And we're supposed to root for this guy? I so hoped at the end when he called Jessup an SOB that Jessup gave him a shiner. It's the least this prick deserved.
shareWell, the character starts off smug but develops a conscience. But they definitely went overboard on painting this guy as a prick. Playing baseball while his clients are waiting in a holding cell, forgetting their named, condescending remarks to a female superior officer.
shareIt's called a character arc -- he starts as smug and mildly offensive, but matures through the course of the story and isn't the same person at the end.
shareWhat character arc? He's just as smug and obnoxious at the end of the movie as he was at the start.
shareNot in my view; he clearly matured during the course of the movie.
shareWell, I'm sorry, but I didn't get that out of his character. However, I haven't seen this movie since, probably, the late '90s. Perhaps a rewatch might help me see Kaffe's character differently. I'll give it another go one of these days.
shareI gave it a rewatch a couple of months ago. I agree Kaffee was an unlikable jerk during the first act. But as he became engrossed in the case and developed a relationship with JoAnne Galloway (and the other guy), working closely together, I started to see him as a worthy human being fighting for justice and wanting to take down a pompous colonel.
Also, he never takes advantage of JoAnne -- they surprisingly remain colleagues rather than become (the typical) lovers -- and he learns he has a knack for being a courtroom lawyer.
That is the dumbest thing I've read in a while. You insist Kaffee is a jerk through out the film but haven't seen it in 20 years. That's dumb.
sharehe was a changed man at the end
shareKendrick, is that you?
shareKaffee may be smug but Jessup is still a criminal and a thug who caused the death of a man by giving an illegal and immoral order, and then tried to cover it up, justifying it with his jingoistic militarist philosophy that he's above the law because he's a marine.
Between the two, Jessup is far worse.
I kinda agree but I’m sure that’s how most lawyers are in real life.
shareMaybe worse.
shareIt's easy to just stamp Kaffee with the "He's a cocky, smug ass" stamp....but he's a bit more complex than that. And also, perspectives change.
When I first watched the film, I (too) was young, cocky and smug at times, thinking I knew it all and had the world by the collar. Hence, I didn't see those qualities in Kaffee as being negative--I saw him as a man on top of things.
Sure, in time I grow to recognize those qualities in younger generations as being overly confident too soon (with no milage to back it up)...and it seems a tad disrespectful. However, I get that it's a natural stage in life for many...and a right of passage to grow out of.
In the movie, we see what drives Kaffee and why he acts the way he does. And...we also see him "grow out of it" right before our eyes, as he rises to a challenge and becomes the kind of man he's destined to be. It's that growth...facing those demons....discovering the right path....which is inspiring.
It would be easy to just make Kaffee an awesome, super guy from the get-go, with zero personal growth in the story. But I think it's much cooler to show him as flawed and immature...but eventually finding his way when he really needs to step-up and get his shit together. That's the story for a lot of us, I suppose...