Full disclosure: I am an unabashed Aaron Sorkin supporter. Not everyone is, and I get that. Aaron Sorkin doesn’t feel the need to write dialogue that resembles human conversation. He tells us that his protagonists are flawed, but doesn’t often show us. His plays are often essays, or perhaps more accurately, lectures on his worldview. He also finds a unique poetry in the cadence and repetition of musical theater (he was a musical theater major in college and often cites Gilbert and Sullivan and other wordy music) which leads to exchanges like this:

“We either get it done or I’m gonna hang your boy from a fucking yardarm.”
“A yardarm? Sherman does the navy still hang people from yardarms?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Dave, Sherman doesn’t think the navy hangs people from yardarms anymore.”

I think the reason that some people don’t like Sorkin is because he finds time for the meticulousness of language but often doesn’t seem to be concerned about the drama of his stories. Early in A Few Good Men, we see a crime being committed. Then we learn the perpetrators of the crime and see the discussions and preamble to the crime itself. We know the guilty parties without a doubt before the plot of the movie really begins. To Sorkin, the more interesting part is the argument, not the result.

He is interested in the moment when the hero (who has been capable of beating the villain all along) realizes his capabilities and responsibilities. He believes that some people are intrinsically better than others and that those people have the duty to use their powers for good.

In short, he believes in superheroes.

Tom Cruise is this movie’s superhero. Everyone else is flawed, makes mistakes, lies and takes shortcuts, but Cruise’s character Danny Kaffee is tasked with simply realizing that he is a great attorney. He is better than his legendary now-deceased attorney father, he is better than the entire United States Marine Corps.

This movie has a lot of wonderful moments. If you like wordy, idealistic legal dramas, I would suggest you watch it. I won’t say anything else about the plot.

“Are you asking me out on a date?”
“No.”
“It sounded like you were asking me out on a date.”
“No.”
“I’ve been asked out on dates before, and that’s what it sounds like.”

I’ve mentioned before that Cruise’s career is marked by apprenticeships. In The Color of Money he studies under Paul Newman and Martin Scorcese. In Rain Man he works alongside Dustin Hoffman. In 1999 he’ll star in the last film by the great Stanley Kubrick and one of the first films of P.T. Anderson, widely recognized as the greatest director currently working. It’s hard not to believe that his performance in A Few Good Men is largely motivated by the presence of Jack Nicholson. He even does a Jack Nicholson impersonation in the movie, for God’s sake, and it’s spot on of course.

I’ve also mentioned before that you see the seams and strategies behind Cruise’s choice of role and subject matter during the 80s. He goes from a character actor to a sort of goofy leading man to starring in more serious movies and toeing the line with different approaches to physicality and tone.

Frankly, Sorkin is right in Cruise’s wheelhouse, as it features serious material with many lighthearted moments and dialogue that requires constant commitment and presence, Cruise’s specialties. He’s not the only actor that could make A Few Good Men work (it was a hit play on Broadway before being turned into a film by Rob Reiner) but he is good in it, and he brings a physical presence to his monologue and his bombastic debate with Nicholson at the end that elevates the material by standing up to the heady language.

But it’s worth noting that in the same year, Cruise stars in Far and Away which is a complete misapplication of his talents, and that in 1993 Nicole Kidman stars in a lesser known Sorkin movie called Malice. It’s a strange time in his career and you can see Kidman’s influence more than the careerism that drove his 80s performances.

Anyway, I love this movie. But there are a few things that don’t hold up particularly well:

-The score. Full of minor-key synthesizer, this alone makes the movie feel incredibly dated.
-The constant mentions of Guantanamo Bay. I’m not sure if this is a detracting factor or not, but the fact that Gitmo plays such a prominent role in this movie is a bit distracting considering what we know now.
-Demi Moore’s hair. Eeesh.

Next: The Firm