Basic

Rating:
Summary: BASICally great.
Review: I dont know why people are giving this movie bad reviews. Agreed it's not the greatest movie ever made, but the story is good and they manage (pretty well) not to give away the twist. It will keep you watching, whithout boring you. My opinion is that this movie is a nice watch (John Travolta and Samuel Jackson are great) and at this price ($11.95) its nicer to own. Definitely recommend. I know you'll enjoy it.

Rating:
Summary: Not a Basic Story
Review: I love action movies with a twist. I enjoyed "The Recruit" because even though it twisted and turned it never kept me in the dark. You best be on your toes here or you will miss some important clues. I had trouble catching some of the clues the first time I watched it. Being a Travolta and Jackson fan I expected a great deal, and I got it. I follow detective series all the time and I usually know whose guilty long before the end. This one kept me guessing who was a killer and who wasn't. When a group of soldiers is dropped in a jungle on a training mission only two get back alive. Travolta is asked to investigate by the Colonel running the base where the men were being trained. The investigation leads to killings and drugs. Be prepared to be thrilled and stumped. If you haven't figured it out by the end they will paint a clearer picture of what the unit Section 8 really is doing. One thing that would have helped me during my first viewing of the movie was something to indicate that maybe those supposedly killed might not be. I think there should have been some kind of hint, but otherwise a great story. I added this to my collection because it definitely is one you will want to watch regularly. The quality of the DVD is excellent and it has commentary and other extras.

Rating:
Summary: People Love To Hate This Film
Review: When I first saw Basic I was expecting a typical mindless action flick, instead I got an decent attempt at a sinister almost psychological thriller. There are plenty of twists and turns, some are predictable but some are genuinely suprising.

Both John Travolta and Samuel Jackson are slated for taking poor scripts, but I don't think this is as bad as say, SWAT. In fact I thouroughly enjoyed watching Basic, two big stars both with a certain presence to them certainly helped. I won't give away too much of the plot, its better if you go into this film without a clue, the twists are that much more credible.

I really can't see why so many people feel the need to moan about this film. Its sad that a lot of these 1 star reviews are from people who just have a grudge against Travolta or Jackson, just read them, hardly any say why the actual film is poor but slate the actor.

Rating:
Summary: Awful!!!
Review: John Travolta as a soldier, cop, DEA agent or any sort of gun-weilding protagonist is simply not believable, therefore, the pretext for "Basic" is flawed before the story ever takes root.

Travolta reached his peak when he took top billing in "Saturday Night Fever", doing a great job of portraying a Brooklyn kid who is coming of age during the 70's disco era. But, outside of "Pulp Fiction" it's been all downhill after that, with a string of failures like "Stayin' Alive", "Broken Arrow", "Battlefield Earth", "Swordfish", and lest we forget, "Look Who's Talking II".

In "The Thin Red Line" Travolta played a U.S. Army General officer by method acting, evidently by imitating a talking plant. This huge miscasting no doubt greatly contributed to the failure of that film to garner any sort of approval by veiwing audiences.

"Basic" is another such failure. Casting Travolta in a roles like the DEA agent he plays in this film is like a kiss of death for the entire project. For one thing, the idea that his character is a former Army Ranger is a hoot. Casting somebody like Pauly Shore or maybe even Martin Short as a a former Army Ranger would be more believable.

Very predictably, Travolta manages to stink up the whole story, which isn't all that great to begin with. Yet, with an extremely limited acting range, Travolta continues to crank out box office bomb after bomb after bomb.

Oh well... That's Hollywood politics. After all, no one ever went broke underestimating the sophistication of the American public...


Rating:
Summary: Travolta is cool, His movie choices arent
Review: Im not a huge fan of Travolta but i dont hate him either
Other than Pulp Fiction i dont own any other Travolta films and wouldn't buy any either. Get Shorty comes close, his performance is good but the film just falters and eventually isn't that great.
Pulp Fiction supposedly revived his career and since then I haven't seen anything that has brought it up again
This film sucks
sucks
sucks
Not a zero star movie, it deserves the one
but anyone who owns it not only really enjoys terrible films, but really loves has been actors in their worst roles.
TRAVOLTA- Call Quentin you need him again

P.S Saturday Night Fever and Grease may be classics to some people but i find them:
GAY!
men in tights dancing is not my idea of a well rounded superbly acted dramatic film that i can enjoy repeatedly
those films remind me of films such as Dirty Dancing
Gay men and women may love them and they may be considered classics in their own right
but they are GAY
face it


Rating:
Summary: A mess of a film
Review: Not even the obvious talents of John Travolta can help save help this mess. The plot makes little sense. Even after working back through the film with the aid of a DVD, there are too many loose ends.

It is clear that a team of writers failed to develop an idea of where the film is going. It has the feel of a script that might of had a good idea at one stage, but just lost it further on.

Finally, the directorial talent of John McTiernan was just squandered.


Rating:
Summary: Twist, twist, twist,..ah screw it
Review: I rented this movie thinking it could not be that bad seeing as Samuel L. Jackson and J.T were in it. Boy was I wrong. This movie is so bad. The most damaging aspect are the plot twists. I like a good twist just as much as the next man but in this movie there is a twist about every 15-20 minutes and they don't make any sense. At the end of the movie i was lost and that would not be a bad thing if the twists were logical but they were not and so i did not care. Towards the end of the movie it seems the director or writer or whoever just said screw it and gave up on making an ending that would explain everything that happened in the movie. Its very bad. Don't buy this movie, rent it at best.
ALSO: I enjoyed the movie "wild things" because the twists all fit so maybe watch that instead.

Rating:
Summary: 5 stars for one of worst, stupidest movies EVER made????
Review: Give me a break...this is the WORST movie I have seen in decades....the plot was worked over like a skinny, underfed mule hauling refrigerators up Mt. Everest. Two great actors WASTED in this inept "Flashbacks Gone Wild!!" airplane CRASH CRATER. Good God!!!!!!! The last scene of all the actors around a dining table sums up this piece of work.....looked like THEY thought this effort was some sort of joke ...having to be explained away ONE MORE FREAKN' time like this was some sort of actor's workshop roundtable discussion. Anybody on here who thinks this movie was some sort of Gorky Park type of plot twist movie needs therapy...and lots of it....for an extended period of time until you get over yourself. If I could have given this a MINUS 5, I would have. I feel used and tossed aside like a cellophane wrapper into the bushes off the 405 Freeway in Van Nuys.... See this movie and like it and you, my friend, have some serious, serious personality disorder issues.