Album Reviews
Movies
Concert Reviews
Movie Resources
Concert Reviews
Book Reviews

Top 10
Resources
Contact Us

Some movies you just have to turn off your brain. I'm not usually a big advocate of that approach; I tell my students that you shouldn't let stupid movies off the hook just because their stories make no sense. Why can't action movies or romantic comedies be both entertaining and smart? But sometimes I throw my own advice out the window and enjoy a film for its simpler pleasures. Basic is one of those movies.

The plot is fairly boilerplate for the movie's first hour. A Ranger exercise in the Panama jungle goes terribly wrong, and five of the seven Rangers, including the commander, are killed. It appears that the soldiers turned on themselves, though why is entirely unclear. Lt. Julia Osborne (Connie Nielsen, Gladiator) is assigned the job of investigating, but her boss Col. Bill Styles (Tim Daly, "Wings") has little faith in her ability, so he calls on an old friend, Tom Hardy (John Travolta). Hardy used to be in the Rangers but now works for the DEA, where he wakes up drinking and is under suspicion for taking bribes. He's a master interrogator, though, and he has the advantage of having served with both Styles and the dead Rangers commander, Nathan West (Samuel L. Jackson). Hardy's job is to figure out what happened, but he's just as interested in figuring out Lt. Osborne.

The narrative unfolds in flashback as the two Rangers who are still alive slowly tell their sides of the story. At first, it seems like a classic Rashomon tale, as the soldiers offer very different perspectives on what
happened. Are they both telling the truth, but just from the angle they saw? What they saw wasn't pretty. Apparently, West was gunned down by one of his own soldiers, with the much-picked-upon Pike (Taye Diggs) being the prime suspect. But in the aftermath, the other five soldiers' argument over how to proceed turned deadly as suspicions exploded into accusations and accusations led to more gunfire. When all was done, only our two soldiers were left standing.

The Rashomon angle would've been interesting, though it usually helps to have more than two perspectives. But director John McTiernan (Die Hard) and screenwriter James Vanderbilt don't have the patience. They're more interested in throwing plot twist after plot twist at the audience until we can hardly make out what happened. Characters keep speaking in cliches--"degrees of truth," "nothing is as it seems"--and then the themes of drugs, betrayal, and deep, dark secrets rear their ugly heads. Soon, everybody is under suspicion, even the base commander Styles and Hardy himself.

Much of the fun in Basic comes from watching John Travolta. Though he's played this character--charismatic but smarmy who wants to uncover the plot as well as undress his companion--many times before, it's still a pleasure watching him work. He has that great face when he pretends to try to understand what someone else is saying, that effortless way he handles his cigarette, that short, staccato burst of laughter. Yes, we've watched it in past Travolta movies such as Face/Off, Michael, and Swordfish, but that doesn't lessen the enjoyment. It's like seeing an old friend.

The same is true for Samuel L. Jackson. He doesn't get the screentime that Travolta does, and his character is reduced to merely slightly crazy, barking the ridiculous orders of a Ranger drill sergeant. But when he realizes one of his underlings is trying to pull a fast one, he flashes that brilliant, off-kilter smile, and we're reminded of movies like Shaft, Rules of Engagement, and Eve's Bayou. It's a shame that Travolta and Jackson have hardly any screen time together; we might've seen that great Pulp Fiction chemistry make an appearance.

The supporting cast are just playing straight men to our stars' vaudeville act. Giovanni Ribisi (The Gift) gives his usual weird portrayal as one of the Rangers. Much better is Brian van Holt (Windtalkers), who actually strikes the upstanding, hard-nosed pose we expect of a soldier. Nielsen and Daly have the unenviable task of playing foil to Travolta, and neither is particularly strong (Nielsen's accent is strangely intermittent). Only Diggs as a soldier suspected of murder truly stands out. His scenes as he tries to sow division among his fellow Rangers are fantastic.

The cloud of suspicion that soon covers the movie allows the filmmakers to throw out all sorts of red herrings and surprises. And the number of plot twists in the film's final half-hour is almost embarrassing. With that many switcheroos, the plot holes and contradictions grow until the movie just seems to be one big hole. My friend Garth, like many critics, threw up his hands and said, "to heck with it." I made the decision to turn my brain off and enjoy the ride. I was having too much fun watching Travolta and Jackson to worry about whether the pieces all fit together. I'm sure that the movie would not improve on second viewing (the plot holes would only be magnified), but I don't plan on watching it twice. Watching it once was enough, but it was also a good time. 

J. Robert Parks 4/3/2003