Basic film review

certificate_15

BASIC

A contender for worst film of the year, Basic is a disastrous Hollywood mess which will only serve to further the current downward spiral of John Travolta's career. Ever since he teamed up with Samuel L Jackson and made Jules and Vinnie the seminal 90s screen couple in Pulp Fiction, Travolta has made some interesting career choices. Particularly in recent years: anyone remember Lucky Numbers, Domestic Disturbance or Battlefield Earth? This latest confusing thriller sees him share top billing once again with Jackson, but the two hardly share screen time and when they do it seems to be a weak add-on to a film that is already floundering in its own ineptitude.

A military thriller with some drugs thrown in for good measure, Basic opens in the rainy jungles of Panama where Samuel L Jackson is doing his best impression of Gunnery Sgt Hartman from Full Metal Jacket. On a deep cover training mission several of his troops are killed - so far so Jacob's Ladder - and the military begins an investigation.

Enter John Travolta, and what a self-conscious entrance it is. With a reputation for hard-drinking and bribe-taking, Tom Hardy (Travolta) is clearly one for the sit-ups, as the chiseled body that emerges from the shower in his first scene shows. Presumably a top Hollywood fitness coach was hired to aid the new new JT get into shape and to be fair with a short-cropped haircut he looks as fit and charming as he has ever done.

But then he starts to act. Given that he is saddled with one of the most cumbersome and cliché-ridden scripts in recent Hollywood memory, one can cut Travolta some slack. But there is no light and shade with his portrayal of Tom Hardy. He starts out as cocky and annoying and simply becomes more cocky and annoying as the film goes on. Brought in to take over the investigation from Lt Osborne (Neilsen), he discovers that getting a straight answer from any of the surviving soldiers will be a tricky job.

Travolta aside, the major problem with Basic is a script that smugly leads the audience down the road only to show them that it is a dead end. It does this endlessly, so much so that nearly everyone will leave the cinema wondering exactly what happened. There is also some excruciating love action hinted at between himself and Neilsen which is likely to leave most of the audience laughing.