The General's Daughter (1999)

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

The plot movie captures the spectator, it is well arranged. But the performances are reasonable and it lacks continuity. I had a good time watching, the action scenes are well filmed. The music and scenarios are also good. Is shows very well how American armed forces are from inside and use a subject very present nowadays.

THE GENERAL'S DAUGHTER is an earnest mystery thriller set in a US army base. The whodunit aspect of the storyline brought to mind some of the Columbo episodes that had similar military themes although this is much more adult fare with some very dark subject matter. The film looks at the top of sexism in the army, taken to the extreme in the vicious gang rape and murder of a young woman by her peers.It's certainly a hard-hitting topic and one we see in the headlines all too often, and thus THE GENERAL'S DAUGHTER has a worthy feel to it. However, the main problem the film suffers from is the flashy '90s feel which gives it a dated vibe that you wouldn't find in a similar movie made in the '80s or even '90s. CON AIR director Simon West is a poor choice for director; they should have found someone who could make a more gritty and realistic movie. The shoehorned, Hollywood-style action feels ridiculous although Travolta is solid enough and the likes of James Woods and James Cromwell get to do their bit in the acting stakes.

I guess on the grand scheme of things. I could maybe understand how this could receive a 7 but no not really to be honest. I've watched the generals daughter and its honestly one of the few movies I've seen that I watch over and over. If you like this movie go see the movie "Basic". Another army john travolta movie. I didn't do the research I don't know why he was in two Army movies involving murders. But both are great. This movie hits hard. And I love it cause its a mystery honestly. A lot of actors in here really play their part. Even the General really gives a great performance. I read in the details that john wanted his wife to play the lady detective. And that would have crushed the movie. She was a great actor. On a lot of these movies the female part is honestly too much. I guess e live in a world where in movies they know they have a female audience and don't want to upset them. They weren't worried about it in this movie. This girl had sarcasm and she was great plus not everything went her way. She added to the movie not with some stereotypical bs. This is my favorite movie by John Travolta. I guess I'm bias but he puts on a great performance. Hes the god guy but honestly it seems like hes the bad guy. Rogue does what he wants and simply doesn't care who hes talking to. He even told the police "shouldn't you be out night sticking colored people". The kind of language honestly you wont see in other movies. The sarcasm is through the roof. Even the female detective still puts her spice on things and tricks the guy with panties she bought at a store and then throws away. She sold that scene.Nor did the director make her out to be some beautiful unwitty girl that made you want to puke. The Generals Daughter was beautiful. And even her character surprised you with her actions. This is a movie I can watch over and over cause 1 The acting is great 2. Because it has a plot with a bunch of twist 3. Its just some great acting 4. And most important of them all its great lines and very good language.

This film has enough mystery and intrigue to make it interesting. But, it's a dark story concerning a West Point rape cover-up and later murders. Some scenes are graphic with violence and sexual activity. Only mature adults should watch this film, and even then I don't recommend it. I only watched it because it was billed as being based on a true story, and I have military background in my family. Yet, I've since tried to find verification of this and it's nowhere to be found on the Internet. I discount the Wikipedia entry checked on this date (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_General%27s_Daughter_(film), that says the film is "based on true story" (sic). In fact, "The General's Daughter" is based on a 1992 novel of the same name by Nelson DeMille. In a forward to his book, DeMille doesn't claim that it is based on a true story. Instead, he says, "This story could happen anywhere, anytime — in fact, you may find some similarities in this story to a Greek tragedy. But what happens in 'The General's Daughter' couldn't happen quite like this, except on a modern American military base." So, it's a clear piece of fiction, even though the end trailer implies otherwise. The trailer, just before the credits run, reads, "General Joseph Campbell was court-martialed and found guilty for his involvement in the cover-up of his daughter's rape. He subsequently withdrew from public life." Apparently that was part of the story in the book. But when the film doesn't run a disclaimer that the story and characters are fictitious, the film's ending can mislead many, or most viewers. Most of the cast in this film are all good. A few seem wooden. John Travolta is CID Warrant Officer Paul Brenner. Madeleine Stowe is his sidekick, Warrant Officer Sara Sunhill. James Cromwell plays Lt. Gen. Joseph Campbell. Leslie Stefanson is his daughter, Capt. Elizabeth Campbell. The performances of the rest of the cast are mixed. The military setting, at a fictional Army base in Georgia, doesn't seem quite real. Paramount built the sets and filmed the movie at four sites in Georgia and two in California. But none of these were Army installations. The point of clear fiction aside, the story is intriguing. But the screenplay doesn't do a very good job of telling the story. I didn't read the book, but from its reviews on line it probably was more coherent than the movie with the various incidents. The film is choppy in places, it leaves holes and fails to answer significant questions that arise. For instance, Brenner doubts that Col. Robert Moore (played by James Woods) committed suicide. He says it was made to look that way. But it ends there and we never find out who killed Moore. When Brenner learns the names of the men who raped Elizabeth at West Point, he offers the list to Gen. Campbell, who refuses to take it. But the film never says if those men were brought to justice. The book did cover those things, but the movie doesn't. The opening scene with credits rolling shows Brenner driving his car through an area while combat training is underway. That wouldn't happen in real life. A brief overhead shot that was supposed to be West Point above the Hudson River looked like a photograph or painting. Little things like that lessen the film's sense of realism and accuracy.With a tighter script and much better set work and shooting, this could have been a very good murder mystery and look at psychology in the Army. It's just so-so as it is; and Paramount clearly goofs by not running a disclaimer that the film is fiction. A featurette with the DVD gives some interesting details about the making of the film. It's called, "Behind the Secrets."