Welcome to The Queue — your daily distraction of curated video content sourced from across the web. Today, we’re watching a video on why the climactic confrontation in A Few Good Men feels like the final moments of a battle.
What’s your favorite climactic fight scene? Is it Russell Crowe’s Maximus dueling to the death with the evil Emperor Commodus in Gladiator? What about Luke Skywalker honing the force to blow up the death star in Star Wars?
Or, hear me out, how about the final confrontation in the Aaron Sorkin-penned courtroom drama A Few Good Men?
Sure, A Few Good Men might not have the literal appearance of a battle. But breaking down the film like a violent confrontation clarifies what makes the final, explosive confession of Col. Nathan R. Jessep (Jack Nicholson) so powerful.
Sorkin is known for his quick, heady dialogue and it can often feel like his characters are speaking way over your head. So the video essay below is a nice reminder that even a twisty military cover-up can be made more approachable with the right framework.
The essay outlines the compelling stakes of our hero (Tom Cruise‘s Lt. Daniel Kaffee), how the script clearly defines the rules, weapons, and logistics of the battleground (a military court), and how the film sets the stage for a confrontation where neither opponent is going to give up without a fight.
Ultimately, while the legal case at the center of the film may be complex, A Few Good Men‘s finale is about locking two enemies in an arena and turning up the pressure until one of them breaks.
Watch “A Few Good Men — Writing a Final Battle“:
Who made this?
This genre breakdown comes courtesy of Lessons From The Screenplay, which is a consistently insightful video essay channel created and run by Michael Tucker. Lessons From The Screenplay focuses on analyzing movie scripts to determine exactly how films tell effective stories. You can check out Lessons From The Screenplay’s YouTube channel here. And you can follow Tucker on Twitter here.
More Videos Like This
- Here’s another video from Lessons From The Screenplay on the older narrative influences on Henry Selick‘s Coraline.
- And here’s another sample: how Stranger Things conveys its genre-blend in its pitch deck, in the script, and on the screen.
- And one more: how Whiplash and Black Swan offer two different takes on the “obsessed artist.”
- A big part of what makes A Few Good Men‘s explosive arguments so memorable is Jack Nicholson’s temper. Here’s Queue favorite The NerdWriter on how the actor epitomizes the “art of anger.”
- And finally, here’s Lessons From the Screenplay once again, on what The Social Network can teach us about the function of Sorkin’s stylish dialogue.
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