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With its big name stars and big star moments, this slick courtroom drama was good Oscar bait material for director Rob Reiner in 1992. There was no way of knowing at the time that the film would only gain weight in the future for events that couldn’t even be thought of in the early ’90s. Set at Guantanamo Bay, the crime story revolves around the death of a marine private and the possible orders that were given that might have lead to his death by the abuse of other soldiers. Aaron Sorkin’s script deals with the following of orders that are not just and a military code of conduct that has become warped. Looking back now, the film almost seems hauntingly prophetic.

Lance Cpl. Harold Dawson (Wolfgang Bodison, LITTLE BIG LEAGUE) and Private Louden Downey (James Marshall, TV’s TWIN PEAKS) have been charged with murder for the death of William Santiago (Michael DeLorenzo, ALIVE), the weakest soldier in their unit. Lt. Cdr. JoAnne Galloway (Demi Moore, ST. ELMO’S FIRE) believes the deaths were the result of a hazy ritual called Code Red, which went awry, and wants the case as a way to expose the practice. Her superiors are playing politics and decide to go with Lt. Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise, RISKY BUSINESS), a skilled lawyer who has never seen the inside of a courtroom because he is the master of the plea bargain. Along with researcher Lt. Sam Weinberg (Kevin Pollak, THE USUAL SUSPECTS), Kaffee and Galloway dig deeper into the case and hit nothing but stonewalls from those involved.

Dawson’s direct superior Lt. Jonathan Kendrick (Kiefer Sutherland, LOST BOYS) specifically told his men not to touch Santiago, but Dawson claims that Kendrick came to him and ordered him to give Santiago a Code Red. Kendrick is a by-the-book butt-kisser who truly believes in “unit then corps then God then country.” Col. Nathan Jessep (Jack Nicholson, ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST) is the tough-as-nails leader of the base who believes that it is his duty to train Santiago and doesn’t like any one telling him what to do. Lt. Col. Matthew Markinson (J.T. Walsh, PLEASANTVILLE) is the second-in-command and seems conflicted about what should be done, but then he disappears. Kaffee wants to find the easiest way out of the case and is surprised at how easy he gets what he wants from prosecutor Capt. Jack Ross (Kevin Bacon, FOOTLOOSE). Kaffee becomes intrigued at what is being covered up and eventually decides to try and blow the lid off the cover-up.

Quotable lines abound in this film — most notably, “You can’t handle the truth” and “I eat breakfast 300 yards from 4,000 Cubans who are trained to kill me, so don’t think for one second that you can come down here, flash a badge, and make me nervous.” Both lines are delivered in a fiery performance from Nicholson, who received one of the film’s four Oscar nominations. Just as solid and fiery is Cruise as a brilliant, commanding lawyer who knows the way things work and knows how to play the system. Moore, in one of her better performances, plays Kaffee’s opposite, an idealist who will take cases to court and draw them out on principle. The opposites pairing works and Sorkin and Reiner make the right decision to not force in a full-fledged romance between them. Along with the good work from all the previously mentioned actors there are smaller roles for: Christopher Guest (BEST IN SHOW), in a rare dramatic turn, as base doctor Stone; and Noah Wyle (TV’s E.R.) and Cuba Gooding Jr. (JERRY MCGUIRE) as corporals called to the stand.

The tight screenplay presents well-defined characters and gives them snappy, fun dialogue. There are a few padded scenes that seem they’re only present to provide “big moments” for key stars, which undercut some of the uncertainty about who is right and who is wrong. Therefore, the battle of the wills between Kaffee and Jessup bubbles to the top as the key dramatic pull, supported by the inherent suspense of whether the good guys can pull off the difficult case. It’s good to note how well Sorkin and the actors sell the final confrontation between the chief adversaries. Watch how Kaffee plays Jessup perfectly. It’s hard to believe that a lawyer needs to rely on a courtroom to win, but here it works.

As for the newfound weight the film has gained, it seems Gitmo was the perfect place to set a tale about abuse that leads to death. The military culture depicted in the film feels like a place where it wouldn’t be unusual to hear reports coming from about rampant prisoner abuse and the suspension of rights. Jessup is exactly the person who wouldn’t think twice about beating a terror suspect to a pulp if he thought for a second it might save one American life. In 1992, A FEW GOOD MEN just seemed like a good drama critiquing the alpha male attitude of the military, but now it seems to be critiquing something more insidious and disturbing.

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