Basic, 2003 - DVD

This was one of those films were, I was told, a certain suspension of disbelief was in order, just to enjoy the film.

I heard reviews that it was confusing, and too hard to follow. I heard that it was a waste of time for Travolta and Jackson... the film being heralded as their first collaboration since Pulp Fiction.

Well, in my opinion, nothing could be farther from the truth. From the start, I was thoroughly entertained and enthralled by the acting, the story, the plot, the characters and McTiernan's direction.

We've gotten more and more psychological thrillers of late. A lot of them have been low budget thrillers like Memento, Identity and Session 9. Even movies like The Mothman Prophesies are becoming more and more prevelant, with people not only wanting to shut their brains off at the door, but films that will make them think.

My hat is off to James Vanderbilt. I was very impressed with his script. Very original, very smart, with some great characters. Sure, after a while, with all the talk and reviews, its hard to take everything at face value, and your mind begins to move faster than the movie... you jump to conclusions, you try and solve the mystery before the end of the film... I'm sure everyone does it... and I did figure some things out... but I didn't figure out the why, which I thought made the film that much more successful.

Vanderbilt's first film was a horror script, Darkness Falls, which I thought was just awful. This film was much more entertaining. His next film, The Rundown, has some ok stars and might work... we'll see. I'm weary of any film with The Rock...

What can I say about John McTiernan? The man has directed some of the most entertaining action films around, pioneering the action films that gave birth to the 1990's and 2000's big budget action adventure.

Nomads was his first feature. Didn't see it... but his follow-up... whew! Predator... can you imagine that? Predator??? Jumping from a low budget film to working with Schwarzenegger? Unreal... but he would hold a steady course. He would follow up with Die Hard, one of the most successful and well written action films ever. Die Hard would go on to make just under $100 million dollars in 1988, making the top ten list for the year (number 7). The Hunt for Red October, Medicine Man, Last Action Hero, Die Hard 3, The 13th Warrior, The Thomas Crown Affair, Rollerball...

As you can see from the list, after Last Action Hero (one of my favorites), he kind of went down hill. I thought The 13th Warrior was very well done, but it wasn't well received. Then, a re-make. Then, another re-make... though more like a re-do... Rollerball was a flop, and for good reason. A terrible script, and just a bad idea to re-make a film that the original was so brilliant... oh well.

McTiernan comes back to war, to the Army, to the trenches with this film... and the atmosphere suits him very well. I was very impressed with the direction of this film, in particular the work done with the actors. Very impressed. McTiernan seems to be a director who works well both with the camera and with his actors.

I won't get into the acting of the film, in regards to the careers and past work of the actors, because there are just too many to count. The stars of the film, Travolta, Nielsen and Jackson, all did wonderful jobs. All wonderful. The supporting cast all did great, as well. Taye Diggs did a much better job in this film than his acting in Equilibrium. Ribisi is just wonderful. I've loved his acting since the beginning. Boiler Room, The Gift, Saving Private Ryan... he's a great character actor, and brings something unique to each role. Also, couldn't believe this, Harry Connick Jr. had a supporting role. I loved him in Copycat and Independence Day... he did a good job here, although his role wasn't that large.

Something to note... there were 15 (fifteen) different producers on this film. Its strange, because I find this happening more and more often. Are these just people who want to get into the movie business, and squirrel in any way they can? Or are these people contributing to these films in a serious manner? In regards to the box office, Basic did not do very well... and if it was money these producers were after, well, they failed. If they were trying to make a good psycological thriller... they succeeded. Seems audiences didn't want to think that much.

This was a very good film. I usually don't rate movies, but if I had to rate this one, I would give it an 8/10.