Only the most dedicated of Samuel L. Jackson fans would even attempt to try and watch everything the actor has ever appeared in, given his prolific nature and willingness to sign on to almost any project that comes across his desk, but that desire to work as much as possible has also seen him become one of the defining movie stars of the last three decades based on the sheer volume of box office smash hits and acclaimed projects he’s been involved with.
Obviously, not all of them have been success stories, and Jackson has starred in more than his fair share of duds, disasters and run of the mill VOD action thrillers, but one of his more overlooked and forgotten efforts with a solid pedigree on either side of the camera is now streaming for free after Rules of Engagement was added to the ad-supported IMDb TV.
Directed by Academy Award winning The French Connection and The Exorcist director William Friedkin from a script by Stephen Gaghan, who won an Oscar of his own the year after Rules of Engagement was released thanks to his screenplay for Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic, the plot follows Jackson’s decorated Marine as he finds himself on trial for a rescue mission gone wrong.
Tommy Lee Jones delivers his usual gruff gravitas as the man chosen to defend the accused military veteran, and it’s an intriguing blend of a war film and legal thriller. It’s not a brilliant movie by any means, but Rules of Engagement does boast a pair of stellar central performances from Samuel L. Jackson and Jones, though that wasn’t enough to stop it from bombing at the box office after earning just $71 million on a $60 million budget.