Travolta plays Paul Brenner an officer with the army`s CID - he`s good at tracking down illegal arms dealers but when he`s called in to investigate the death of Captain Elisabeth Campbell (Leslie Stefanson) things get a bit sticky. Elisabeth was the daughter of General Joe Campbell (James Cromwell) who has political aspirations after his imminent retirement from the army. Brenner is joined in the investigation by rape psychologist Sarah Sunhill (Madeleine Stowe). It seems she and Brenner go back quite a way. But the apparently super efficient army officer that Elisabeth was hid a world of voracious sex and complicated relationships with her fellow officers, including Colonels Moore (James Woods) and Fowler (Clarence Williams III).
The film`s sexual violence has a hint of titillation which gives it a rather unpleasant subtext. But apart from that the relationships in the film are so convoluted of the who- did-what-to-whom-when variety that by the end you just don`t give enough of a damn who did it. John Travolta is solid as always, but what Madeleine Stowe is doing tagging along with him is very mysterious. Believability is one of the most crucial elements of a film for me and when the contrived nature of the plot stands out as it does in this, it just distances you from the story and the characters. It doesn`t matter that you have fine performers like James Woods and James Cromwell in crucial roles, the material they`re given to work with is just not solid enough to sustain them. Director Simon West of Con Air fame can`t breathe any coherence or energy into this rather poorly concieved project.
