This review is of the edited TV 14 version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such since a review of the unedited version would likely be more negative.

It’s time for a classic film and one that’s more critically applauded when compared to Galaxy Quest. Even the title can be seen as deep because you have to decide who the title is referring too. I personally think that it shouldn’t really go towards the two guys who choked the poor victim so I’d place it on Daniel and his partners, but I suppose that it’s ultimately your choice there.

Dawson and Downey are two U.S. Army Marines who have been charged with murder of another cadet in a hazing incident. They have pleaded innocent as the other cadet was murdered, but they claim to have been ordered to haze him. Their superior officer has given another story so it is time to go to court. Daniel has been assigned to the case, but while he is known as a skilled lawyer who can reduce a client’s sentence quite easily, he likes to take the easy way out. If a deal is offered, he’ll take it. JoAnne doesn’t want this to happen since she thinks the two guys are totally innocent and assigns herself as Daniel’s partner. There’s also a third partner who is involved, but he’s not thrilled at the prospect of helping these two bullies.

Before getting into anything else, I will say that I definitely agree with the third guy. Dawson and Downey are in the wrong here and spending a lifetime in prison is essentially what they deserve. Knowingly or not, they did murder someone and took away his chance at a future. They may say that they were ordered to put him into a suffocating position long enough to strike fear into him, but that’s essentially torture and any amount of common sense will tell you that this isn’t okay. When you’re in the Marines you’re expected to follow orders no matter what. Well, then you’ve got to set the example for the others or allow yourself to be discharged from your post. Assaulting a defenseless person is definitely not the right choice to make in any situation. It doesn’t make it any better when you consider that it was 2 vs 1 and the fact that these guys were supposed to be friends. Yeah, Dawson and Downey got no sympathy from me.

It doesn’t help that they don’t make it very easy for Daniel either. They hide crucial bits of information from their allies until the prosecutors bring up the evidence in court. (It’s way too late by then of course) They also don’t seem all that sorry about their actions either. There is basically no remorse for a while. They even say that they have a code. “Units, Corp, God, Country.” So, God’s third on that list and your Unit is above your Country? The priorities are really messed up here and when you put the Unit above morality then you know something is going to go wrong. As it stands, I was basically rooting for the opposing team although naturally I wanted the lie about not giving the order to come out.

Nathan is a pretty good villain and I instantly recognized the villain from the Shining. The actor’s voice is certainly iconic and he does a good job of playing the role here. Nathan is pretty confident and in his old age he really wants to command respect from just about everyone that he talks to. He has no respect for anyone but himself and he is committed to doing things his way. His personality is ultimately his downfall, but this was a villain that I could get behind.

Daniel’s a pretty good main character. I like the overconfidence and the fact that he treats everything like a game. It’s ultimately a front as he shows on different occasions that he actually has a good grasp on everything so it seems like he just has fun trolling everyone. His superiors clearly see his talent as they chose him…or that’s what he wants to think. They probably just wanted someone who would roll over when they attacked in court. Daniel’s only downfall is the fact that he panics a lot. When he panics, Daniel gets drunk and then he’ll start running around and yelling. This happens to a lot of main characters to be honest, they’ll just panic and then try to get sober in time for the climax. It may have been discouraging as the case had a lot of set backs, but getting drunk won’t help.

JoAnne’s a good heroine and she certainly does a good job of digging up a lot of info on her own. Without her prodding, the heroes would have definitely lost the case as she is the one who started to make Nathan look suspicious and Daniel would have given up several times if not for her. JoAnne is strong willed and you always need that in a lawyer. I’m also glad that the film avoided the predictable romance between her and Daniel. They ultimately stay in the friend zone and that’s the realistic way to handle this. Getting together after a few days of working on a case would have been dicey.

Daniel’s rival was a pretty interesting antagonist and he was actually reasonable, which is something that usually doesn’t happen. They were fighting as part of the case, but off the record they were still pals and even went out for drinks. They would feed each other info and the banter was always good. Meanwhile, the hardened secret agent was a bit of a let down. He talked tough and he got a lot of hype as well, but when the going got tough he decided to get out of there. By “there” I mean life and it was a rather anticlimactic way to go. There was really no point to doing any of that and it just made the guy look weak.

Of course, the main reason why this film was a lot of fun was the court room scenes. I always enjoy those and a good part of the film took place in court once the action started. The Judge kept them all honest as he overruled some of the objections. He also wouldn’t stand for any insults and not even Nathan could get away with any rudeness here. The court scenes were where you could really see what the characters were made of. Who had the skills and who simply did not. Daniel snatching away the rule book and bringing up the lunch room question was certainly one of the highlight moments in the court. He certainly did a great job debating even if the evidence was stacked against him from the start.

Overall, A Few Good Men is a solid film. There really isn’t much negative to say about it. The ending was satisfying since Dawson and Downey didn’t get a super happy ending. As far as I’m concerned, they’re just as guilty as anyone else. The characters were all pretty charismatic and I wouldn’t have minded seeing more of Nathan at the base. A few more scenes over there would have definitely been a blast. If you want a solid strategic film with good dialogue throughout, this is the film for you. You know that Nathan is lying from the start so you just have to wonder how the heroes can prove it. To an extent, the ending involves plot hax since there is no other way that the heroes could have made it, but it’s still pretty fun and the debate doesn’t use any hax until the very end so the rest is all very legit. We need more good court room films.

Overall 8/10