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Basic
Director: John McTiernan
Actors: John Travolta, Connie Nielsen, Samuel L. Jackson, Tim Daly, and Giovanni Ribisi
Rated: R (Restricted)
Retail Price (not our price): $14.94
Release Date: 2003-07-08
Theatrical Release Date: 2003-03-28
Studio: Sony Pictures
Run Time: 99 minutes
Format: Array
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Discs: 1


Editorial Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):

1) Amazon.com
If you thought The Recruit was full of surprises, Basic will spin your head around. Assuming that cleverness is its own reward, this military mystery shares many of The Recruit's strengths and weaknesses, offering multi-layered deception as its dramatic raison d'etre. Copping plenty of machismo attitude befitting a semi-effective thriller from Die Hard director John McTiernan, John Travolta stars as an ex-Army Ranger-turned-DEA agent, recruited by an Army investigator (Connie Nielsen) to solve the fratricide of a reviled Sergeant (Samuel L. Jackson) who was allegedly killed while commanding a Special Forces training mission in the hurricane-swept rainforests of Panama. Two survivors (Giovanni Ribisi in a showboat role, and Brian Van Holt) recall the ill-fated mission as the truth unfolds, Rashomon-style, in a series of repetitive flashbacks. Tricky enough to hold one's attention as it grows increasingly irrelevant, Basic is so enamored of its bogus ingenuity that its ultimate twist is a letdown. A second viewing might prove rewarding, if only to confirm that it all holds together. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):
Average Customer Rating: 3.0 out of 5

1) Great potential--ruined   [Rating: 3 out of 5]
Out of all of the films that I have ***ever*** seen,"Basic" is one with some of the strongest potential. The plot(a DEA agent investigates the dissapearance of one of his former military colleagues and learns two seperate stories about what happened,creating trouble)is just as intelligent as it is brilliant. Add that together with suspenseful scenes,twists,turns,and even dialogue,alongside a top-notch cast(John Travolta,Samuel L. Jackson,Connie Nielsen,Tim Daly,Giovanni Ribisi,Brian Van Holt,Taye Diggs,and Harry Connick,Jr.,with "Die Hard" and "The Hunt For Red October" director John McTiernan being the man behind the camera),and You've got quite a lot to make something very proficient.Yet,despite all of the strong and admirable qualities of "Basic",there is something about it that fails. As opposed to "going by the book","Basic" takes crucial parts of its story and takes the road less traveled and expected. Sure--it is something that can work great and make a film/television show/television show episode richly executed,if not better than the regular road. But,for "Basic",it completely fails. It is a method that turns "Basic" from being intelligent to being dumb--not making any sense in the end and leaving a bad aftertaste. Sure--it only applies for a few scenes. But--it applies for some of the most crucial scenes of "Basic". Once it is finished,there is no turning back. It is as dominant to "Basic" as anything in a real military base would be.Overall,a film where the gamble didn't pay off. Worth to see for the unique and creative qualities--but be prepared for a large dissapointment in the end.2 1/2 stars

2) Basic - Plot   [Rating: 3 out of 5]
A DEA agent investigates the disappearance of a legendary Army ranger drill sergeant and several of his cadets during a training exercise gone severely awry.

3) One of the worst big budget Hollyood movies in a long time   [Rating: 1 out of 5]
Roger Ebert wrote an interesting review of this movie, calling it a "Jerk-around-movie". It's full of twists and turns but in the end, it doesn't make any sense. perhaps if one would watch it over and over again, one could find the logic in it, but "Basic" isn't worth re-watching. In fact, it's not even worth watching even once. The script is dreadful, trying desperate to be clever, but succeeding only to bore the viewer. Samuel L. Jackson's and Giovanni Ribisi's performances feel like parodies of their performances in better movies. "Basic" may just be one of the worst big budget movies to come out of Hollyood in recent years and there is no need to waste time or money to see it.

