***THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS***THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS***
There are degrees of truth.
I remember seeing Basic in theatres when it came out in 2003. I remember not liking it. I also remember not knowing much of John McTiernan at the time. Now, all these years later I get to reassess Basic and see what I think of it now. Coming after Rollerball, Basic is a marked improvement for McTiernan but I still found it to be, how do I put this, not very good. It was a little better than I remembered it but that isn't saying much.
Once again, like so many of McTiernan's movies, the cinematography is the best part of Basic. In fact it is the only consistant part of the movie that remains any good. With its beautifully framed widescreen imagery, Basic could be mistaken for a good movie. While not a very colourful movie, it still shines and looks luscious with it's dark moody blacks and greens that dominate the palette.
The production design is above average too. With great sets, great locations and lots of blood (when needed-which is a return to form for McTiernan) the film sure does look good. But that's where the goodness ends for Basic. The costumes are okay, while nothing spectacular and the music is better than it should be but nothing overwhelmingly special. And for a movie that is all about tricks of the mind and unwrapping riddles, the editing is rather boring.
Then there is the acting. John Travolta, Connie Nielson and Samuel L. Jackson are the featured players. Jackson is his usual bravado self, while Travolta turns in one of his better performances from his post Pulp Fiction resurrection. Nielson on the other hand, while not bad, just isn't convincing enough in her role. She doesn't play tough well and delivers some of her dialogue rather stiltedly. The rest of the cast is passable but no one is really memorable. Giovani Ribisi turns in an odd performance that really makes no sense in context with his character.
Now I come to the plot of Basic, the story, and the sole reason why becomes such a bad movie. Basic has a convoluted plot, and while not that confusing it is still rather 'unexplainable'. And the dialogue while never great is good in some parts and down right awful in other parts. There is a scene, after Travolta is attacked by a guy he is interrogating that has some awful lines delivered well by Travolta but terribly by Nielson. I shudder in remembrance of that scene.
Okay, back to the story. Travolta is in trouble with the law or something. He gets called in by his old friend who runs an army base. Why? Because a soldier accused of killing his entire unit and sarge (Jackson) is refusing to talk to anyone but a Ranger, which Travolta is formally of such persuasion. So he, assisted by Nielson, interrogate said Ranger, learn things and then go interrogate Ribisi, the only other survivor
During said interrogations we see what happened to the unit in flashback. Only the two stories by the two survivors are completely different. So they interrogate the first guy again and he changes his story. While not terribly gripping, Basic is okay so far. Through all this Travolta realizes, in the next twist out of many, that the man responsible for everything and the real murderer is his old pal who called him in. He confronts him and is almost killed when Nielson saves his life.
This twist is kind of weak and comes out of nowhere but it wraps things up nicely and gives an ending to the movie. Or so you think. Here the movie gets even more ridiculous than it already is. Travolta and Nielson say their goodbyes. As soon as Travolta leaves Nielson has flashbacks of their conversations and realizes something isn't right. She follows Travolta to a safe house of sorts and makes a startling discovery.
It turns out that no one was killed in the unit and that they are all working with Travolta who is a covert ops agent. This revelation negates everything that happens in the rest of the movie, and I mean everything. How could Jackson be a full time drill instructor if he works for someone else. How did the interrogated ranger know he would get Travolta to be his interrogator? How come if Travolta knew the whole time that his buddy was the one responsible for a drug smuggling ring out of the base did he a) confront his buddy about it; b) go through the motions of interrogating the survivors; c) allow himself to be nearly shot?. What was the point of Travolta being in trouble with the law at the beginning of the film? Absolutely everything that was said in the flashbacks was a lie and told only to Travolta and Nielson and was therefore pointless and a waste of time.
I could go on and on about the ending of this film and how bad it was and how it ruined the rest of the movie. I could but I won't. When the end credits roll you will feel cheated, so here is my advice. If you want to see this movie (I wouldn't bother), or if you have to see this movie for some reason then turn it off right after Travolta's bud is shot. Otherwise this slightly enjoyable waste of time and money and precious moments will ruin your day. It really will, but then if you watch it with someone (which means two people will have to sit through this) and you stay all the way to the end then the two of you could have hours of fun dissecting and complaining and yelling about the garbage that you just watched.
Film Rating: 55%
Breakdown (How Basic scored 55%):
Production Design: 8 out of 10
Cinematography: 9 out of 10
Re-playability: 2 out of 10
Originality: 3 out of 10
Costumes: 6 out of 10
Directing: 5 out of 10
Editing: 6 out of 10
Acting: 6 out of 10
Music: 7 out of 10
Script: 3 out of 10
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