History Film / Basic

%% * BlastOut: Several of the flashbacks end up in this.
* BluffingTheMurderer: After Hardy comes to suspect that [[spoiler:Colonel Styles]] is involved, he tries to do this. At first [[spoiler:Colonel Styles]] brushes it off and calls Hardy's bluff, but then he tries to bribe Hardy into silence.
%% * TheChessmaster: Tom Hardy

* MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot: Once the witnesses start talking, things just keep escalating. Since we started with five people presumed dead, ([[DrillSergeantNasty one of whom]] is described as "The face of the modern Army") that's rather impressive.

%% * ScaryBlackMan: Sgt. West.
%% * TrainingFromHell: They even call it Green Hell.

%% * ScaryBlackMan: Sgt. West, who is also a BaldBlackLeaderGuy.

* BlastOut: Several of the flashbacks end up in this.

* TheChessmaster: Tom Hardy

* LargeHam: Hardy.
* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident[=/=]TheCoronerDothProtestTooMuch: In the words of Sgt. West: "Those of you I find lacking will quit. And those of you who refuse to quit will have a training accident. This base suffers three training accidents a year. Unfortunate accidents that I will not hesitate to repeat if you cross me!"
** Well, accident may not necessarily imply that they will die, just that they will be too severely injured to continue.

* ScaryBlackMan: Sgt. West, who is also a BaldBlackLeaderGuy.
* TrainingFromHell: They even call it Green Hell.

* GambitPileup

* MagnificentBastard: Tom Hardy

** Hardy claims that Dunbar is trying to pull this on him when Dunbar mentions the drug ring on base, more or less saying "You hear I'm DEA, so you mention drugs, figure that will get my attention and get me on your side, right?"

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: Ranger training is intense and grueling, but no army in the world would let West use some of the methods he does. Then there's the fact that West's rank insignia keeps changing, no women graduated from Ranger training until 2015 while the story clearly takes place at the end of the 90s, etc. That said, numerous characters practically say that West only got away with using such methods because of his prestige, and also [[spoiler:virtually everyone was lying, and Nuñez was part of Section 8 and therefore only undercover as a Ranger, not an actual one.]]

After a prolonged and grueling training period, Sgt. West took about half a dozen of his Ranger trainees to a remote location for a live fire exercise just as a hurricane is barreling down on them. After 17 hours without radio contact, a helicopter was sent in to pick them up. As the helicopter drew near, one of the trainees can be seen carrying another who is apparently wounded. Suddenly a third trainee pops out of the forest and starts shooting at the two of them. After an exchange of gunfire, the third trainee goes down.

None of the other soldiers (including West) have been found, and neither of the witnesses are talking. To get to the bottom of what happened and why, Hardy and Army investigator Capt. Julia Osborne (Creator/ConnieNielsen) will have to deal with lies and deceptions from the moment that Hardy sets foot on the base, and it'll only get worse as the witnesses ''do'' start talking and try to spin what happened to their benefit.

Tom Hardy (Travolta) is a [=DEA=] agent and former U.S. Army Ranger operating in Panama, who is currently on suspension due to suspicion that he's corrupt. While on suspension, he is called upon by old Army buddy Col. Bill Styles (Creator/TimDaly), the commander of a nearby U.S. military base that is a few months away from closing, to investigate a training exercise that was being led by Hardy's old drill sergeant, Sgt. Nathan West (Jackson). A training exercise that appears to have resulted in multiple deaths and soldiers being MIA.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/basic2003.jpg]]

''Basic'' is a 2003 thriller film directed by Creator/JohnMcTiernan.

Tom Hardy (Creator/JohnTravolta) is a [=DEA=] agent (and former US Army Ranger) operating in Panama who is currently on suspension due to suspicion that he's corrupt. While on suspension, he is called upon by old Army buddy Colonel Bill Styles, (the commander of a nearby US military base that is a few months away from closing) to investigate a training exercise that was being led by Hardy's old drill sergeant Sgt. Nathan West (Creator/SamuelLJackson). A training exercise that appears to have resulted in multiple deaths and soldiers being MIA.

