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03/30/03
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Basic (2003)
21
%
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Reviews Counted:138
Fresh:29
Rotten:109
Average Rating:4.5/10
Consensus: Basic gets so needlessly convoluted in its plot twists that the viewer eventually loses interest.
Theatrical Release:Mar 28, 2003 Wide
Box Office: $26,536,120
Synopsis: John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson team up in BASIC, an action-packed military thriller from director John McTiernan (DIE HARD). Jackson plays Sergeant Nathan West, propagator of a harsh military... [More]
Starring: John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Harry Connick, Taye Diggs
Director: John McTiernan
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Reviews for Basic
It begins in a muddle and ends in confusion.
03/30/03
As convoluted the plot is, I found this film to be totally engaging and fun and very thrilling to watch. . Basic is a thrilling mystery that will have you mind boggled until repeat viewings makes your head straight again.
03/29/03
The interesting thing about Basic is that it contains one of Travolta's best performances since Pulp Fiction, but the film itself isn't anywhere close to his level.
03/29/03
Has no point other than to pull our chain.
03/29/03
Compellingly watchable even when it isn't making any sense.
03/29/03
Travolta's performance keeps things watchable, but you won't be scratching your head so much as shaking it when the game is finally revealed.
03/29/03
There’s some magic on display worthy of the great Houdini--in scene after scene, logic and reason vanish before our very eyes with a well-timed poof!
03/28/03
Starts reasonably well, twists its way into disappointing, then spins wildly to an end that’s nothing short of ridiculous.
03/28/03
The film seemingly exists for only one solid reason: to cruelly play with, and jerk the chain of, every audience member foolish enough to be swindled into a theater showing this pompous joke.
03/28/03
Technically, Basic seems thrown together at the last minute.
03/28/03
Travolta gets good mileage out of playing a swaggering hero with degenerate, bravado tendencies. (Can any other major movie star get away with such low behavior?)
03/28/03
Travolta is a vital presence that constantly holds our attention, even when the script is threatening to lose it.
03/28/03
Top CriticWith its twists and turns almost spinning out of control, 'Basic' kept me guessing about whodunit until the very last second.
03/28/03
Like Dame Edna or the color orange, Basic is improbable but fun.
03/28/03
The more you think about the far-fetched sequence of events that leads to the Big Surprise, the less sense it makes.
03/28/03
There are so many shifts, so many 'Gotcha!' moments, so many characters who are 'not what they appear to be' that, by the final twist, you've stopped caring.
03/28/03
McTiernan and company make the basic error that usually befalls less seasoned filmmakers. And that's forgetting to make a story and characters that viewers will care about.
03/28/03
The plot twists, reversals, false accounts, unreliable narrators and conflicting testimonies that make up the story of Basic are just not worth revisiting, unless one wants to tie one's brain into a knot for no discernible reward.
03/28/03
Top CriticIf this humid hullabaloo made sense, it still wouldn't matter. You can feel your shrug building irritably.
03/28/03
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