Basic

After a platoon of Army Rangers are decimated on a training exercise in the jungles of Panama, former Ranger Tom Hardy (Travolta) is brought in to help with the interrogation of the surviving members. As one story seems to clash with another, Hardy and Lt. Osborne (Nielsen) are getting no closer to finding out why most of the team were murdered or if it was a revenge plot against Sgt. Nathan West (Jackson) for his brutal training methods.

A military murder thriller that has so many twists and turns that your head will end up spinning.

There are so many red herrings and blind alleyways that the plot throws at you or takes you down, you can't help but get slightly bored with the constant guessing game. It does keep you guessing and predicting who has done what or who is behind the entire thing but the finale is slightly confusing, far too short and completely lacking it any real explanation to make any sense. Even Connie Nielsen character looks as confused as the rest of us.

The performances are fine. John Travolta is his usual cocky, arrogant self, a role that he seems to have labelled himself with for the pass few years. Connie Nielson is a good as ever, but deserves more challenging roles than this and Giovanni Ribisi is slightly over the top as Lt. Levi Kendall. There is also good support from the underrated Timothy Daly and Taye Diggs. The highlight is Samuel L. Jackson, as he is as cool as ever, even when playing a potential bad guy.

Director John McTiernan simply goes through the motions and is never really taxed. It is hard to believe that he directed Die Hard and The Hunt for Red October, as this movie never shows any of the passion or pace of either of those great action dramas.

The major crime this movie makes is that Travolta and Jackson only share the screen for one scene. Any possibility of seeing the electric chemistry that they generated in Pulp Fiction is dashed and fans dying to see the pair share the screen again will be severely disappointed.

Basic has enough twists and turns to keep you guessing until the finale, but a confusing outcome totally spoils what could have been a decent Military drama.

Audio commentary from director John McTiernan
'A Writer's Perspective' featurette with screenwriter James Vanderbilt
'Director's Design' featurette
TV spots & Radio spots
Trailers
Interactive menu & Scene access

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2003