None of the others soldiers (including West) have been found, and neither of the witnesses are talking. To get to the bottom of what happened and why, Hardy and Army investigator Julie Osbourne will have to deal with lies and deceptions from the moment that Hardy sets foot on the base, and it'll only get worse as the witnesses ''do'' start talking and try to spin what happened to their benefit.

Tom Hardy (Creator/JohnTravolta), a [=DEA=] agent (currently on suspension due to suspicion that he's on the payroll of a drug cartel) and former US Army Ranger operating in Panama who is called upon by old Army buddy Bill Styles at a nearby base to investigate a training exercise that was being led by Hardy's old drill sergeant Sgt. Nathan West (Creator/SamuelLJackson). A training exercise that resulted in multiple casualties.

The only things known for sure is that after a prolonged and grueling training period, Sgt. West took about half a dozen of his Ranger trainees to a remote location for a live fire exercise just as a hurricane is barreling down on them. After 17 hours without radio contact, a helicopter is sent in to pick them up. As the helicopter draws near, one trainee can be seen carrying another who is apparently wounded. Suddenly a third trainee pops out of the forest and starts shooting at the two of them. After an exchange of gunfire, the third trainee goes down.

None of the others (including West) have been found, and neither of the witnesses are talking. To get to the bottom of what happened and why, Hardy and Army investigator Julie Osbourne will have to deal with lies and deceptions from the moment that Hardy sets foot on the base, and it'll only get worse as the witnesses do start talking and try to spin what happened to their own benefit.

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: Ranger training is intense and grueling, but no army in the world would let West use some of the methods he does. Then there's the fact that West's rank insignia keeps changing, no women graduated from Ranger training until 2015, etc. That said, numerous characters practically say that West only got away with using such methods because of his prestige, and also [[spoiler:virtually everyone was lying, and Nuñez was part of Section 8 and therefore only undercover as a Ranger, not an actual one.]]

* BluffingTheMurderer: After Hardy comes to suspect [[spoiler:Styles]] is involved, he tries to do this. At first [[spoiler:Styles]] brushes it off and calls Hardy's bluff, but then he tries to bribe Hardy into silence.
* TheChessmaster:Tom Hardy

* FromCamouflageToCriminal: The base is dogged by rumors that some former Army Rangers and covert ops guys in the area went rogue and set themselves up as a crime syndicate. It's also speculated that they may have had something to do with West's disappearance, as many of them members were said to be former trainees of West, who hated him as much as any of his other trainees did. [[spoiler:This is eventually proven to be untrue, but a number of people on the base, including Colonel Styles himself, are involved in illegal criminal activities.]]

* INeverSaidItWasPoison: Subverted, [[spoiler:Styles points out that as Kendall was vomiting blood before he died, poison is a reasonable guess.]]

* MagnificentBastard:Tom Hardy

* TheNeidermeyer: West. Every trainee who was trained by him hated him, even to the point that Hardy comments that someone finally snapping and trying to kill West was inevitable.

[[quoteright:348:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/basic2003.jpg]]

'''''Basic''''' is a 2003 thriller film directed by John [=McTiernan=].

JohnTravolta plays Tom Hardy, a [=DEA=] agent (currently on suspension due to suspicion that he's on the payroll of a drug cartel) and former US Army Ranger operating in Panama who is called upon by old Army buddy Bill Styles at a nearby base to investigate a training exercise that was being led by Hardy's old drill sergeant [[Creator/SamuelLJackson Sgt. Nathan West]]. A training exercise that resulted in multiple casualties.

