Basic

3/30/03 - Review

Samuel L Jackson and John Travolta team up again in the military thriller, Basic.  Sergeant Nathan West (Jackson) is an Army Ranger trainer that is truly a pain in the ass.  Most, if not all of his trainees hate him for the intense pressure he puts on them.  This is seen as West puts six Rangers through a training exercise in Panama during a mammoth hurricane.  But when West and four other members go missing on the exercise, the military investigators jump in to solve the disappearances before the case gets shuffled off to other government agencies.

Captain Julie Osborne (Connie Nielsen) interrogates the two survivors of the exercise but does not get anywhere.  This prompts her boss, Colonel Stiles to call in his old buddy, Tom Hardy (Travolta), an ex Army Ranger who seemed to get himself into trouble working as a DEA Agent.  Even though Osborne disapproves of Hardy, the two work together in hopes of discovering the truth about the missing men.

Hardy has been known to be the best interrogator that the military has ever seen so he quickly starts finding out the facts.  As he interrogates the two men, Hardy soon realizes that not everything is as it seems.  Hardy and Osborne come upon a conspiracy of lies and deception that goes all the way to the top, which leads to an unbelievable ending.     

I have to say that this movie has more twists then a winding country road.  Just when you thought you had it figured out, the movie does a 180 and totally blows your mind.  The whole premise is kind of been there, done that as I have seen many movies over the past five years which are kind of the same.  It is still entertaining though. 

The General’s Daughter, Rules of Engagement, and High Crimes, are just some of the better, more recent movies that deal with the same material.  The movie is a fast paced thriller that continues to throw out ideas and twists that all seem too real.  As I was watching it, I could tell that it was like the other movies that I mentioned but it still managed to keep my attention.  The movie was told in a series of flashbacks that actually fit in with the story instead of detracting from it. 

John Travolta is a great actor for movies like this.  It seems that whenever you cast him in a role like this, he will do a superb job.  Forget Battlefield Earth, this movie shows off his talents.  Travolta as an ex-ranger is very believable much like he was in The Generals Daughter.  Connie Nielsen is a beautiful actress and she complements Travolta as an intimidating opposite.  Jackson did not have much screen time, but when he was there, he made his presence known.  He portrayed a very mean son of a bitch trainer convincingly. 

John McTiernan is mostly known for his insane action movies like Die Hard and Predator.  I have noticed that when these directors change genres from action to thriller, they really help in the outcome of the movie.  The directing and editing was very tight and too the point with none of the slow parts that these movies sometimes have.  Unlike McTiernan’s other flicks, there was about one explosion in the movie. 

I enjoyed this movie and all the twists that it dished out at me.  The only thing holding it back is the fact that it is too much of the same storylines and ideas that Hollywood has given us before.  If I had to do it all over again, I would still see it.  

Grade

What do you think?