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MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
total movie count ........... current day count
179 .......................... 186
__________________________
May 21st
—— 2003 ——
BASIC
—— thriller ——
Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta join forces
in a film where they barely even interact...
I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect from this film, but for some reason I have wanted to watch it for quite some time. Basically, I think it all comes from the period in time where I was looking for those unpredictable twist endings, and this was supposed to have exactly that. But for the twist to work, the actual film has to work on its own first, which is often a problem with these films – they often rely way too much on the twist. I guess both the film and its twist worked with this film, but I wasn’t a fan of either…
This film truly is ‘basic entertainment’ at its lowest laughable level, not really passable for much more than mediocre moviemaking, following the same plotlines and plotholes without ever coming to a constructive conclusion, or having us twisting and turning in our seats under way like the so-called twist they are trying to build towards. ‘Basic’ constantly plays on being super intelligent and having this big mystery that needs solving, but everything just comes off as so muddled and monotone that you don’t even care about it. And not only are the actors playing roles that are so inflated and tedious that you almost get annoyed at how formulaic everything is, but even the actors themselves don’t seem to be enjoying their stay much, at least not in terms of acting out something exciting or revolutionary. It is quite clear to see why Jackson and Travolta was cast in these roles – simply because they have done them twenty times over already. What looked like culminating capacities of colossal acting capability on the poster, turned to a tedious and tiresome textbook treatment of otherwise great talents. At times, such subpar character development can be quite the fun, if the actors just play around with the material a little bit. But they have simply worn out these cliché characters so much by now, that it doesn’t feel like much fun anymore – neither for us or them.
As hinted earlier, this film is not of those I would shut off in a second or one of those I downright despise after watching it, but it is so routine-like that I simply don’t care for what is being said or done throughout. When a new plot point is revealed I don’t care, and the big mystery I couldn’t care less about either – especially since the base of it was rather predictable, while everything around it is a giant mess. This is actually a hard film to hate and rate if I have to be honest. It is one of those films that you can easily watch without hating yourself afterwards, but there isn’t anything memorable or new about it either. It is as stiff and as stupid as it gets, but still just about watchable.
__________________________
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
total movie count ........... current day count
179 .......................... 186
__________________________
May 21st
—— 2003 ——
BASIC
—— thriller ——
Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta join forces
in a film where they barely even interact...
I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect from this film, but for some reason I have wanted to watch it for quite some time. Basically, I think it all comes from the period in time where I was looking for those unpredictable twist endings, and this was supposed to have exactly that. But for the twist to work, the actual film has to work on its own first, which is often a problem with these films – they often rely way too much on the twist. I guess both the film and its twist worked with this film, but I wasn’t a fan of either…
This film truly is ‘basic entertainment’ at its lowest laughable level, not really passable for much more than mediocre moviemaking, following the same plotlines and plotholes without ever coming to a constructive conclusion, or having us twisting and turning in our seats under way like the so-called twist they are trying to build towards. ‘Basic’ constantly plays on being super intelligent and having this big mystery that needs solving, but everything just comes off as so muddled and monotone that you don’t even care about it. And not only are the actors playing roles that are so inflated and tedious that you almost get annoyed at how formulaic everything is, but even the actors themselves don’t seem to be enjoying their stay much, at least not in terms of acting out something exciting or revolutionary. It is quite clear to see why Jackson and Travolta was cast in these roles – simply because they have done them twenty times over already. What looked like culminating capacities of colossal acting capability on the poster, turned to a tedious and tiresome textbook treatment of otherwise great talents. At times, such subpar character development can be quite the fun, if the actors just play around with the material a little bit. But they have simply worn out these cliché characters so much by now, that it doesn’t feel like much fun anymore – neither for us or them.
As hinted earlier, this film is not of those I would shut off in a second or one of those I downright despise after watching it, but it is so routine-like that I simply don’t care for what is being said or done throughout. When a new plot point is revealed I don’t care, and the big mystery I couldn’t care less about either – especially since the base of it was rather predictable, while everything around it is a giant mess. This is actually a hard film to hate and rate if I have to be honest. It is one of those films that you can easily watch without hating yourself afterwards, but there isn’t anything memorable or new about it either. It is as stiff and as stupid as it gets, but still just about watchable.
__________________________