neumu [ cinematronic ]




	Basic
	John McTiernan John Travolta, Connie Nielsen, Samuel L. Jackson, Giovanni Ribisi, Brian Van Holt, Taye Diggs, Tim Daly, Roselyn Sanchez, Harry Connick, Jr. 2003		John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson earned laughs as a pair of bickering hitmen in "Pulp Fiction." Although they've reteamed for the disposable action film "Basic," don't expect it to feature a bunch of snappy scenes with the two actors bouncing pithy lines off of one another. Jackson is Sgt. West, a U.S. Special Forces officer whose unit disappears during a training exercise in Panama. Travolta is Tom Hardy, a rebellious ex-Army Ranger called in, on the sly, by West's superior officer (Tim Daly) to investigate the incident. When two of the soldiers under West's command emerge from the jungle, Hardy tries to unearth the truth about the rest of the squad and locks horns with a dedicated female lieutenant (Connie Nielsen) assigned to the case. Deepening the mystery, we see alternate accounts of the same series of events, a technique used to brilliant effect in Kurosawa's classic "Rashomon." It's no "Rashomon," but the industrious "Basic" is director John McTiernan's first film since his insufferable remake of "Rollerball," and it's a few steps up from that stinker. With Giovanni Ribisi, Brian Van Holt, Taye Diggs, Roselyn Sanchez and Harry Connick, Jr.