| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| John Travolta | ... | Hardy | |
| Connie Nielsen | ... | Osborne | |
| Samuel L. Jackson | ... | West | |
| Tim Daly | ... | Styles | |
| Giovanni Ribisi | ... | Kendall | |
| Brian Van Holt | ... | Dunbar | |
| Taye Diggs | ... | Pike | |
| Dash Mihok | ... | Mueller | |
| Cristián de la Fuente | ... | Castro | |
| Roselyn Sanchez | ... | Nunez | |
| Harry Connick Jr. | ... | Vilmer | |
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Georgia Hausserman | ... | Pilot |
| Margaret Travolta | ... | Nurse #1 | |
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Dena Johnston | ... | Nurse #2 |
| Nick Loren | ... | Helicopter Pilot | |
Tom Hardy, an ex-Army Ranger turned DEA agent, is drawn into an ever-widening mystery surrounding the disappearance of the feared and often hated Sgt. Nathan West, as well as several of his elite Special Forces trainees on what appears, at first, to have been a routine training exercise during a hurricane in the jungles of Panama. Only two survivors are found, Dunbar, and a badly wounded Kendall, the son of a high-profile Joint Chiefs of Staff official. Neither is willing to cooperate with Capt. Julia Osborne's investigation. So base commander Col. Bill Styles calls in ex-Ranger Hardy, an old friend and a persuasive interrogator. Osborne disapproves of Hardy who is on leave from the D.E.A. after having come under suspicion of accepting bribes from local drug traffickers. She is also uneasy when she learns that Hardy once trained under West and hates him almost as passionately as his current recruits. With time running out, Hardy and Osborne call a temporary, if uneasy, truce. Hardy ... Written by Sujit R. Varma
Basic engages your attention pretty early on and keeps you guessing throughout with the twists and turns in the storyline and its refreshingly unexpected ending.
As you would expect Travolta and Jackson are both superb, as is Connie Neilson. The characters build well, the writing is very solid, and the story is quite original.
All in all 'Basic' is a good thriller that is a little complex and confusing for the casual movie fan.
Definitely worth watching, but not a classic
7/10