Friday

With both the coldness of winter and the Christmas timetable at work setting in it seems I'm restricted to watching more and more movies on television. Last night the film Basic was on. It's a strange one, not helped by me not paying much attention to it. I don't think a lack of attention was the main problem, though. Just to warn you, I'm going to spoil the entire plot now, so don't on read if you're really interested in seeing this film. Ok, the main storyline is about six soldiers who go on a training exercise, and return with only two left alive. Most of the film is then taken up with interrogation of these two men, and the varying stories they tell. Each time we return to them they give us a different version of what happened. There are several moments which feel like 'final twists' in the plot, but end up just being one of many. Eventually we do get to the end to find out that the whole thing was a set-up. The four soldiers who 'died' aren't really dead. One of the interrogators actually knew what was going on all the time. This, for me, completely destroys the film. Everything we've seen up to that point means nothing. Every character except one has been lying to us. And, to make it worse, we are then never given a full explanation of how it was all 'set-up'. Generally, one leaves the film thinking you've been cheated, and that the film-makers were trying to be too clever. At the end of the day it's all rather pointless. Avoid this unless you want to know how to make a bad movie.