Advantages: Brilliantly directed and acted film Disadvantages: Slightly unbelievable towards the end
Director John McTiernan is well known for action films such as The Hunt For Red October (1990) and Die Hard: With A Vengeance (1995). His 2003 film Basic is a thriller with a twist: not so much an action film, although there are moments of action, it being a military-based film.
The Plot
Tom Hardy is a Drugs Enforcement Agent with ties to the military from his days as an Army Ranger. When he gets a call from an old friend, asking for help solving the disappearance of a special forces instructor, Sergeant Nathan West, and various members of his squad. Hardy soon realises that all is not as it seems, as he has a minimum of resources and witnesses, and it will take all of his experience to extract the information from marines hiding secrets! Set in Panama, Hardy has to battle against the conditions as well as some underhand goings ...
pmcds 24.03.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Basic (DVD)
Advantages: Good interesting Storyline that keeps you guessing Disadvantages: The DVD Extras are a big let down
One of the best onscreen partnerships has to have been Samuel L Jackson and John Travolta from Pulp Fiction, the way they seemed to gel together really added something to the film. Well when I saw they had been teamed up for the first time since for Basic I had to see it. It seemed to slip past me when it was in the cinema despite having seen a couple of adverts I didn?t realise it was out until last week in Asda I saw it on DVD and took a chance for £11.99 to see if it was actually any good.
The film opens on the Panama ship canal, where a team of 6 US Rangers are on their way to a live training exercise with their training officer Sgt. Nathan West (Samuel L Jackson). It cuts to another helicopter a few hours later looking for the Rangers who failed to make the pickup contact. As the helicopter circles overhead one of the troops ...
Andy.mack 29.01.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Basic (DVD)
Advantages: The men will like Sharon Stone Disadvantages: Terrible storyline, terrible acting
Best selling crime/erotica author Catherine Trammel (Sharon Stone), originally from San Francisco but now living in London is interrogated by the police after a tragic accident leaves her car in the bottom of the sea with her male passenger dead. Trammel wants to prove her innocence but as a previous murder suspect this isn?t going to be easy.
She is forced to be evaluated by experienced psychiatrist Dr Michael Glass (David Morrissey) however it?s clear right from the start that he?s not going to have an easy task on his hands. With Trammels blatant sex appeal and manipulative ways it?s not long before he finds himself enamoured by her however when people start to die around them Trammel is once again the prime suspect but what does she really want with Michael?
This is the follow up to cult classic Basic Instinct released way ...