I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. A real brain bender! My only complaint is the separately released soundtrack (or lack there of). The music added alot to this flick, but from all that I've found there was nothing released along with it. I can't even find the remake of "Black Betty", only the original. Anyone have any tips? Movie is definitely worth your time though! Rent, buy or borrow today. :)

Basic was one the smartest movies written by Hollywood since a while ago. The plot was intriguing and it kept me thinking through out the movie but unfortunatly I believe that the movie was not well commercialed and released at a time when people only went to the cinema to waste their money and did not really care for the story within so for some people Basic was too complicated to understand. I recommend this movie to anybody who likes intriguing stories and wants to be kept guessing until the end.

This is absolutely the worst military movie I have ever seen! Jackson's character is over the top and his "Rangers" are pathetic. The writers, producers and director were completely clueless from begining to end.

Look, if you want to make a political statement about women in the military then do it. But you better make sure that the rest of the flick has some sort of credibility! These guys are supposed to be Special Forces but then they are called "Rangers" too. Well, which is it? Rangers are NOT S.F. my dears. Some were also wearing non-combatant unit patches. To make matters worse these guys are wearing a RAINBOW of beret colors.

S.F./Ranger/Typist: "Ooh, I think I'll wear my maroon hat to fight today!"

And WHY are they wearing them in the JUNGLE! Is that a poncho liner that Jackson is wearing like some sort of cape?!! In the JUNGLE!? With a Sweater!!!? The Library of Freaking Congress could not hold a list that could detail all the blunders in this movie!

As a member of Special Forces I was truly insulted that the producers of this film didn't have enough respect for my job OR THEIRS to do even the teeniest weensiest bit of research that takes to make even a forgivably bad movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love Tyler

Twist-wise this is a heckuvagreat movie. It's a steaming, down and dirty whodunnit-to-who under the guise of an army training exercise gone wrong. A Special Force team goes into the jungles of Panama, under the supervision of Samuel L. Jackson (West,) but they don't all come out. The onus of finding out what happened falls on Connie Nielsen (Osborne), but then Tim Daly (Styles) brings in John Travolta (Hardy) to take over the investigation.

It's not Travolta's best role, but he does a passable Hardy, the great inquisitor. Connie Nielsen steals most of the movie, even though her accent grates on the nerves sometimes, but otherwise she's got what it takes. Timothy Daly is good for most of the movie (until the end), and there just isn't enough Samuel L. Jackson to go around.

Poor Giovanni Ribisi - he must be really tired of being type-cast by now. He plays the same role, once again, for the umpteenth time.

My problem with the movie is that a lot of the scenes are shot out of focus and in the dark - so it's hard to figure out who's doing what to whom most of the time. (My copy didn't have sub-titles, and the close-captioning was pathetic, so that didn't help much)

Any attempt to summarize the plot would contain spoilers, so I won't. Spending a few hours on this 3.5 star movie, wouldn't be time wasted.

Amanda Richards, February 25, 2005

Director John McTiernan's "Basic" highlights the team of John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson working together for the first time since their blockbuster "Pulp Fiction." Initially it appears that they are polar opposites with Travolta playing a seemingly laid back, unconventional Drug Enforcement Agency agent and Jackson as a no nonsense, spit and polish disciplinarian Army Ranger sergeant.

Set in Panama, the film is all about appearances and reality as emotions shift back and forth as do opinions with the story being framed in a series of flashbacks representing various viewpoints. Jackson has supposedly been killed by one or more of his men after a rain-soaked war drill in the jungle. Travolta, who had served under Jackson as a Ranger, is called in to question the initial prime suspect in the sergeant's death.

Travolta immediately encounters resistance from provost marshal's office representative Connie Nielsen, who believes in following formal procedures, a technique anathema to the highly unconventional Travolta. At one point when she is shouting at the suspect in an attempt to break him down, Travolta infuriates Nielsen by telling him that he will not insult his intelligence by engaging in a typical "good cop-bad cop" dialogue.

The investigators soon learn that there is a drug smuggling operation occurring on the base. What makes matters even more ticklish is that the ringleader is none other than the officer in charge of the hospital, played by Harry Connick Jr., who also happens to be Nielsen's steady love interest. When attention shifts to another suspect it is learned that he is the gay son of a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "There goes don't ask, don't tell," Travolta quips after the suspect reveals his sexual preference.

The contrast between the loose and freewheeling Travolta and the military formality of Jackson and Nielsen gives the story a lot of its dramatic punch. Long before the surprise twist ending the audience is aware that the main story ploy relates to appearances and reality and to not believe what one hears before plenty of corroboration.