‘Basic’ a military thriller that tries too hard

In theaters

BASIC, directed by John McTiernan, written by James Vanderbilt, 95 minutes, rated R.

John McTiernan’s new military thriller, “Basic,” is being touted for its countless twists and turns, which will likely draw some to theaters to see it but which, by its midpoint, might also drive some away, as was the case at my screening.

Across the board, the performances have an engaging snap and the film has energy and style to spare, but James Vanderbilt’s script is so intentionally convoluted, there’s ultimately no making sense of what’s taking shape on-screen.

The film tries too hard to be something it isn’t – a smart, crafty little thriller that rolls out the revelations as if it were a cross between “The Usual Suspects,” “Rashomon” and “The General’s Daughter” as directed by John Woo after taking one heady snort of glue.

If it seems as if the movie never pauses to take a breath, that’s because it doesn’t; there’s no air left in the room. Besides, if McTiernan (“Die Hard,” “Rollerball”) did stop the momentum and allow his film to breathe, he might create a cavity in which audiences could reflect on just how ridiculous the story is.

Note to McTiernan: They will anyway.

In the film, a newly chiseled, unusually youthful-looking John Travolta stars as Tom Hardy, a boozy DEA agent and former Army Ranger enlisted by Col. Bill Styles (Tim Daly) to join provost marshal Julia Osborne (Connie Nielsen) in uncovering the truth of what went wrong during a botched mission in Panama.

Details are sketchy, but they involve a psychotic Special Forces sergeant named West (Samuel L. Jackson), six shady soldiers with itchy trigger fingers, a Category 3 hurricane laying waste to the jungle and one very messy explosion in which West goes south after taking a grenade to the back. Who tossed the bomb? Before one of the characters can advise us that “things are not what they seem,” the film is already dipping into a series of flashbacks as we’re given several possibilities from which to choose.

Two survivors (Giovanni Ribisi and Brian Van Holt) know the truth, but they have their own accounts and agendas, neither of which, in the end, really matters since the film is such a cheat. It doesn’t play fair with the audience, tricking them with twists and turns that have little to do with anything in an all-out effort to create an ending that stuns.

McTiernan pulls that off, but unlike M. Night Shyamalan’s work, for instance, in “The Sixth Sense,” he doesn’t do so in a way that anyone can admire and respect. Instead, his ending, complicated by an 11th-hour drug conspiracy, literally comes out of nowhere and left some at my screening talking back to the screen. Since this is a family paper, I can’t share their heart-felt sentiments, so we’ll leave it at this: Imagine calling your movie “Basic” and instead coming away with “Pathetic.”

Grade: D

On video and DVD

RED DRAGON, directed by Brett Ratner, written by Ted Tally, based on the novel by Thomas Harris, 124 minutes, Rated R.

Brett Ratner’s “Red Dragon,” from a screenplay Ted Tally based on Thomas Harris’ 1981 best-selling novel, is a tense, often gripping prequel to “The Silence of the Lambs” and last year’s half-baked “Hannibal.”

As you’d expect, a feeling of deja vu hangs over the film, sometimes to the point of distraction, but not always.

Fueled by Tally’s engaging script, a fantastic cast and the liberating presence of a sympathetic new psycho named Francis Dolarhyde (Ralph Fiennes), Ratner ratchets up the suspense and delivers a film designed to do more than simply milk a popular franchise dry. Indeed, with its top-notch production values and terrific score by Danny Elfman, “Red Dragon” spins a dark mood and, for the most part, sustains it.

Set 10 years before Clarice first appeared in her bad shoes, “Dragon” is the story of FBI agent Will Graham (Edward Norton), the man who locks Hannibal the Cannibal (Anthony Hopkins) away in the film’s rousing opening and who now is enlisted by Special Agent Jack Crawford (Harvey Keitel) to stop a new terror nicknamed the Tooth Fairy from sinking his ruined soft palette into Baltimore.

What ensues is a series of events modeled almost slavishly after key scenes in “Lambs” before Ratner moves on with the soul of his movie: the relationship between the Tooth Fairy, whose real name is Dolarhyde, and Reba, a blind woman beautifully played by Emily Watson who falls in love with him.

It’s here, as Ratner leans in to observe all the danger and complications inherent within their unexpected romance, that the film finds itself and blooms, becoming a powerhouse of a thriller that thrums with life and scores with a crowd-pleasing ending.

Grade: B+

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, Tuesdays and Thursdays on WLBZ 2 and WCSH 6, and are archived on RottenTomatoes.com. He can be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.