The main protagonist is your titular 'not by the books' rookie that attempts to avoid conflict but he's reprimanded and proven wrong at almost every point in the movie. There should be examples of his way of thinking working out but they just don't.

And the movie is full of tell don't show. We're told that his parents were brave warrior, but we never SEE them, ever. We are told about insurrectionists, but we never SEE why they are all evil, or even mislabeled evil, because the show assumes you've played every game and read books beforehand.