Basic (2003)

[JesseAaron 6]

John McTiernan is a legend and in honour of him going to prison, I thought it would be fitting to look at his last directorial effort, TWISTS. Sorry, I mean, BASIC.

 

Starring John Travolta and Sam Jackson (almost enough right there), the film starts as a pretty normal, even boring, military-legal thriller like A FEW GOOD MEN but the third act is absolutely bonkers. It's just a series of twists until it doesn't matter if anything makes sense or who gets away with what, you just want to stop the rug from being pulled again. And then they pull it a few more times. Lastly, just look at John Travolta's imdb pic. Got to love the internet.

 

http://www.imdb.com/.../?ref_=tt_cl_t1

 

EDIT: when I posted, his IMDB pic was him as a woman in HAIRSPRAY.

[RyanSz 3140]

I actually liked this movie once I took a step back and realized what it was with multiple characters telling the same story from different POVs and the audience doesn't know who to believe. I actually was surprised by the ending, though there was a fairly large plot hole in concern to how one of the prisoners was just able to escape custody and meet up with Travolta.

[RyanSz 3140]

Bumping this because I really want to hear the crew freak out over trying to figure out the story.

[CarolineFulford 2]

Oh my god, the trailer is hilarious. Any 90s attempt to make John Travolta into an un-gay action hero, and I am sold.

[RyanSz 3140]

But this was early 2000s.

[CarolineFulford 2]

Oh, yeah. The trailer had that warmed-over VHS quality, I assumed it must be from the 90s.

[CarolineFulford 2]

WHAT...other mission???

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TBBhkzGktQ

[wakefresh 689]

This movie was awesome and it had a good twist at the end as well.

 

Also, I think this is what made the Marvel writers base the new Nick Fury off of Sam Jackson. He was good in this shit.

[RyanSz 3140]

This movie was awesome and it had a good twist at the end as well.

 

Also, I think this is what made the Marvel writers base the new Nick Fury off of Sam Jackson. He was good in this shit.

 

That and for some reason he felt the need to wear a cape and a beret so further sell the superhero/villian side of his character.

[wakefresh 689]

 

That and for some reason he felt the need to wear a cape and a beret so further sell the superhero/villian side of his character.

 

The beret is necessary. He's supposed to be an Army Ranger CO and they don't wear caps like the other, regular soldiers on base. The "cape" was a black poncho, and he wears it when they're in the field... but there is no reason for him to be wearing it on base on a sunny day.

[Lando 2019]

I actually liked this movie once I took a step back and realized what it was with multiple characters telling the same story from different POVs and the audience doesn't know who to believe. I actually was surprised by the ending, though there was a fairly large plot hole in concern to how one of the prisoners was just able to escape custody and meet up with Travolta.

 

I remember liking this move until the ending. It was the most anti-climactic, limp dick of a twist ending prior to "Swing Away Merrill"

[RyanSz 3140]

What was missing from the twist was what really happened. You see that all but two people in that platoon were in on it, but you never saw how they really pulled it off.

[wakefresh 689]

I thought they showed what really happened in a quick montage at the end? I have to look at this again. I wonder if it is on Netflix.

[RyanSz 3140]

The montage at the end was quick cuts of squad members saying the same thing in each of their stories about having their story straight. What they didn't show was how they went from that shack in the middle of the jungle to what the Col. saw in the helicopter of soldiers shooting at each other. Also, one thing that did bug me about the movie besides that was how they mixed up two of the soldiers. The one who was accused of killing Sam Jackson stole Taye Diggs' dogtags and said he was Dunbar, but it wasn't until Harry Connick Jr. said that Dunbar was black that Travolta "realized" he was being duped. Wouldn't an army base have personnel files with pictures attached to them?

[Lando 2019]

From what I remember, and it's been a long time since I saw it (like I rented it from blockbuster shortly after you could rent it) the whole time they had been telling us about how all of this horrible stuff had happend and then at the end they were like "sike none if it happened, who wants dinner?" Which was very anti-climactic.

[wakefresh 689]

The montage at the end was quick cuts of squad members saying the same thing in each of their stories about having their story straight. What they didn't show was how they went from that shack in the middle of the jungle to what the Col. saw in the helicopter of soldiers shooting at each other. Also, one thing that did bug me about the movie besides that was how they mixed up two of the soldiers. The one who was accused of killing Sam Jackson stole Taye Diggs' dogtags and said he was Dunbar, but it wasn't until Harry Connick Jr. said that Dunbar was black that Travolta "realized" he was being duped. Wouldn't an army base have personnel files with pictures attached to them?

 

Oh yeah...I forgot about that part. Wasn't part of the tension too was that he couldn't get background information on who was in the mission? Wasn't there someone or something blocking him? I also vaguely remember there being a time constraint as well...or was that The General's Daughter? I mean, history speaks for itself. He did so good in the role in BASIC that studios made another military mystery movie with Travolta as the lead.

[RyanSz 3140]

I thought General's Daughter came out before Basic. The only real time constraint in Basic was that "Dunbar" was going to be shipped off for court martial in like 6 hours so they had to figure out what happened in order to know what to charge the survivors with, if anything. Tim Daly's character brought up the idea that it may have something to do with Travolta's group but didn't know what.

[wakefresh 689]

Yep, The General's Daughter did come out before BASIC. Either way, you're really making me wanna go see this movie tonight.

[RyanSz 3140]

90s-2000s Tavolta is a guilty pleasure of mine in that he's like Nic Cage with how crazy he can get. General's Daughter was kind of heavy handed, but it was vintage Travolta nutso-nes at times.

[wakefresh 689]

So, I watched this and you were right. The last 20 or so minutes is just full of twist after twist after twist. And there was a part where after they find out that Dunbar was black that they are riding to the airplane to intercept faux-Dunbar where the girl from SVU says how a major screwup like this could have happened. But I couldn't hear it and all I got was "blah tha wah wah blahy blah. He knew all he had to do was switch the dogtags."

 

And I did let out a laugh when at the very, very end someone hands Travolta a beer and they say, "Here ya go, colonel." The girl from SVU looks all surprised, Travolta smirks, and then hard cut to the music playing over the credits. It was sorta a last minute "fuck you" to the audience.

[denimgremlin 1179]

This movie was awesome and it had a good twist at the end as well.

 

Also, I think this is what made the Marvel writers base the new Nick Fury off of Sam Jackson. He was good in this shit.

 

It's so weird, he was cast as Nick Fury in the Marvel movies based on the Ultimate Marvel universe Nick Fury, who was based on Samual L Jackson.

[SlidePocket 707]

Basic (along with Rollerball the year before) killed John McTiernan's directing career! He hasn't gone back to doing another movie since after going to prison for his involvement in the Anthony Pellicano case.

[Lando 2019]

I'm trying to decide if the ending to this is better or worse than Now You See Me...

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

I always get this and The Generals Daughter mixed up in my head. They almost feel like they could be sequels of one another he plays such an identical character in both.

[Dr Doom Dude 1]

The fact that you haven't reviewed this movie both concerns me and is a source of relief. Concerned, because it's perfect for your show. Relieved, because you haven't had to go through this. This movie IS a "Jacob's Ladder Scenario." It's going to be a rough one.