Jason C
Reviewer

      “Basic” brings Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta together for the first time since their Oscar-nominated performances in “Pulp Fiction.” But “Basic” lacks what made “Pulp Fiction” the hit it was: originality and good writing. Imagine a giant Cuisinart. Now throw in “A Few Good Men”, “The Usual Suspects” and “Full Metal Jacket” and leave the top off so everything can spin together into a muddled mess and all of the quality can spew out the top. That’s “Basic’s” plot.
 
     When an arrogant commander (Jackson, in a 90-minute temper tantrum) and his men turn up missing, the government calls in a Panama DEA agent (Travolta). As the investigation unfolds, the agent is placed in direct conflict with the Army’s official investigating officer (Connie Nielsen from “Gladiator”) and the plot twists begin.
 
     Some studio hack must have told the writers that audiences love plot twists because there are more than enough here for a year’s worth of movies. Shot on location in the steaming jungles of Florida, which are supposed to stand in for Panama, “Basic” proves implausible. Major plot twists hinge on characters not asking obvious questions such as “What’s your name?” and “Can I see some identification?”
 
     What’s truly offensive is that Basic peddles the laziest kind of filmmaking: Its writer, recent film-school grad James Vanderbilt (responsible for the terrible Tooth Fairy horror film “Darkness Falls”), concocted a screenplay that chokes to death in a tangle of inexplicable twists and cheap tricks. Audiences couldn’t follow the plot if they were taken by the hand and given night-vision goggles.
 
     As for the supporting cast (featuring “Chicago’s” Taye Diggs), it’s hard to tell them apart because they’ve been filmed at night in camouflage and pouring rain. While many lines are drowned out by the sounds of torrential rain and whirring helicopter blades, cheesy one-liners such as “So pretty … so dead” still manage to be heard.
 
     Flashbacks within flashbacks don’t help matters. They immediately raise suspicions — but not about who’s lying and who’s telling the truth in the film, but rather about McTiernan’s aptitude for understanding mystery, basic or otherwise.
 
     In Swordfish, Travolta’s most recent success, there was some question as to whether he played a good guy or a bad guy. Basic tries to pull the same stunt by mixing the good and evil together, but there isn’t enough for audiences to pick a side. The plot twists will keep you looking for answers, but only to such questions as “Why should I care?”