What started off to be a tense,
gripping thriller, Basic becomes is exactly the opposite of the title with too
much plot twists and with an ending that almost totally rots the movie to the
bottom of the sink. With John Travolta in a good role, is extremely unbelievable
as both his facial expressions and looks all combine to a feeling of cunning and
villainous. Ever since the terrific/classical Face/Off, Travolta's career is
rotting down to the bottom with probably only Swordfish redeem that fact
slightly. He is becoming fatter and also with a sure villain look. Samuel L.
Jackson is extremely underused and in fact in one of his more stupid role or a
role that can be play by anyone since a long time. It is also surprising, as to
how Jackson is regulated to just an extended cameo. It is also interesting to
note about how many great Hollywood stars of 80s, early 90s such as Travolta,
Van Damme, Seagal, Bruce Willis, Arnie all began to take roles in bad scripts
and bad movie. However, Basic is not totally bad as the middle 50 minutes is
actually quite good, but any form of a serious thriller is destroyed by the
movie one of too many plot twists and especially the last 20 minutes along with
a terrible ending that is more suitable to a Stephen Chow's Moi Lei Tau movie.
P.S. If you think this review is bias
it is because of some personal matters that the reviewer is currently going
through.
64%
=
18