Basic' is anything but

Sometimes, one plot twist is enough. But, John McTiernan, director of the Die Hard Trilogy, and The Hunt for Red October, disagrees.

His latest film Basic is yet another conspiracy film that implicates a crooked government agency in dealing with drugs and thus, inevitably, murder. The movie is your typical suspense thriller that not only believes -- but counts on the fact -- that each twist and turn will make up for the fact that it sucks.

Essentially, Basic is a movie whose plot is so convoluted, its characters seem to lose interest well before most of the audience does. The film, starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson and Giovanni Ribisi, magically ends with most of the main characters seated around a kitchen table drinking beer and laughing, following the tangled conspiracy plot line. Basic's inexplicable plot is about as awkward as the strange little mustache Samuel L. Jackson dons in the closing seconds of the movie.

Before the first half-hour is over, a torrential downpour begins that will prove to be interminable for the duration of the film, and bog down the action. In fact, the rain itself is so overwhelming, at times, it proves to be much louder than the actors' dialogue.

What I did appreciate about the film was a ridiculous little scene in which Connie Nelson, an Army lieutenant, and Travolta engage in an absolutely preposterous little tussle. The supposed "sexy" sparring between the two, finds the both of them squeezed into a close-up head shot with a rather phallic-like gun sticking up in between them. This "fight" is about as close as the film gets to a badly needed sex scene. Camera shots, like these, provide humor for the audience in places where the filmmakers' inability to produce correct emotions shines through.

At one point, near the third or fourth -- I lost count -- climax, the camera switches back and forth and back and forth once again to the eyes of Travolta and Timothy Daily. Instead of the increased suspense McTiernan was hoping for, the audience around me giggled and all at once made silent resolutions to give the film a bad review.

It is unfortunate that McTiernan's career has become such a joke. Likewise, it is a shame that the Oscar-winning duo from Pulp Fiction, Jackson and Travolta, has chosen to reunite with such abysmal filmmaking. The two actors' careers have combined for an astonishing 100 films, approximately. Most recently, however, movies like Battlefield Earth and Lucky Numbers have been significantly less than stellar.

As for McTiernan, who had great success with films like Patriot Games, Medicine Man and his remake of The Thomas Crown Affair, much of the same can be said. For example, his last project before Basic was the debacle Rollerball starring LL Cool J.

Despite the film's star power, even in the minor character roles filled by Taye Diggs and Harry Conick Jr., the film remains a disaster. If you want to waste your money, don't bother on another Travolta flick, for he has securely established his second successful downfall. As for Samuel L. Jackson, a man who makes at least ten to 15 films a year, I would just wait and see the next one.

The bottom line is this: don't waste your time, money and brain cells this movie season trying to figure out something that is supposed to be quite "basic."