Basic (2003)
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21% of critics liked it
(141 reviews) -
64% of users liked it
(55,974 ratings)
The disappearance of a military leader and the death of four of his men leads two investigators to wade through a morass of deceptions and half-truths in search of the facts in this thriller. Sgt. Nathan West (Samuel L. Jackson) is the leader of an elite team of U.S. Army Special Forces operatives… More The disappearance of a military leader and the death of four of his men leads two investigators to wade through a morass of deceptions and half-truths in search of the facts in this thriller. Sgt. Nathan West (Samuel L. Jackson) is the leader of an elite team of U.S. Army Special Forces operatives known as the Army Rangers; West is known as a highly effective officer, but one with a short temper and aggressive attitude who is not well liked by his soldiers. During a seemingly routine training exercise in Panama, a hurricane sweeps in, and four of West's six men are dead, while West himself seems to have vanished. Eager to get the facts behind what happened, Col. Bill Styles (Tim Daly) assigns Capt. Julia Osborne (Connie Nielsen) to investigate. However, Osborne is having a hard time getting the two survivors to talk, so Styles brings in Tom Hardy (John Travolta), a former Army Ranger who served under West and became a first-class interrogator; Hardy later became a DEA agent, but left law enforcement after allegations of corruption. Hardy interviews Dunbar (Brian Van Holt), who claims that the four soldiers had been murdered, and West was killed in retaliation. Kendall (Giovanni Ribisi), the other survivor (whose father is a powerful officer) has a very different story of how the five men turned up dead, and it's up to Hardy and Osborne to determine who is telling the truth -- or if anyone is saying exactly what happened. Basic marked the first time John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson appeared in the same film together since their breakthrough roles in Pulp Fiction. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Directed By
- John McTiernan
- Written By
- James Vanderbilt
- Genres
- Drama, Action & Adventure, Mystery & Suspense
- In Theaters
- Mar 28, 2003 Wide
- Studio
- Sony Pictures Entertainment
Critic Reviews
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Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Director John McTiernan does a swell job with James Vanderbilt's sneaky script in keeping us guessing.
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Jack Mathews, New York Daily News
You can fall asleep in the first reel, wake up at the end, and know as much as anyone else.
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Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
Made up of remnants from other, better films.
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Ed Park, Village Voice
Nothing is as it appears, except the fact that nothing is as it appears.
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Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper
[Basic] had a great sense of itself and it had a lot of fun taking us from one corner to the next and then spinning us around until we got dizzy and didn't know where we were. I like that.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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John Travolta
as Agent Tom Hardy
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Connie Nielsen
as Capt. Julia Osborne
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Samuel L. Jackson
as Sgt. Nathan West
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Giovanni Ribisi
as Kendall
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Brian Van Holt
as Dunbar
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Tim Daly
as Col. Bill Styles
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Cristián de la Fuente
as Castro
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Dash Mihok
as Mueller
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Taye Diggs
as Pike
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Roselyn Sanchez
as Nunez
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Harry Connick Jr.
as Vilmer
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Cliff Fleming
as Helicopter Pilot
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Chris Byrne
as MP
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Nick Loren
as Lt. Choppa
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Tait Ruppert
as Jepp Driver
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Margaret Travolta
as Nurse #1
- Clayne Crawford
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Charles L. Fails
as MP
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Georgia Hausserman
as Pilot
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Dena Johnston
as Nurse #2
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Steven Maye
as CID officer
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Jonathan Rau
as G.I. on the Tarmac
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Curtis Ricks
as MP
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Timothy S. Wester
as Doctor




