Khoi Vinh’s review published on Letterboxd:
A very engaging rendition of this classic courtroom drama that’s unfortunately undermined by two fatal flaws: first, a determined but unconvincing performance by Kiefer Sutherland that feels like a Hollywood actor’s idea of what an embittered Navy officer with a drawl might act and sound like. The second, more bitterly disappointing fault is Friedkin’s decision to present the dénouement in a virtually unreconstructed form. Though updated for the post-9/11 era, it still hews very closely to the play’s original, lecture-y deferral to the sanctity of the military code, almost as if to say, “Shame on you for feeling everything this play made you feel up until now.” Whether you find this politically distasteful or not, it’s a dramaturgical bummer that feels inorganic to the flow of the narrative; it’s a final, tedious statement of principals that feels more like a disclaimer than it feels like a part of the story. Friedkin, whose ability to resolve complex stories with note perfect, ambiguously resonant endings has been a hallmark of his work, should have been able to do better than this.
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