went to such extremes as to make entire flights disappear to protect his secret, doesn't understand the consequences of him confessing that secret, in the court of law, makes me confused. Of course you could argue that the colonel lives by the rules and notions of the Marine Corps and doesn't fully comprehend the world outside. I still don't accept it completely though, but that doesn't matter much overall. This is an excellent film. Watch it, watch it again and then re-watch it. You won't be disappointed.

(9/10)

This is one of the movies, I have watched many many times. First few times, Tom Cruise seemed to be giving an ordinary performance; probably my shortcoming that I was not able to understand his character. But, then I realized that he was playing exactly the character he was supposed to portray and he did it in a impeccable manner - wow!!!! He was just second to Jack Nicholson.

I could not imagine if anyone else could have replaced Jack Nicholson - his stellar performance (as always) and the intensity and ferocity with which he delivered his dialogues - man, even his facial expressions at times were worth a watch.

Story line and plot don't seem to be so strong and there will be many people who would not agree with its end and even with the message of the movie, which is although not so clear but definitely points towards some of the not so best practices being followed in any country's army (over discipline in the name of straightening the people and getting things in order or even avoiding any further chaos or things being run by certain people just to settle their personal scores and run in a way they think is the best, even disregarding other people's reasonable opinions). However, the other things apart, movie was a treat to watch. Director Rob Reiner and writer Aaron Sorkin didn't leave any stone unturned when it came to dialogues in the movie - in fact, the dialogues delivered by each and every character (not only Jack Nicholson) have been simply stunning.