[Marc Carra]

We saw Basic tonight, against my better judgment, I might add. Boy, what a convaluted mess. Did you ever watch a movie, and think "They must be writing this as they go along"? That's what it felt like to me. Major plot holes are plenty in this film. John Travolta just seems to coast through the entire thing, without even giving you a hint of his acting abilities. Samuel Jackson plays a stereotypical nasty commanding officer role. Very little action and hardly any drama to be had here. It just reminded me of a bad episode of JAG. The General's Daughter, this isn't. More like the General's unwanted stepchild. 2 out of 5.

Marc.

[Robert Crawford]

This thread is now the Official Review Thread for "Basic". Please post all HTF member reviews in this thread.

Any other comments, links to other reviews, or discussion items will be deleted from this thread without warning!

If you need to discuss those type of issues then I have designated an Official Discussion Thread.



Crawdaddy

[Steve_Tk]

I found it enjoyable. Need to see it again to peice everything together, will wait for 2nd on DVD.

Not near as bad as some reviewers said it was. But then again, I think most reviewers are idiots, so it doesn't surprise me they couldn't figure it out.

[Dennis Pagoulatos]

Wow...the General's Daughter is now seen as something to strive for in filmmaking? And that was a pile of dung...yeesh.

But forget about that easily forgettable movie, this movie is bad bad bad from start to finish. Mediocre acting, plot holes galore. And the worst thing of all: It's not exciting, tense, or suspenseful, not for one minute. With Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson in it, I thought I should give it a shot, bad call!

1/2 out of

-Dennis

[Alex Spindler]

Here is a quick review of Basic.

Basic is a little trifle of a film that tries so hard to be clever that it doesn't really matter what happens next or what happens before it. Any attempt to see it for more than a collected set of scenes will find the swiss cheese of the plot stepped on repeatedly.

The movie opens as a kind of Rashamon military thriller the likes of Courage Under Fire, but quickly drops that in favor of a "twist at every turn, logic be dammed" concept. Most of the twists are force fed on the movie and leave a twisted wreckage behind it. Having seen it to the end, I tried to rebuild the movie and couldn't.

Ignoring the logic and plot issues, I really couldn't find much to like in this. I was hoping to find a nice acting turn by Travolta, but he's either sleepwalking or chewing the scenery in his interrogation scenes. Poor Connie Nielsen has nothing to add but a bad accent and finishing Travolta's sentences to try to show them being in "sync".

If you just go along for the ride, you may be entertained. But there are no end of what I would consider logic-killing holes in this one.

[Eric Emma]

The movie it self is all right but I think the director really pull this mess of a film together. Also the ending was a cheap trick that could be seen a mile away making the whole movie useless to watch...