Basic (2003)

Basic has an interesting plot and premise, as well as decent enough film editing, and acting. The film is full of plot twists in the end, where it becomes more interesting as the film goes along. Basic has been panned by critics but in several ways is quite underrated and overall intriguing and an entertaining drama thriller. Though we have seen films as this before, Basic doesn't quite follow the same route. In the end, the pieces will keep you guessing as an overall film tone.

Despite its flaws, I love this movie. I must have watched this movie 2 dozen times over the years. It's a B-movie whose plot does not make sense. The things I like about this movie are the chemistry between actors/characters and the film noir mood of the movie. This is a conspiracy movie that has a lot of smoke screens. It is best not to make sense of the plot of this movie as it would require a significant suspension of disbelief. There's a conspiracy/mystery, some characters try and do "resolve" it, and then there's a "satisfying" resolution at the end.Overall, I would recommend it to people just to pass the time.

Take the movie for what it is... good plain old entertainment. The reviews by most are far too critical. This movie was made to be enjoyed in front of a warm fire, a glass of red and a hint of "who the hell really cares".It's fast paced and a good ride with fun plot twists along the way.You'll totally have fun and a few wry smiles along the way.

I'm normally a fan of John Travolta, but as other reviewers have said, there are just too many plot twists and turns, mixed in with a variety of flashbacks, so that in the end you stop caring. Or rather, you are thinking when told yet another version of events "really, well maybe, but I'll just treat that as hypothetical for now". Note to director, if you are going to perpetually change a plot, you have to first get us invested in the first one. If you just sketch out one plot line, then quickly skip to another, we just don't care. This reminds me of Kurosawa's Rashomon, where 4 different accounts are presented of a rape and murder. Rashomon however, does not leave one feeling frustrated in the way this movie does. But back to the movie. I was struggling with the realism of this OLD movie having a female Ranger since they weren't allowed to serve till April 2016. If she had been a butch muscular woman maybe I could swallow it, but she was petite and very cute. Then one of the guys was blatantly gay - and this is before "Don't ask, don't tell" was scrapped. So now I was waiting for the black disabled lesbian Ranger to appear in the next scene, just so we can all be politically correct.The straw on the camel's back came in the middle of yet another discussion in the rain soaked hut. There were at least 70 lighting flashes over a 3 minute scene. I was wondering if the "training exercise" was taking place on the planet Venus, or did the lighting engineer have a dodgy power supply? The map shows lightning flashes per sq km per year, with black / max at 70:http://geology.com/articles/lightning-map.shtml Since that jungle hut experienced a few year's worth of lightning in the course of that one scene, I guess the rest of the year was just peaceful and sunny? For me, the movie descended from 'hostile training environment' to pantomime, and I switched it off.