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Basic (2003)

R  |   |  Action, Crime, Drama  |  28 March 2003 (USA)
6.5
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Ratings: 6.5/10 from 47,436 users   Metascore: 34/100
Reviews: 285 user | 129 critic | 33 from Metacritic.com

A DEA agent investigates the disappearance of a legendary Army ranger drill sergeant and several of his cadets during a training exercise gone severely awry.

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Title: Basic (2003)

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Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
...
...
...
...
...
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Pike
...
Mueller
...
Castro
...
Nunez
...
Vilmer
Georgia Hausserman ...
Pilot
Margaret Travolta ...
Nurse #1
Dena Johnston ...
Nurse #2
...
Helicopter Pilot
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Storyline

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

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

There are degrees of truth. See more »


Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and language | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
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Details

Official Sites:

Country:

|

Language:

Release Date:

28 March 2003 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Básico y letal  »

Filming Locations:

 »

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$11,511,960 (USA) (28 March 2003)

Gross:

$1,196,015 (Italy) (7 November 2003)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

| |

Color:

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1
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Did You Know?

Trivia

The second collaboration between Samuel L. Jackson and John Mctiernan after Die Hard 3. See more »

Goofs

The bullet holes in the roof of the hut are as big as quarters, and so are possibly too large for the rifles' caliber of 5.56mm Nato. See more »

Quotes

[first lines]
Osbourne: [narration] The French tried to build a canal here before the Americans. At the height of their effort, 500 workers were dyin' a week from malaria and yellow fever. They couldn't come up with cemetary space fast enough. Not to mention the morale problem all those crosses would have made. So they bought shiploads of vinegar in Cuba, and in each barrel, they sealed one corpse, and then they sold them as medical cadavers all over Europe. And for a while, that was their principal source...
See more »

Connections

References Courage Under Fire (1996) See more »

Soundtracks

Bolero
Written by Maurice Ravel
Performed by Hungarian State Orchestra
Conducted by Ádám Fischer
Courtesy of LaserLight Digital
By Arrangement with Source/Q
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

 
it could have been real good but...
20 May 2005 | by (Lisbon, Portugal) – See all my reviews

now a days, you see a movie and in the middle of it, you already know the ending, so it's really refreshing to see that 'basic' defies that! i was really having a blast, was loving it, and when the end came i was blown away, but for only one second, because then the brain kicked in, and realize that the plot was wrong, didn't made sense! there were so many twists (and i love that in a movie) that even the editors got confused, if that ending was meant to be, than there were things that happened earlier on, that don't make sense, that are just wrong.

despite all that i liked the movie, i enjoyed't when i was watching and even more when i came out of the theater room and debated with my friends, trying to make sense on why some scenes happened, i bought the DVD only to get to the sad conclusion that i was right and there's something wrong with the story. if only the story would have matched, it would be, one of my favorite action movies!


36 of 54 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

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Worst Ending EVER?!? tstone-4
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huh? can someone explain this movie to me :-/ Mic21
What's with Giovanni Ribisi's funny voice! dominodamsel
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