Basic (2003) Movie Information:

Basic (2003) Directed by: John McTiernan Basic (2003) Written by: James Vanderbilt Basic (2003) Cast: John Travolta, Samuel Jackson, Connie Nielsen, Brian Van Holt, Giovanni Ribisi, Cristian De La Fuente, Taye Diggs, Roselyn Sanchez, Harry Connick, Dash Mihok

Basic (2003) U.S. Distributor: Columbia Pictures Basic (2003) U.K. Distributor: Sony Pictures

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Basic (2003) Synopsis:

Tom Hardy, an ex-Army Ranger turned DEA agent, is drawn into an ever-widening mystery surrounding the disappearance of the feared and often hated Sgt. Nathan West, as well as several of his elite Special Forces trainees on what appears, at first, to have been a routine training exercise during a hurricane in the jungles of Panama. Only two survivors are found, Dunbar, and a badly wounded Kendall, the son of a high-profile Joint Chiefs of Staff official. Neither is willing to cooperate with Capt. Julia Osborne's investigation. So base commander Col. Bill Styles calls in ex-Ranger Hardy, an old friend and a persuasive interrogator. Osborne disapproves of Hardy who is on leave from the D.E.A. after having come under suspicion of accepting bribes from local drug traffickers. She is also uneasy when she learns that Hardy once trained under West and hates him almost as passionately as his current recruits. With time running out, Hardy and Osborne call a temporary, if uneasy, truce. Hardy cajoles a confession out of Dunbar, who claims that Sgt. West and the missing Rangers have been murdered and their bodies blown away by the hurricane. When they later interview Kendall, he confirms that the other Rangers and West are dead. But, in almost every other way, his story contradicts Dunbar's. What happened to West and his Ranger team? And what were they really doing out there in the jungle? As each layer reveals more lies and greater deceptions, Hardy and Osborne inch towards the horrible truth about the fate of the missing Rangers.

Basic (2003) Movie Review:

John Travolta returns to the silver screen as a disjointed ex-military man turned DEA agent who is trying to unravel a mystery. Maybe John should be looking at the mystery of his fading cliché-ridden career, instead.

Charismatic Travolta plays Agent Tom Hardy, who is summoned by friend Chief Warrant Officer Pete Wilmer (Tim Daly) to look into the disappearance of infamous Army ranger drill sergeant Nathan West (Samuel L. Jackson). It seems that strange things are afoot at the old USO.

Wilmer teams Hardy with Lt. Julia Osborne (Connie Nielsen) in the investigation. Their first suspect is the only healthy survivor of the altercation Private Dunbar (Brian Van Holt). Who will turn the tables on whom? What’s the biggest secret surrounding the disappearance of West? And what is it with John Travolta’s Hardy sprawling out on a table before Dunbar?

Basic is in the purest of words, a “basic” mystery. There is nothing flashy, shocking, debonair or risky about the thriller. The only thing that may be of interest to fans of the mystery genre is the film’s flip-flopping ending. As the film screeches towards its eventual conclusion it takes liberties to fool the audience. Some of the leads and twists are logical and worthy. But it’s the film’s second to final hurrah that leaves me saying to myself, was that just a Scooby Doo ending I just saw. The ending is almost a cop-out and becomes even more so as the final chips are laid into place.

I also found a lot of Basic unwatchable. The pelting rainstorm, lightning flashes, gunfire and screaming men repeated at least four times made for a hard time in the theatre. The lighting in 85% of this film is atrocious. The lighting is so bad that half the time I can’t even tell who is who. That should be pretty hard to do when we are talking the difference between a group of grunts and actress-model Roselyn Sanchez.

The acting in this film is also quite flat. I felt that Nielsen’s Osborne felt a lot like a Sharon Stone or Joan Allen clone. She had no chemistry with Travolta’s over-the-top Hardy. I liked seeing Tim Daly in a significant role. It was also nice seeing Harry Connick Jr. in a different kind of role.

I could even begin to imagine what director John McTiernan was expecting from his take on this film. Well what do you expect when director, cinematographer, casting director and costume designer all worked together on the 2002 goose-egg “Rollerball”? This revelation explains so many of the reasons why this film is unwatchable. McTiernan used to be one of my favorite directors since he brought forth 2 Die Hard films, Predator, Thomas Crown Affair, Hunt for Red October and Thirteen Warrior. I guess it just goes to show that when McTiernan wants to stink he does it in style. Some of his giant stinkers include Medicine Man, Last Action Hero and of course Rollerball. Don’t worry John, your due for a great film soon.

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Basic (2003) review written by: Dean Kish