Frills but no thrills beset this movie

I'm not sure a movie title could be any less appropriate than Basic; it makes less sense than any explanation the cast could possibly offer for appearing in this ridiculous procedural thriller. For the actors, at least, there is what Balzac called the purest of motives: money. But because no one will be paid to see this film, or in this case, paid enough to see it, questions over its existence will continue to plague us.

Someone decided to put Rashomon in a Cuisinart along with A Few Good Men, The Usual Suspects and A Soldier's Story, and hit the pulverize button while forgetting to replace the top. The outcome is a spewing mess spinning at 300rpm.

In Panama, six Army Rangers go on a training exercise in the worst movie storm since the tornado in The Wizard of Oz, a film that seems like a pinnacle of real-world logic by comparison. They are led into the storm by their volatile, violently demanding and, of course, violently detested African-American troop leader, Sergeant West (Samuel Jackson).

An investigation begins after only two men return alive. From the helicopter coming to pick up the squad, the base commander, Colonel Styles (Tim Daly), can see the men firing at one another. One survivor, Dunbar (Brian Van Holt), refuses to speak to anyone but a fellow Ranger. He remains silent while being questioned by the investigating officer, Lieutenant Osborne (Connie Nielsen). And because Styles wants the investigation concluded before Dunbar has to be shipped off to Washington, he brings in a ringer.

Basic gives John Travolta the opportunity to do what he does best: make an entrance, which makes sense because he has had more of them than anyone since Loretta Young. He plays the bad-apple DEA agent Hardy, who swaggers into camera range singing to himself, and sounding remarkably like Tony Bennett, while swilling a long-neck beer with a towel around his new Pilates-assisted fabulousity. (This movie could be subtitled How Johnny Got His Six-Pack. The only restraint he shows in the role is not dropping to the floor to whip through a set of sit-ups.

Hardy is under investigation on suspicion of accepting a bribe. But he goes back a long way with Styles and, more important -- and improbable -- he also trained under West, whom he also hated. Hardy doesn't get to say, "I'm all you've got, man!" but he might as well. Styles brings Hardy in to interrogate Dunbar and to find out what went wrong.

At this point you might be tempted to say, "Huh?" Or, if you're in the theater, to leave. But wait -- there's less. The rogue Hardy is one of those inventive investigators who throw out the rule book. (Hardy's arbitrary behavior brings to mind Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct.) When Hardy goes into the box -- the room where Dunbar is being kept -- the director John McTiernan develops some tension. If this picture works at all, it is only in certain scenes.

Travolta's cool-for-cats bravado is served up beautifully, and for a few moments it seems that Basic is going somewhere as he bullies and sweet-talks Dunbar simultaneously. But soon it is clear that Basic is adrift.

Basic, takes place in flashbacks. It is revealed that there may have been a drug-smuggling ring mashed into the hatred that everyone had for West, especially the young African-American Ranger Pike (Taye Diggs). West brutalizes him for sport, and uses the race they share as a strap to demean Pike.