Do you want the truth? Do you? Are you sure? Do you think you can handle the truth?
Snippets of General Jack Nicholson barking at Lieutenant Tom Cruise from the courtroom dock spring readily to mind as we head back to the barracks, and this time it's John Travolta rubbing top brass up the wrong way.
There's been another death on an American army compound, and - somewhat inevitably - what ensues is another round of chicanery and cover-up from assorted military-types and more nose-to-nose confrontation between investigator and top-ranking officers.
Captain Elisabeth Campbell (Leslie Stefanson) is young, successful, pretty and very, very dead. Warrant officer Paul Brenner (John Travolta) of Army CID is assigned to root out the killer. But as you'll have no doubt guessed from the title, some powerful vested interests are working against each other on this case.
Brenner has rape counsellor Sarah Sunhill (Madeleine Stowe) foisted onto his team, and as the pair begin to dig into Captain Campbell's private life, some surprising secrets are unearthed; the list of possible suspects widening all the time.
And although spitting barely restrained bile and commissioning Brenner to root out the culprit(s), base commander and celebrated military hero General Joseph Campbell (James Cromwell) is now running for the Vice Presidency, and being publicly related to any scandal would be extremely damaging to his cause. So whether Brenner and Sunhill can dig through the layers of cover-up to arrive at the truth depends, as General Campbell says, on whether Brenner considers himself a soldier or a policeman.
A tense, well-paced battle of wits finds Travolta on good form, and a base camp manned by high to middle ranking actors all bearing a good track record. Perhaps the most tasty of Brenner's many stand-offs are a couple of verbal volleys with James Woods - a classy and intelligent turn as Elisabeth Campbell's shrewd and mysterious mentor and boss in the Psychological Operations Department.
And there's a nice bite to Travolta's sparring with Stowe. Although their characters are given a far-off romantic history, the relationship is played subtly and without cliche, and emerges notably more believable and charged with chemistry than had they hopped swiftly into bed.
Having an actress as continually under-rated but consistently high-performing as Stowe is the crucial factor here - as good as he is, Travolta can't generate that all by himself (see Michael for details!)
With Cromwell and Timothy Hutton rounding out the principal cast, director Simon West (Con Air) and producer Mace Neufeld (The Hunt For Red October, Patriot Games, etc.) had the right personnel, if only they themselves could restrain their mutual fondness for gung-ho action pics. Thankfully, their collaboration has drawn out the best in Nelson DeMille's converted novel, and while the result is a little flashy occasionally, for the most part this dark, whodunnit mystery thriller is a stylish and absorbing watch.
