Plot.
Poster of Basic

Basic

2003 · Film · 98 min

  • Thriller
  • Crime
  • Mystery

Plot

When a hurricane hits a US Army base on the edge of the Panama Canal, an elite covert operations team of US Army Rangers recruits are on a routine jungle training exercise that goes horribly awry. Only two recruits are rescued, one of which is badly injured, but both have different accounts regarding the fate of their leader, legendary and ruthless Army Ranger Drill Sergeant Nathan West, and the rest of their platoon. Tom Hardy, an ex-army Ranger turned maverick DEA agent is brought in to solve the mystery and uncover what really happened out there.

About Basic

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 was released by Columbia Pictures (through Sony Pictures Releasing) on March 28, 2003 in the United States, Canada and Japan, with Constantin Film releasing in Germany. The film 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 4.0.

Cast

  • John TravoltaDEA Agent Tom Hardy
  • Connie NielsenCPT Julie Osborne
  • Samuel L. JacksonDrill Sgt. SFC Nathan West
  • Tim DalyCOL Bill Styles
  • Giovanni Ribisi2LT Levi Kendall
  • Brian Van HoltSGT Ray Dunbar
  • Taye DiggsPike
  • Dash MihokSGT Mueller
Images