Product Details

• Actors: John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Connie Nielsen, Tim Daly, Giovanni Ribisi
• Directors: John McTiernan
• Writers: James Vanderbilt
• Producers: Andy Given, Anson Downes, Arnold Messer, Basil Iwanyk, Brad Fischer
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• VHS Release Date: December 2, 2003
• Run Time: 98 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (145 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00009MEKF
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #167,290 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

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

From The New Yorker

It's time for John Travolta to make another comeback. His latest throwaway performance-as an ex-Army Ranger who investigates a combat mystery-seems as manufactured as his newly buffed-up body. Even worse, he's already made this film; last time, it was called "The General's Daughter." The screenplay, involving a missing squad of Marines, is an exhausting labyrinth, and John McTiernan ("Die Hard") directs with such a whirling frenzy, it's surprising that pieces of his camera aren't embedded in the film. -Bruce Diones
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson back together at last!, May 21, 2003

By 

Shade123 (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Basic (DVD)

John Travolta plays Tom Hardy, a ex-military Ranger now DEA agent brought in by an old friend to investigate the disappearances and/or deaths of several Army Ranger trainee's and their legendary drill instructor, Sgt. Nathan West (Jackson), during an exercise at a basic training camp, Fort Clayton, in Panama.
Once Hardy gets there a series of different storys are told and changed by the trainee's that he question's on the events that occurred at this training camp. Which starts to form a huge question in the audiencies mind, WHO'S TELLING THE TRUTH? However by the end there is a huge climax and everything is explained and leaves you in half shock, half amazement. I recommend this movie to anyone who liked 'A Few Good Men' or 'Mission:Impossible'.
'Basic' has terrific performances by Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta although a shaky performance by Connie Nielson. It also has great supporting acts from Giovanni Ribisi, Taye Diggs, and Brian Van Holt.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Basic - Twists and turns!, July 20, 2003

By 

K. Wyatt "ssintrepid" (Cape Girardeau, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Basic (DVD)

Taken as a whole, this movie is a pretty good one, with plenty of plot twists and turns that aren't too transparent or predictable; for the better part it will keep you guessing as to who the real killer or killers are. While I must admit that I've never really been a big John Travolta fan, I would have to say that his performance in the movie was better than his norm. Samuel L. Jackson's performance is, albeit brief, poignant and in good keeping with his usual high standard of performance. Connie Nielsen does a wonderful job of playing a Provost Marshall. With actors of such high caliber and a high profile director like John McTiernan, whose work includes "Die Hard", "Predator", "The Hunt for Red October" and other such high profile films; this movie does move along at a high pace and it is a well told story.

Conceptually this movie is highly plausible, the plot is well written, the actor's performances are well done and the soundtrack is well suited to the movie. I do have one major problem with this film though. Without searching the credits, I'm going to have to make one of two assumptions about whether or not the filmmakers hired a technical consultant with knowledge about the United States Army or not. I'm guessing here that they didn't hire one because if they did, they wouldn't have had a scene where Samuel L. Jackson is wearing BDU's (Battle Dress Uniform), yelling and screaming at his soldiers, with them calling him Sergeant and then you look at his collar and he's wearing the rank of a Specialist, which is a junior enlisted member, "below" the rank of Sergeant. Later of course, he's wearing the stripes of a Master Sergeant which would be in accordance with how he was being addressed. Then there is the issue of a Ranger squad having a female as a member. While the films producers addressed this, quite briefly, in one of the special features, where they basically said that they knew she didn't belong, but they threw her in the bargain anyway. These two issues and the "soldiers" referring to their ruck sacks as packs, instead of "ruck," blew a lot of this films credibility with me, a soldier with several years in the Army.

The premise:

Samuel L. Jackson plays a Ranger Master Sergeant, in Panama, prior to our pulling out that country, and he's in charge of training what looks like a platoon of Rangers in jungle warfare. As the movies main title rolls, we see Jackson and a squad of his, in a Huey (an aircraft long since relegated to the National Guard), flying over the canal, preparing to drop in and run an exercise, all the while, a hurricane is raging around them. The scene cuts to another helicopter searching for the Ranger squad which is well over due for their check in and then they spot one Ranger carrying another and being shot at by another of the Rangers. Here is where the murder/mystery kicks in and the Colonel, played by Tim Daly, calls in John Travolta to interrogate the witnesses to determine what happened out there in the field.

What follows from this point is an intriguing movie that gets rather fascinating as the plot carries forward and you're trying to figure out "whodunit." Outside of the "annoyances" of improper Army uniforms, terminology and tactics, this movie is good film to watch. {ssintrepid}

Special Features:

- Director's Commentary
- Filmographies
- Theatrical Trailers

- Featurettes:
* Basic: A Director's Design
* Basic Ingredients: A Writer's Perspective

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "It's all about telling the story right!", February 19, 2006

By 

A. Chopra - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Basic (DVD)

The movie is full of twists and turns, in fact just two minutes before the end there is another twist. This is the beauty of this film. While watching this movie, whenever you try to believe something, it turns out opposite and only to find later that it was not correct either. This one is definitely not the typical war movie. It's not the actions, but the script that keeps the audience riveted throughout the movie, and critics will have a hard time in pointing out for a moment that was boring in the entire run.

John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson were average. I mean their performance was as good as any of their other movies. However, the real credit in acting will go to Connie Nielsen. If you have liked the movie "A few Good Men", you will like this movie too. Highly recommended.