The Base 2: Guilty as Charged (2000)

Pretty Good

Memorable, crazy movie

Absolutely the worst movie.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Two soldiers are found not guilty on a technicality, just like in the civilian world. Can this be true? One man who raped a female lieutenant (and nearly killed her) has connections. But there may be justice after all--a cruel kind of justice.A body is found, and military intelligence assigns John Murphy to the unit of Col. Strauss, a no-nonsense military leader who believes the Japanese are correct in their philosophy that a man who causes shame should kill himself. Strauss also believes the army has gone soft, and if he has his way, things will be different. In fact, he has come up with his own system for making right those situations that do not meet with his approval. And it's up to Murphy, posing as Sgt. Hawks, to find the evidence to put a stop to Strauss.The movie's first scenes (where Pvt. Ramirez sold arms to the enemy) did not show a lot of promise. Therefore, I may be overly optimistic in my evaluation. I'm not a fan of movies with explosions and lots of shooting. Certainly I don't like a world in which punishment is swift and severe (though this was not a futuristic society, just one man's vision shared by his soldiers). But Antonio Sabato Jr. did a very good job, considering the material. Murphy himself had to be an actor, and he was very convincing as he pretended to be just as tough a soldier as Strauss. And hate him or not, James Remar commanded respect in his performance. One could also have a type of respect for an Adolf Hitler too, I suppose. But you want to see this man get what's coming to him eventually.I liked Melissa Lewis' performance as well. She was tough, of course, as members of this unit had to be, but she had a female side. One specific criticism I have, which may be a sign of low quality--the barracks seemed quite large, at least compared to the one Gomer Pyle had, and yet I don't recall seeing anyone there except the five soldiers who actually had a role in the movie. Somehow there would have to be others there, though maybe not at the time we were seeing the cast members. And where did Lee stay? Certainly not with the men. It was satisfying to watch the process. Whether it was really any good, I guess, depends on the individual.

In a way, this looks like a reworking of an old noir, "Street With No Name," or, if you like, Sam Fuller's "House of Bamboo," which has the same plot.An undercover cop, in this case an investigator for the Army's Justice Department or whatever it is, is inserted into a suspected gang to get enough evidence on them to convict. In previous versions the gang were thieves. Here the unit consists of a handful of moral zealots. They execute soldiers who, in their judgment and in the judgment of a contact they have in the higher echelons, are guilty of some serious criminal act (a brutal rape and the theft of army weapons are used as examples). When the "target" has been selected, he is abducted by the gang, taken to the kind of densely wooded area where dead bodies are always found, and given ten seconds to run like hell before the Furies pursue him, blasting away with the ugliest guns you ever saw. The target having died what the reigning Lt. Colonel (James Remar) calls "a warrior's death," the body is buried and the next target selected. Oh -- and they also execute anybody who hesitates to perform his mission. In the end they all meet warriors' deaths, except the undercover cop.The movie frankly sucks. All the soldiers are bulked up and carry their frames on huge bone structures. Yet when they punch and kick hell out of each other in training or for real, nobody bleeds. Nobody's even out of breath. Melissa Lewis, as Lee, the only woman in the group, turns out to have the heart of a marshmallow after all and receives a warrior's death from Col. Strauss. That is to say, she is shot full of holes for letting the undercover cop (Antonio Sabato) get away. Lewis is a beautiful woman and cannot act. She does have a nice uncomplicated, not to say unmotivated, sex scene with Sabato, which is the reason I suppose that a woman had to be a member of the unit. I can think of no other reason. She's a tough babe alright, but I don't see her standing up in toe-to-toe combat with Goose, a mean, bald black guy the size of Godzilla who could crunch one of her long bones between two fingers.I said she can't act, but I don't mean to single her out. Nobody can act. Not even the players in featured bit parts. Except James Remar. He has a level, husky voice and a stern demeanor. Now, this may be all the talent he can muster -- I don't know -- but it fits the role rather well.On the whole, you might consider skipping this and renting "Street With No Name." This one has more exploding fireballs and exploding heads but "Street With No Name" is far more exciting.

Guilty as Charged is a fair film that has a good cast which includes Antonio Sabato Jr., James Remar, Duane Davis, Yuji Okumoto, Melissa Lewis, Elijah Mahar, Emilio Rivera, Johnny Urbon, William Jones, Deron McBee, Randy Mulkey, Gary Cervantes, Robert Crow, Bob Rudd, and Dean Hayman Mason. The acting by all of these actors is very good. The thrills is really good and some of it is surprising. The movie is filmed very good. The music is good. The only downfall is the sex and nudity scene which I thought brought the excitement of the film down a few stars but however, the film is quite interesting and the movie really keeps you going until the end. This is a very good and thrilling film. If you like Antonio Sabato Jr., James Remar, Duane Davis, Yuji Okumoto, Melissa Lewis, Elijah Mahar, the rest of the cast in the film, Action, Thrillers, Crime, Dramas, and interesting films then I strongly recommend you to see this film today!

Very poor quality. If they had any consultants on the way the military operates it was probably either someone who didn't make it through basic, or the nephew of someone who didn't make it through basis. Quick tip, if I remember right, the army does not have D.I.'s, they have drill Sergents. Looks like there were only four people in an entire barracks. Colonels aren't in charge of quads, they command battalions. The good review on this movie must have been given by a total idiot or was written as sarcasm. The characters are so cliché, not believable, words cannot express how ridiculous this movie was. Not an accurate portrayal of the military at all. Unless the only other thing to watch is a michael moore "documentary", stay away from this one.