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List Price: $14.94 | | Label: Sony Pictures
Salesrank: 5188
Released: July 8, 2003 |
| Our Price: $4.06 |
| Used Price: $0.17 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
DEA OFFICER IS RECRUITED TO INVESTIGATE THE DISAPPEARANCE OF A FAMED US ARMY INSTRUCTOR & A GROUP OF CADETS ON A ROUTINE MILITARY EXERCISE IN THE JUNGLES OF PANAMA. DECEPTION IS THEIR MOST DANGEROUS WEAPON.
Description of Basic:
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
Basic Reviews:
Neat Military Puzzler 
2009-11-06 - Can't say that any of the actors in this were allowed to do their best; but, despite this, the film was entertaining, if not first rate. Travolta often seemed to be acting at acting in the role of a Department of Drug Enforcement agent called in to try to untangle a messed up Ranger exercise in which a number of recruits and their training sergeant had been killed. The objective was interrogation of the two survivors. Jackson is the over the top brutal training sergeant who is seen in flashbacks as the questioning elicited conflicting stories of his death. He played the part to the hilt. Nielsen as the official interrogator is pretty convincing. There are times when the film seems to lose momentum but soon gets back on track with some bit of action. All-in-all, the 100 minutes will pass quickly and leave a good taste behind.
Made-for-tv movie on the big screen 
2009-08-18 - Travolta's films can be categorized into two categories: Pulp Fiction and Everything Else. Basic, of course, belongs to the latter. This movie is like watching an episode of Law & Order with a bigger budget. It is so formulaic, using the "twists 'n turns" strategy of past films to create a senseless story whose ending negates the need for its making in the first place.
Top Ten Sign of Cliches include but are not limited to:
1. Sexual tension between Travolta and the female lead
2. The whodunnit flashbacks that are told differently each time by each person involved
3. The drug smuggling plot carried out by the law abiding, upright guy you'd never think was the crook
4. The "usual suspects" type ending where pieces of the puzzle all fall into place at the final moments
5. The main character who has a drinking problem (just for the sake of flavor)
6. Fights and shouting scenes you can seeing coming a mile away
7. Constant backtracking by the main characters and the need to confront potential suspects again, each time with angrier words and fist throwing
8. The mimicking environment rain storm that underscores the tension, and when Big Revelations are discovered, "Crack!" goes the lightning
9. The military's knee-jerk response to everything: shut out outsiders and hope the problem goes away
10.Opening narrative that tries to create a theme for the whole picture, but fails (maybe you can figure it out)
See if you can find anymore and make your own list!
Basic listening required
2009-06-14 - Basic will not let down anyone who is looking for an action pack movie. It will let you down if you don't pay attention. The movie is full of story line after story line. If you miss one of those story lines you will find yourself pressing the rewind on you video. John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson do a great job of playing their parts as equal leading roles. This movie is a good one to watch when you have time on your hands at home. Just remember to listen very carefully.
Alrick Banks
[...]
dvd movie 
2009-05-08 - the movie is a must see...I would have liked to know in advance what regional code it was in.
A Cool Movie - With Very Certain Caveats 
2009-05-06 - I really like this movie. I tend to get into military type films, especially modern day ones, even more so on the special forces kind, and even most so on jungle-ish settings (Tears of the Sun). This falls very well in that category, supposedly set in Panama. There are some neat action scenes, but you must be prepared for the fact that this movie will make no sense at all. And that's OK. Its about the scenery, the cool acting, the cool action, etc. Its not that the movie has any David Lynch-esque surreal plots, its just that once you understand what is going on (and the plot twists are a big part of the movie), you'll likely say a very noncomittal, "oh." So enjoy the eye scenery and avoid temptations to treat this like a real movie and make sense of a stupid plot.