The only things known for sure is that after a prolonged and grueling training period, Sgt. West took half a dozen of his Ranger trainees to a remote location for a live fire exercise just as a hurricane is barreling down on them. After 17 hours without radio contact, a helicopter is sent in to pick them up. As the helicopter draws near, one trainee can be seen carrying another who is apparently wounded. Suddenly a third trainee pops out of the forest and starts shooting at the two of them. After an exchange of gunfire, the third trainee goes down.

* HelicopterBlender: Hardy threatens to do this to [[spoiler: as part of his JackBauerInterrogationTechnique.

JohnTravolta plays Tom Hardy, a [=DEA=] agent and former Army Ranger operating in Panama who is called upon by old Army buddy Bill Styles at a nearby base to investigate a training exercise that was being led by Hardy's old drill sergeant [[Creator/SamuelLJackson Sgt. Nathan West]]. A training exercise that resulted in multiple casualties.

* BatmanGambit: Hardy acts this way through most of the movie, though it takes a second or third viewing to see it as such. A particularly good example is when he tries to get Osborne to leave Kendall out of the report to Styles after their interrogation of Vilmer. He knows she won't leave it alone, so he sets her up to push the issue, thereby leaving him to seemingly follow her lead.
* BlastOut: [[spoiler:Several of the flashbacks end up in this.]]

* DirtyCop: Hardy is under investigation, accused of taking bribes.
* DrillSergeantNasty

* HelicopterBlender: Hardy threatens this as part of his JackBauerInterrogationTechnique.

** Samuel L. Jackson's character wears the rank of specialist (E-4) and has higher-ranking people addressing him as "sir."
** The film featured a female Ranger without any comment on it. In real life the first successful female graduates of Ranger training only happened during the summer of 2015, (and the Army may still refuse to allow them to formally serve as Rangers) and the film is set at least a dozen years earlier and not in an alternate universe.

* TheNeidermeyer: West.

* TheRashomon An interesting case, as we see the same two perspectives through multiple retellings. In addition, [[spoiler: none of the stories are true. The truth isn't revealed until the very end, and technically, we never find out ''exactly'' what happened on the island.]]

* UnfriendlyFire

** Female Rangers (the film is not set in the future and not in an alternate universe).

The only things known for sure is that after a prolonged and grueling training period, Sgt. West took half a dozen soldiers to a remote location for a live fire exercise just as a hurricane is barreling down on them. After 17 hours without radio contact, a helicopter is sent in to pick them up. As the helicopter draws near, one soldier can be seen carrying another who is apparently wounded. Suddenly a third soldier pops out of the forest and starts shooting at the two of them. After an exchange of gunfire, the third soldier goes down.

None of the others (including West) have been found, and neither of the witnesses are talking. To get to the bottom of what happened and why, Hardy and Army investigator Julie Osbourne will have to deal with lies and deceptions from the moment that Hardy sets foot on the base, and it'll only get worse as the witnesses start talking and trying to spin what happened to their own benefit.

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: Ranger training is intense, but no army in the world would let West use some of the methods he does. Then there's the fact that West's rank insignia keeps changing, there are no female rangers, etc. That said, numerous characters say West was practically a monster who only got away with using such methods because of his prestige. [[spoiler:Also, virtually everyone was lying, and Nuñez was part of Section 8 and therefore only undercover as a Ranger, not an actual one.]]

* NamesTheSame: [[Creator/TomHardy John Travolta]] [[Film/TheDarkKnightRises will not be breaking anyone]].

* NamesTheSame: [[TomHardy John Travolta]] [[Film/TheDarkKnightRises will not be breaking anyone]].

JohnTravolta plays Tom Hardy, a [=DEA=] agent and former Army Ranger operating in Panama who is called upon by old Army buddy Bill Styles at a nearby base to investigate a training exercise that was being led by Hardy's old drill sergeant [[SamuelLJackson Sgt. Nathan West]]. A training exercise that resulted in multiple casualties.

''Basic'' is a 2003 thriller film directed by John [=McTiernan=].