Basic (2003)

Directed by

John McTiernan

Genre

drama film, action film, mystery film

Country

Germany, United States

Runtime

1h 38m

Rated

R

Rating

6.5 of 10 from 1,151 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A DEA agent investigates a military training exercise that went wrong, leaving several soldiers and their instructor dead. The inquiry uncovers a web of deceit and conflicting stories among the survivors.

suspensefulmoodyconvolutedtensegrittymysteriousdeliberatetwisty

What happens

Basic is a 2003 crime-action thriller film directed by John McTiernan, written by James Vanderbilt, and starring John Travolta, Connie Nielsen and Samuel L. Jackson. It is the second film starring Travolta and Jackson after Pulp Fiction. The film follows a DEA agent solving the mystery of a bungled training exercise that leads to the deaths of multiple Army Ranger trainees and their instructor. Basic received negative reviews from critics regarding its overall plot and numerous twist endings. The film was also a box-office bomb, grossing only $42.8 million worldwide against a $50 million budget. As of 2026, it is McTiernan's most recent film given his subsequent criminal charges and eventual incarceration related to wiretapping. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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