Basic

A very confusing but fun romp through a Panamanian Army Ranger training station. Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta team up again to be almost as cool as Pulp Fiction, Seriously. Travolta plays a scandal worn DEA agent who comes to the station to investigate the murder of three trainees and their Sergeant, West, played by Jackson. What he finds is a gunshot young punk son of a general Giovani Ribisi) named Kendall and a young quiet freaked out private named Dunbar. Soon he realizes the Staff physician (Harry Connick Jr.) is selling drugs to the commandos as well as working for the Colonel (Tim Daly from “Wings”!) to pedal dope along with Kendall and a redneck named Mueller.

As though I didn’t spoil enough, there are several more twists and turns and in the process the young onbase investigator, Osborne realizes she is in to the politics and dirty deeds of the army on a far grander scale.

Eventually she figures everything out, and they have an absolutely cool ending. I really liked this movie, it is an awesome reinvention of the same story told from different points of view, and smells something like what I imagine Tarantino’s Inglorious Bastards will feel like if he ever finishes.

Jackson is brilliant, and Travolta is unnervingly likeable, and a far cry from his usual irritating self. Overall a definite 2 and is really worth watching a second time. Surprising supporting cast including Taye Diggs and aforementioned Ribisi, Connick Jr.  and Daly.