4) It keeps you guessing   [Rating: 4 out of 5]
I need to provide some backstory on my viewing experience of John McTiernan's 2003 military thriller "Basic". Is there such a thing as a "military thriller"? Ah, never mind. Anyway, I rented a copy of "Basic" and let it sit on the DVD player for a few days before I got around to watching it. Big mistake. Between the time when I picked up the disc and when I popped it in the player, I came down with a serious cold. I'm talking a SERIOUS cold. The type of cold that makes you wish they sold Kleenex by the metric ton. The sort of cold where you breathe through your mouth because your nasal passages feel like someone packed them full of cement with a cannon ramrod. I did the only sane thing a person could do: I loaded up with cold medication. Cough syrup, aspirin, anti-histamines, cough drops, nasal spray--you name it, I was taking it by the handfuls. The resulting effect of my medicinal intake, I must say, can only be described as kaleidoscopic. I felt like my head had turned into a balloon filled with laughing gas. It was in this state of mind that I viewed "Basic".That was a big mistake, as we'll see shortly. "Basic" begins by showing us a routine military training mission in the jungles of Panama. Amidst a raging hurricane, Sergeant Nathan West (Samuel L. Jackson) runs his team of Army Rangers ragged. He's a tough guy, as tough as a steel pipe, and all of the members of his squad despise him. Then a tragedy unfolds out in the jungle, a tragedy that claims the life of West and several other members of the squad. Only two survive, in fact. In order to figure out what happened, the Army brings in crack investigator Tom Hardy (John Travolta) to solve the mystery. Tom's an ex-Ranger and a DEA agent currently under investigation for unethical behavior. The base's commander and Hardy's pal Styles (Tim Daly) teams Tom up with a southern belle, Lieutenant Osborne (Connie Nielsen), and the two start interrogating the first survivor, Dunbar (Brian Van Holt). Tom's a whiz at questioning suspects, and he gets Dunbar's story--which we see unfold in flashback--in quick order. It's a weird tale about murder and mayhem out in the jungle. Of course, several details don't really match up with the facts, so Hardy and Osborne must move on to the next survivor.Kendall (Giovanni Ribisi) lies in a hospital bed recovering from his injuries when our two heroes show up to start the questioning. His story, which we also see in flashback, differs from Dunbar's tale of woe in significant ways. As Hardy and Osborne begin to examine the threads winding their way through the two stories, they uncover more than they bargained for. They keep going back and forth between the two, Dunbar and Kendall, trying to pry more information out of them after confronting each one with their inconsistencies. Most alarmingly, Kendall suddenly dies in his hospital bed after bleeding out of every orifice in his head. Is this an attempt by someone or several someones to get him to shut up? Yes, yes it is. It can't be Dunbar because he's still locked up in another room on the base. Could it have something to do with one of the base physicians, Dr. Vilmer (Harry Connick, Jr.)? Maybe Colonel Styles knows more than he's letting on. He's Hardy's friend, but that doesn't mean he shares everything with him. Heck, what about Osborne? She seems like a straight arrow, but she couldn't get Dunbar to talk (which necessitated the arrival of Hardy). Maybe that was all an act to hide something.I'm not going forward with more plot points because I don't want to spoil the film for you. Not that I could, mind you, since "Basic" ranks highly on my "Most Confusing and Convoluted Films Ever to Emerge from Hollywood" list. McTiernan and writer James Vanderbilt offer the viewer so many flashback scenarios, red herrings, and numerous plot twists that my head started hurting. Even more confusing was the tendency to tell further stories in the middle of flashbacks. Ouch! I just bailed on the story, blew my nose a couple of times, and tried to focus on things that made sense, like the performances. They're good. Travolta plays smart aleck pretty well, and Sam Jackson knows how to play an overbearing jerk. Connie Nielsen does an acceptable job, but that southern accent has to go, like, yesterday! It's nice to see Tim Daly in a major motion picture, and Giovanni Ribisi goes over the top as Kendall. The movie's atmosphere works well for such a murky murder mystery/conspiracy story, but the wind and crashing rain tend to drown out the dialogue. I was always fiddling with the volume control trying to understand what the characters were saying. I fiddled in vain. I highly recommend you don't watch "Basic" while under the influence of cold medicine. A confusing film like this one becomes nearly unwatchable on Nyquil and anti-histamines. Having said that, I actually like it enough to give it four stars. I enjoy watching Italian murder mysteries called giallo, which often achieve heights of confusion more labyrinthine in execution than what "Basic" offered, so it's all to the good. The DVD version of the film offers us several extras, none of them very interesting. We get a boring commentary track with director McTiernan, an extended interview with writer Vanderbilt, and a lengthy lovefest with the actors. You've seen this last supplement a million times. It consists of interviews with the cast where everyone heaps praise on the film and on their fellow actors. Yadda, yadda, yadda. Whatever. If you're feeling adventurous, give "Basic" a shot. I hope you like it.

5) Basic Incompetence By Everyone Across The Board!   [Rating: 1 out of 5]
This movie should be shown to classrooms of aspiring screenwriters and directors as an example of how not to be sucked into the Hollywood junk machine. The screenwriter of this movie obviously had some ideas about a coherent story that he wanted to tell about moral relativity and corrupt military officials. This film's story structure is mostly influenced by the classic film Rashomon. Well, so what happened? How did this ungracious disaster of a movie make it to the big screen? The biggest culprits are easily the movie stars, John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson, using their bloated star egos to force the screenwriter to rework his material into something they ultimately found more suitable to their star personas. Disgusting! Travolta was supposed to be a bad guy and Jackson was supposed to bite the bullet, but no way would the two Hollywood jerks allow that!SPOILER ALERT: Who in their right mind was surprised by the ending? I knew Sam Jackson was in on it from the get go and soon enough he would grace us with his presence. Lo and behold, his bald head emerges at the end of the movie wearing a white outfit like an angel of some sort. I hate this movie, it's an insult to the audience! John McTiernan, ( Predator, Die Hard ), the director of Basic should be ashamed of such a lackluster effort on his part. But what could he do when faced with the two morons who played the leads! A sad joke of a movie, avoid it unless you just love junk.