I Can Handle the Truth

The first masterpiece written by the creator of the West Wing television show was a 1992 movie directed by, actor turned director, Rob Reiner. A Few Good Men, is a military/court drama about two marines accused of murder. This film has always been a personal favourite and is one that is a good one to watch multiple times.

Daniel Kafee (portrayed by Tom Cruise) is a young navy lawyer working for the NJAG (Navy Judge Advocat General). Known for plea barganing Kafee is handed a murder case about three young marines at Guantanimo Bay in Cuba. Assigned with Kafee is his friend, fellow NJAG lawyer, Sam Weinburg (Kevin Pollak), and Naval investigator Joanne Galloway (Demi Moore) who has an odd attachment to the two marines on trial, Dawson and Downey. The situation on the night of the murder was; PFC William Santiago was in his room asleep when in the middle of the night Dawson and Downey came into his room, tied his hands and feet, and stuffed a rag into his mouth. Suddenly Santiago started to bleed from his mouth, so they untied him to see what was wrong. An hour later he died at the hospital and Dawson and Downey were arrested for murder. The only reason they werent sentanced staraight away to 20 years at Leavenworth is because Galloway heard their story and thought that the case sounded very similar to a "code red" (a code red is where the members of a squad or platoon gang up on another member to teach him a lesson. i.e. if a sodier dropped his lesson during drills he would get his hands glued together). Also appearing in the film are; Jack Nicholson as Colonel Nathan R Jessup, Kevin Bacon as the prosecuting attourney, Keifer Sutherland as an officer at Gitmo, and J.T. Walsh as another officer at Gitmo.

The writing in this film is basically as good as it gets. Aaron Sorkin (also known for his work on the West Wing and the American President) wrote the play the film was based on and also wrote the screenplay for the film. The film is also very visually appealing and although it lacks the action of many modern movies it has a similar quality to 12 Angry Men in how the writing provides all the action the film needs. Overall I give it a ten out of ten and it is an amzing film.