Code d'honneur

I knew ONE KILL from a while because it was uploaded on YouTube few days after the death of the lead Anne Heche, and since it stars one of the actors of which I try to watch all his available movies last April I finally gave it a try. If you wanna know why I wrote that summary please read the following text.

Captain Mary Jane O'Malley (Heche) is a divorced female marine officer that lives with her two children and starts an affair with Major Nelson Gray (Sam Shepard) but things turn bad when she discovers that he is married and when she wants to stop the relationship he won't accept it and Gray will force himself on O'Malley until she shoots at him when he forced his way in her house. After this the movie moves to the court room proceedings and we find out that there is a cover up by the base officers that refuse to let Gray's reputation on the ground until Captain Walter Randall (Eric Stoltz) comes to her defense.

The idea wasn't that bad, and the acting was good by all. But what ruined the movie were some of the actions by our lead. If Nelson Gray was married, why captain O'Malley had to start her relationship since it brought the consequences of Gray that didn't want to leave her and forced his way on her? Talk about hair-brained thinking. Second, I really hated that the superior officers didn't want to accept that she killed the Major for self defense up until Randall came to her defense.

Overall, a TV movie easy to be skipped because of the aforementioned reasons. Only of interest for fans of the stars or if you love to see movies that give bad messages and rot your brain.

In "One Kill" Heche, Stoltz, and Sherpard form a solid core cast around which swirl the events in this docudrama about a Marine Corps murder trial. The story of a Woman Marine (Heche) who shot her lover to death in her bedroom is laid out and developed by trial flick rote. As the characters begin dealing with the matter of trial, the facts behind the case unfold piecemeal via flashback. Taken in the whole, "One Kills" offers nothing new and the story of a love affair gone sour and a corps cover up aren't particularly compelling. Nonetheless, the film offers excellent performances with considerable dramatic clout. Recommended for trial flick junkies and those interested in military courts-martial.

A divorced female marine officer (Anne Heche) with two small children is charged for killing an senior officer. As the characters begin dealing with the matter of trial, the facts behind the case unfold piecemeal via flashback.

"One Kills" offers excellent performances. Anne Heche natural acting works great as the army officer having an affair with her superior, played by Sam Shepard, and Eric Stoltz is credible as her lawyer defending her against the military establishment.

The movie is well build up. sometimes a little slow and too dramatic.

Recommended for trial/drama flick fans and those interested in military courts-martial.

This could have been a good TV-movie, but the flashbacks do not make it easier to understand the movie. As they give the viewer informations on the way (will the movie proceeds) i found myself wondering why she never said or mentioned that in the beginning. Then the whole trail would probably not have been necessary.

When the movie ends you understand why she shot, and of course she is not guilty. Too bad that the producer/director used the flashbacks this way, but on the other had the movie would not have been worth while at all.

Nice movie for a rainy day, big bag of chips to kill the evening.

This movie reminded me of the live dramas of the 1950s- not like the recent "Failsafe", which seemed more of a stunt than anything else, but a TRUE moral drama that is both engaging and thought-provoking. Anne Heche is more than credible as the army officer having an affair with her superior, played by Sam Shepard, and Eric Stoltz is wonderful as her lawyer defending her against the military establishment. I found myself waiting for THEIR affair to begin, if only because they look so good together. This movie is apparently based on a true story, and it's a relief to be asked to think about real issues for a change.

Directed by Christopher Menaul, who also did The Passion of Ayn Rand (with Stolz) and the Prime Suspect series, this is a movie with panache and style and is absolutely worth seeing.