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Basic - A Review 04/28/2003
Stylish. Fun. Twists. What? Wait a minute. . . .
Basic is hardly that, basic that is. Tom Hardy is an ex-Ranger now-DEA agent working in Panama that is called back into the land of all things military and devious when a Ranger training mission in the jungle goes terribly wrong. To say too much about this movie risks spoiling some of the fun in trying to figure out just what the heck IS THE TRUTH, so you won't get much more from me on the plot than this. John Travolta (Swordfish, Phenomenon, Broken Arrow, Pulp Fiction) plays Tom Hardy, Connie Nielsen (Gladiator, Mission To Mars, One Hour Photo, Rushmore) is Lt. Osborne, the Army investigator that is forced to work with Hardy by her commander. Samuel L. Jackson (The Negotiator, Unbreakable, Pulp Fiction, Rules Of Engagement) is obviously having fun in his glorified cameo as the sadistic Sgt. West. Giovanni Ribisi (Saving Private Ryan, The Mod Squad, Gone In 60 Seconds) is Kendall, one of the survivors of the exercise. Directed by John McTiernan (Die Hard, The Hunt For Red October, The 13th Warrior, The Thomas Crown Affair), this tale can require a few moments of tongue-firmly-in-cheek suspension.
Visually, the color palette ranged from deep blues and grays for the nighttime sequences which make up the majority, to muted yellow-gold touched indoor colors, to a couple of nicely saturated daylight shots. There is some very noticable grain in a couple of scenes which doesn't seem to correlate to the story. Visually, I'd rate this one as middle of the pack.
Sonically, there are some nice surround passages, with gunshots being well rendered. A nice directional helicopter fly-through starts things off accompanied by a voice-over from Mr. Jackson. Ambient sounds are well placed, especially in the jungle settings. Dialog is clear throughout except for Mr. Ribisi's mumbled ramblings from a hospital bed.
No, Basic will never be confused with Citizen Kane or Casablanca, but it is a film you can spend hours over dinner with your wife or friends going "But, wait. When he. . . ."
I give Basic :3: out of :5:.
David - HTGuide flunky
Our "Theater"
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Stylish. Fun. Twists. What? Wait a minute. . . .
Basic is hardly that, basic that is. Tom Hardy is an ex-Ranger now-DEA agent working in Panama that is called back into the land of all things military and devious when a Ranger training mission in the jungle goes terribly wrong. To say too much about this movie risks spoiling some of the fun in trying to figure out just what the heck IS THE TRUTH, so you won't get much more from me on the plot than this. John Travolta (Swordfish, Phenomenon, Broken Arrow, Pulp Fiction) plays Tom Hardy, Connie Nielsen (Gladiator, Mission To Mars, One Hour Photo, Rushmore) is Lt. Osborne, the Army investigator that is forced to work with Hardy by her commander. Samuel L. Jackson (The Negotiator, Unbreakable, Pulp Fiction, Rules Of Engagement) is obviously having fun in his glorified cameo as the sadistic Sgt. West. Giovanni Ribisi (Saving Private Ryan, The Mod Squad, Gone In 60 Seconds) is Kendall, one of the survivors of the exercise. Directed by John McTiernan (Die Hard, The Hunt For Red October, The 13th Warrior, The Thomas Crown Affair), this tale can require a few moments of tongue-firmly-in-cheek suspension.
Visually, the color palette ranged from deep blues and grays for the nighttime sequences which make up the majority, to muted yellow-gold touched indoor colors, to a couple of nicely saturated daylight shots. There is some very noticable grain in a couple of scenes which doesn't seem to correlate to the story. Visually, I'd rate this one as middle of the pack.
Sonically, there are some nice surround passages, with gunshots being well rendered. A nice directional helicopter fly-through starts things off accompanied by a voice-over from Mr. Jackson. Ambient sounds are well placed, especially in the jungle settings. Dialog is clear throughout except for Mr. Ribisi's mumbled ramblings from a hospital bed.
No, Basic will never be confused with Citizen Kane or Casablanca, but it is a film you can spend hours over dinner with your wife or friends going "But, wait. When he. . . ."
I give Basic :3: out of :5:.
David - HTGuide flunky
Our "Theater"
Our DVDs on DVD Tracker