MovieChat Forums > Basic (2003) Discussion > hey guys, i have a question

hey guys, i have a question

posted 18 years ago by lovinguelf
9 replies | jump to latest

why the 'Section 8' had to do that kind of thing?

unless Styles had made such a horrible mistake(he said that he killed Kendall with poison!!! with his own mouth!!!), Hardy wouldn't get the 'perfuct clue' that Styles was related to the drug things.

then, what is different from the information that 'Section 8' had before?

it would be enough that Pike got the information that Kendall, Mueller and Vilmer was related to the drugs.

then why?

why West, Dunbar, Castro and Nunez had to pretend to be dead?

why Hardy had to join the project?

why 'Section 8' had to do such a difficult, complicated, imprudent and dangerous thing?

[–] Jettatore 18 years ago

Believe me, all those questions you just asked are the central problem of BASIC as a film--no one could understand any of it.

-- Jettatore from Bolgia 9

[–] CGruber01 18 years ago

Col. Styles was the "kingpin" of the Cocaine smuggling. The whole Charlie-Foxtrot of the training mission wasn't a sting for Vilmer's "Combat Cocktails", but bait to draw out the Coke smugglers. Col. Styles killing Lt. Kendall was the clue that shook it all loose, Section 8 and their "officially unofficial mission" isn't about tranqualizers, but stopping Cocaine by hurting the Cartels.

A picture is supposed to be worth a thousand words, a motion-picture is worth about five.

[–] fishies_stars 18 years ago

I think they killed Kendall because Giovanni Ribisi is so damn good at dying on screen.

[–] Jenny_Kay 17 years ago

I agree, that seems like the only really good reason to me! :)

[–] lord_of_oxnard 17 years ago

they coudlve just sent in CID and MPs to take care of it.

Lord's Current top 5: Children of Men, Munich, The Prestige, The Illusionist, Grindhouse

[–] rockiebattles411 12 years ago

1) That was the whole point of the movie; Hardy (Travolta) was trying to get to the very bottom of the coke ring and see who the 'Kingpin' was. He hadn't originally known it was Styles until Dunbar mentioned that West had found out about the ring and threatened to go to Styles with the info. It was mostly all a ruse aimed at getting whoever was the head, which turned out to be Styles.
2) It wasn't enough to just bring down Kendall, Mueller & Vilmer, because as he himself mentioned near the end, Styles would still be able to operate using different 'mules'.
3) West, Castro & the others had to pretend to be dead because the more they found out, the more their lives were jeopardized anyway, if they hadn't been 'fake killed', the would've been killed, period--if not by Kendall & Mueller, than by someone else whom Styles would've put up to it.
4) West asked Hardy to intervene long before Styles ever even called him once he knew they might make an attempt on his life.
5) The 'difficult, complicated, imprudent' thing, as you put it, was Section 8's whole purpose for existing. They were basically an undercover international drug enforcement agency.

: )
.

"...You are now entering the most secure location in the whole of England." -Johnny English

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] Bernnard_Black 12 years ago

Vilmer did.

I enjoy this movie for what it is, but in no way consider the ending clever. It's a cheat, and a stupid one at that.

So West finds out about the drugs, and informs Styles. Styles doesn't do anything, so West figures he's in on it and that Styles will kill him to keep him quiet. His response? To call Hardy and set up the most ridiculously elaborate plan in the history of man to make it look like he's dead, so he can escape.

Well, sh!t, sarge, I dunno if you've ever heard of it, but the Army has this thing called the CID. If you REALLY think you're gonna get killed by drug-dealing soldiers, you just leave the base. You hop a civilian flight, zip on out to the US, and call up CID and tell them what you know. Easy peasy. No need for all that other crap.

But stupid solution aside, how could it work? Except for Mueller and Kendall, every person on the team in the jungle were Section 8. They'd also been in the program from the start. That means West knew about the drug running and was worried for his own safety BEFORE that current Ranger training program started, and arranged to get the section 8 team in place to help. But if he knew before the program began, how did he know about Mueller and Kendall? They all started together; you don't just drop into the middle of Ranger school.

Here's to the health of Cardinal Puff.

[–] 12 years ago

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