The General's Daughter (1999)

When you see such a polarisation of opinions on a book or a film, you actually see a good work because it is making people think. This movie does that and yes, provokes violent extremes in how people perceive it. Yeah, John's accent stinks big time, but he gives one of the best performances of his career. Stowe is always beautiful to watch, an elegant actress that be oh so feminine and yet have a strong will and a mind of her own. She shines in a role that often gives her little to work with speaking of her radiant talent. Timothy Hutton is as always, a superb actor (Tim your Daddy would be very proud of you!! James Woods - what can you say - you love him or you hate him, but he is one of the best around and he gives a moving performance and the person with the secrets Travolta needs. James Cromwell is finally getting the recognition and the roles he deserves and does his very best in another unlikeable role, bringing it little nuances of a man caught between loving his daughter and the higher calling of military honour. This movie does not show the military and its treatment of its female members in a good light bringing back many such stories we have seen through the years on evening news, maybe with such graphically grim - almost claustrophobic feel that it will cause some people to dislike the film for that alone, especially in today's climate of the world. But is a gripping, on the edge film, that does not take the easy road, but delivers a powerful punch...maybe too powerful for some.

Actually, the audiobook is the way to go on this story. It is very good, both in terms of the story and the reader. The movie is only a shadow of the original book and as such its hard to be objective about the movie. When you finally get to the part of Kent in the end and he just gives it up, its like, how pathetic can this get? The story of building the case against him in the book was more involved than this entire movie. And then, he blows himself up? Friggin Hollywood. Maybe its just not possible to make a good film out a book like this. I dunno. After watching this, I need to go smack myself in the skull with my shoe heel a couple a hundred times.....

John Travolta might very well be the best thing about The General's Daughter: a rather mediocre, although not without its moments, detective thriller which uses military iconography and the idea of corruption at the core of something quite prestigious to tell a tale that doesn't feel like something you haven't already seen. He exudes a brash confidence here, a swagger that has him come across as someone flying through a mystery without a care in the world and yet with every care in the case he's trying to solve. If the film doesn't necessarily depict him swathing from place to place, beating people up and throwing them against walls in trying to find answers, then what does it depict? The pleasing thing is that it happens to work, his role a man seemingly stuck somewhere in-between cocksure, psychotic and just plain old righteous.Travolta plays a United States Army veteran named Paul Brenner, a man who appears to have a deep-south based twang; lives on a river boat and feels the need to place a hair over his front door before he leaves each time so as to know if anybody's entered in the meantime. During these early stages, we still only know him as Sgt. White – a man who potters into a local army base in a beaten up car where the motorcade of expensive looking sedans transporting someone important remind reiterate his rank. This is, tactfully, all later to be revealed as bogus and the sense of the film playing tricks on us is apparent – let the games begin. When the main body of the film does get going, we wave goodbye to these opening exchanges via a somewhat impressive second unit sequence involving the dark of night; crowded jetties and some underwater material, as one of Brenner's cases ends and another is on the cusp of beginning with the fact that he's pretty handy in combat in mind. The film's director, Simon West, who would go on to carve out a niche for himself in directing action with 1997's "Con Air" already under his belt, does well on familiar ground.Things turn sour in the wider scheme of things when the titular daughter of James Cromwell's General Campbell is found spread eagle on a training ground: stripped; murdered and tied to some stakes. Things seemed rosy the previous nights, when her father hosts a magnificent gala on the base with all in attendance; his titular daughter's smile adorning her face and not alluding to anything brash or out of place. But there was something sneaky about the way in which the dinner was presented to us; something about the music, something about the Gothic hall wherein they met – as if it were some kind of cult gathering. It is this death Brenner must investigate along with Madeleine Stowe's ranked rape councillor Sara Sunhill. It is a shame that Stowe, of whom I've always seen on-screen as quite a delicate presence through the roles she's played in the likes of Twelve Monkeys and Closet Land, is asked to spit the sort of rough-and-tumble dialogue Travolta can with ease. With Stowe, it doesn't quite work as well and this is epitomised in a rough scene when she must infiltrate a shower room full of butch male soldiers before barrack a man for answers.Part of me wants to describe The General's Daughter as "old fashioned". In the days of "Serpico" and "All the President's Men", this sort of one-man crusade for justice and truth were somewhat of the mainstay for mainstream American cinema and were often narrative-driven and quite good. West's film has the star-cast and enjoyed somewhat of a summer release throughout the Western world, but it is far from what constitutes a "blockbuster" – it's a film telling a story; unfolding a murder case involving characters it takes time to establish and must work out as to how they feel about one another. It has its bright spots, but resorts to dialogue and exposition where the depiction of a central context should be the order of the day. Take the scene in James Wood's character's office, where he speaks to Travolta about one's demeanour and the flaws in body language when telling a lie, etc. Such a sequence exudes a brash confidence for the moment, but a better thriller might've placed Woods in direct opposition to Brenner and allowed them to play off one another utilising these traits.In the end, one cannot, unfortunately, describe it in certain terms as much more than a B-movie; a piece whose construction and ethic are good but whose crux sees it depict a lot of shouting; fighting and ego-measuring where something like "Michael Clayton" was refined; smooth and elegant in its tone and attitude to its story-telling. It's not that West has made anything terrible, in fact it is the best of his works that I've seen when lined up against the aforementioned Con Air and the first Tomb Raider movie. Those expecting something synonymous with his name will be disappointed, those looking for recognisable names and faces in role you know they can play in their sleep on top of what is a rather engaging narrative of depravity and inner-filth will not be.

John Travolta does a pretty good job in this,, just have a hard time getting over his hillbilly accent. The General's daughter is murdered, and a crime investigation detective is sent in to undercover the truth, but he has to make up his mind on this one is he a police officer, or is he a soldier,, James Woods gives an excellent performance in here, Madeline Stowe is equally good, just wish she would have had some more screen time in here. An Army cover-up is underway when the beautiful daughter of the general is murdered, now the detective has to figure out who did it and why,, the answers may lie years before when something that happened at West Point resurfaces. all in all this is a pretty good thriller/mystery/ who done it. lot's of twists and turns, all around great performances by everyone.