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At the beginning when Nielsen says it must have been an honor to know Sgt. West, Travolta says "Well, that's one way to put it" without moving his mouth. See more...

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Basic (2003) - 10 corrections

Directed by John McTiernan, starring Connie Nielsen, John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson (add more)

Genres: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Comments made in brackets are corrections from other visitors. To submit your own corrections for mistakes, just click "edit" under an entry, then choose "correct entry". You can also submit corrections for corrections, if you think a mistake has been unfairly removed.

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In multiple jungle scenes when the Rangers are shooting their automatic weapons at each other, you can distinctly hear the ringing sound of shell casings falling onto a hard (concrete)surface. [From shooting M-16's, M-4's, and owning an AR-15, I know that when the spent shell casing is thrown from the ejection port, the metal ejection bolt striking the bottom of the shell can make this noise. Also, the empty shells could have been landing on each other, also causing this noise.]
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At the end of the movie it is revealed that Section 8 knew about the Colonel, Kendall, Mueller and the doctor and pretty much everything about the drug operation. Why then did they need this elaborate plan to pretend that West was shot? Who did they really flush out if they knew all the parties involved? In the end all the parties involved except the doctor were killed. If they wanted to do this they could have just killed them. Dunbar already knew where the drugs were so that was not in question. Plus because Dunbar runs off with Travolta, this would likely spark a massive investigation. [In the end they knew it all, but not at the beginning. It was like a puzzle and they had to figure out. They had to "tell" this story to check if anybody else was involved (West calls it "who is working for who operation"). West constructed a perfect opportunity for Kendall and Mueller to kill him: they would kill him in the jungle without witnesses and let the body disappear. That way he made sure they didn't try to kill him somehow on or off the base (where he wouldn't know when and how) and he had total control over them. Mueller was shot by Dunbar/Pike in the jungle in self-defense. When the Colonel offered Hardy a part of the money and told him many thinks about the drug operation, he revealed that he was the head of the drug deals (they knew he was involved, but didn't know how deep until this point). The death of the Colonel was rather an "accident" because Osborne was near the office, heard it all and saved Hardy when the Colonel wanted to shoot him (the death of the colonel was not planed). Kendall was killed by the doctor because he was a witness and might testify against him and/or the Colonel. Since Dunbar/Pike running of with Hardy is only seen by Osborne, there will be no investigation about this event (officially Dunbar/Pike either flees from the base or is unofficially released by his superiors).]
Edit Corrected by Bjoern_Buller
A soldier under suspicion of killing fellow soldiers would have his filed reviewed and such file would indicate that he was black and not white which would make it implausible that Pike could sit there and pretend to be Dunbar with no one figuring it out until the end. [Connie Neilson says close to the end "Files don't show race, all he has to do is switch the dog tags ". ]
Edit Corrected by The-Immortal
The Rangers throughout the movie are using the standard M16-A2 rifles with an undermounted M203 grenade launcher. In several scenes they are shooting automatic (continual) fire. This is a characteristic of the older M16-A1 rifle. An M16-A2 doesn't have an automatic setting. It fires either one shot at a time (semi-automatic) or in 3-round bursts. [Just because they have the A2 model of the M16 does not mean they couldnt be full auto. They could be using a A2 frame with a full auto receiver in place of the original. This is not unheard of in Special Operations work. This is similiar to the full auto M4's used by the Delta members in "Blackhawk Down." Standard issue M4's are semiauto with burst capability, but can be easily modified. And since the Rangers in "Basic" are supposed to be at some elite training facility (which doesnt actually exist) we can assume they would be worthy of a full auto weapon for training since they would be using one later in real combat situations.]
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The soldiers are members of a unit training to be Rangers. Rangers and infantry do not allow women. So what the heck is Roselyn Sanchez doing in the unit? [On the "Making of Basic" CD, the writer makes reference to special operations units secretly using female members. On the other hand, it is mentioned that Giovanni Ribisi strongly protested the innacurate portrayal.]
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If both Pike and Dunbar are in training with other Rangers, then how could Pike possibly pretend to be Dunbar after he returns to base? Wouldn't someone have identified him as Pike before the doctor does? [Having watched the movie several times, it seems to me that the Ranger training program that West was running had just recently begun. Therefore, it's possible that Pike, Dunbar, Nunez, and Castro all recently transferred to the base to be in this program.]
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How did Dunbar get Pike's dogtags? [In Dunbar's (actually Pike) last story, he says he found Pike (actually Dunbar) dead and he switched dog-tag's then.]
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Giovanni Ribisi could not have known about Secret 8 and therefore should not have drawn that figure eight onto the Capt.'s hand. [Ribisi's character works for the Colonel who shows that he knows who Section 8 is, therefore Ribisi's character could have been told about them by the Colonel.]
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Why would the arrested/rescued SGT write the figure 8 onto the piece of paper. This made no sense as he is part of that group and wouldn't want to draw attention to that group or even blow his cover. [The group has a reputation as drug dealers that is somewhat known in the area. Writing the "8" was done in order to signify that drugs are involved. On top of that, he requested a ranger. Since Tom Hardy is a former ranger, a current DEA Agent, and world-class interrogator, it all made him the prime candidate to be called into the situation. So in short, it was done to get Hardy onto the base to flush out the drug dealers.]
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The members sitting around the table at the end claim to be the Secret "8" group who have been trying to take down the bad drug guys - including Giovanni Ribisi. However, Dunbar and Ribisi both write the secret 8, and although Dunbar is a part of the "8" group, Ribisi should not be. [The secret "8" group (Section 8) was known by outsiders as a group of "drug dealing renegades". Ribisi's character was trying to tell the Captain who was behind it, not trying to tell her he was part of the actual team. Ribisi's character did not know about the actual Section 8.]
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