An Army Ranger training mission in the Jungles of Panama goes completely wrong, leaving several soldiers and their instructor (Jackson) dead. The base commander (Daly) calls an old friend now with the DEA (Travolta) to try to sort out the mess by teaming him with a resident investigator (Nielsen).

Basic is anything but. There are twists and turns aplenty in this film piled one on top of another. No one's testimony is above suspicion and everyone is lying — about something. Making the plot further convoluted are flashback scenes in the jungle. We see the tragic events unfold from several points of view; which is interesting, but I must admit I am still unsure of exactly who all the characters are. This is a tragic flaw especially when those plot twists start coming in rapid succession.

I was pleased with many of the performances. Travolta, looking quite trim, gives an inspired and charismatic performance. Connie Neilson plays her role with earnest and some sex appeal. And one of these days, someone besides me is going to realize what a gifted actor Giovanni Ribisi really is. Samuel L. Jackson, however, is not given the proper lines or screen time to fully flex his acting muscles.

The dialogue is okay, but where the script fails is with the characters of the Ranger recruits. With little to no background information on any of them, we need something more in the way of development here. This, combined with the uncertainty of simply indentifying these characters, largely fails the plot twists.

Basic is an interesting film for sure, that goes recommended for its depth, developing intrigue and some splendid performances. But it quite literally gets too caught up in itself to allow the viewer any real sense of satisfaction.

Directed by John McTiernan.