In one sentence, I'd say this film was a "absolutely Brilliant delivery and reliable plot twist"When they say 'keep them guessing', this film will officially come up in my memory, because it send me on sooooo many curves and circles. But without spoiling, the ending was by far the biggest circle out of the whole film.I must admit I did slightly find it interesting to see John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson in the same movie. Both our there performances were great, can't say the same for the female protagonist, her acting was flat and just there as a place holder.I enjoyed this film and the only think that made me take away a star is the constant inappropriate comments in the beginning.(Could have done without)

An Army sergeant takes six of his troops on a training mission into the Colombian jungle and only survive. When the rescue mission arrives, they see one soldier killing another and carrying a wounded comrade. As the interrogation begins, the soldier refuses to talk to anyone other than another Ranger. The investigating officer protests, but her commanding officer brings in a former Ranger and current DEA agent to help. The agent is currently on suspension from DEA for allegedly accepting a bribe.....Basic is all over the shop with style over substance. The film has so many cuts and edits, and even more flashbacks, you forget about the actual story halfway through the second act, and just enjoy Travolta in one of his last, quite good roles.He really thinks that this is groundbreaking stuff, and it is almost a pseudo-sequel to The General's Daughter.So the film consists of him and Nielsen going back and forth talking to the survivors, whom each give a different story.The flashbacks consist of Jackson at this shouty best, in the pouring rain, threatening Giovanni Ribisi.Sexuality of some of the troops is hinted for the betrayal, but his is soon forgotten about in favour of Travolta trying to look buff in his tight black T-shirt, when in fact, he looks like he could do with a good dose of laxatives.It's short, and fun to watch, thanks to the performances and the direction, but the story really goes nowhere, and the ending is just laughable.

I'm normally a fan of John Travolta, but as other reviewers have said, there are just too many plot twists and turns, mixed in with a variety of flashbacks, so that in the end you stop caring. Or rather, you are thinking when told yet another version of events "really, well maybe, but I'll just treat that as hypothetical for now". Note to director, if you are going to perpetually change a plot, you have to first get us invested in the first one. If you just sketch out one plot line, then quickly skip to another, we just don't care. This reminds me of Kurosawa's Rashomon, where 4 different accounts are presented of a rape and murder. Rashomon however, does not leave one feeling frustrated in the way this movie does. But back to the movie. I was struggling with the realism of this OLD movie having a female Ranger since they weren't allowed to serve till April 2016. If she had been a butch muscular woman maybe I could swallow it, but she was petite and very cute. Then one of the guys was blatantly gay - and this is before "Don't ask, don't tell" was scrapped. So now I was waiting for the black disabled lesbian Ranger to appear in the next scene, just so we can all be politically correct.The straw on the camel's back came in the middle of yet another discussion in the rain soaked hut. There were at least 70 lighting flashes over a 3 minute scene. I was wondering if the "training exercise" was taking place on the planet Venus, or did the lighting engineer have a dodgy power supply? The map shows lightning flashes per sq km per year, with black / max at 70:http://geology.com/articles/lightning-map.shtml Since that jungle hut experienced a few year's worth of lightning in the course of that one scene, I guess the rest of the year was just peaceful and sunny? For me, the movie descended from 'hostile training environment' to pantomime, and I switched it off.

Then this would be a reasonably entertaining thriller. No matter how muddled or confusing this film, Basic ends up being, there is no denying how smart the film is. The script could have used a major overhaul because there are so many twists, but somehow I was able to stay on page. Yes that gave me a headache, but I couldn't help but be intrigued by the characters, especially those played by John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson. The directing is excellent and so are the technical side of things.John McTiernan, known for directing Die Hard and Predator, directs a film and it's about how a group of army rangers head to Panama for training during a hurricane and ends up in disaster. When two survivors are picked up and each tell different stories, it's up to DEA Agent Tom Hardy to figure out who is telling the truth.The acting is pretty good for the most part. John Travolta was excellent and quite sinister as Hardy. I always love when Jackson plays a badass and he does that here as the Master Sergeant. Connie Nielsen is decent as Captain Julia Osborne. For the rest of the crew, they were good but nothing memorable.Overall, I found Basic to be a good movie. I generally like twists in my thrillers, but too many of them can hold a movie back from greatness. This film had potential, but the screenplay failed to justify that potential. That being said, it's an intriguing thriller with great acting, great direction, and of course is action-packed so it won't get boring. But with a twist too many, this film can settle for mediocrity. I rate this film 7.5/10.