Search - Basic on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Violence, Adult Language Movie Release: 2003 DVD Release: 07/08/2003 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV - Closed Captioned Edition: Dual Layered Audio Tracks: English, French Subtitles: English, French SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 39 mins Studio: Columbia TriStar Total Copies: 113 Genres: Thriller, Detective Film, Psychological Thriller

The disappearance of a military leader and the death of four of his men leads two investigators to wade through a morass of deceptions and half-truths in search of the facts in this thriller. Sgt. Nathan West (Samuel L. Jackson) is the leader of an elite team of U.S. Army Special Forces operatives known as the Army Rangers; West is known as a highly effective officer, but one with a short temper and aggressive attitude who is not well liked by his soldiers. During a seemingly routine training exercise in Panama, a hurricane sweeps in, and four of West's six men are dead, while West himself seems to have vanished. Eager to get the facts behind what happened, Col. Bill Styles (Tim Daly) assigns Capt. Julia Osborne (Connie Nielsen) to investigate. However, Osborne is having a hard time getting the two survivors to talk, so Styles brings in Tom Hardy (John Travolta), a former Army Ranger who served under West and became a first-class interrogator; Hardy later became a DEA agent, but left law enforcement after allegations of corruption. Hardy interviews Dunbar (Brian Van Holt), who claims that the four soldiers had been murdered, and West was killed in retaliation. Kendall (Giovanni Ribisi), the other survivor (whose father is a powerful officer) has a very different story of how the five men turned up dead, and it's up to Hardy and Osborne to determine who is telling the truth -- or if anyone is saying exactly what happened. Basic marked the first time John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson appeared in the same film together since their breakthrough roles in Pulp Fiction. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

John Travolta - Agent Tom Hardy
Connie Nielsen - Capt. Julia Osborne
Samuel L. Jackson - Sgt. Nathan West
Giovanni Ribisi - Kendall
Brian Van Holt - Dunbar
Taye Diggs - Pike

John McTiernan's military thriller Basic comes to DVD with a widescreen anamorphic transfer that preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.40:1. English and French soundtracks are rendered in Dolby Digital 5.1. Subtitles are accessible in both of those languages as well. Supplemental materials include an informative commentary track from McTiernan, a featurette on how the look of the film was achieved, and a featurette on the construction of the film's screenplay. Theatrical trailers round out this solid release from Columbia/TriStar. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide