Guilty as Charged

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.

I am a fan of the 1999 direct to video film, The Base. It showed that just because it is direct to video, does not mean that it can still be a good action film. With that being said, a sequel would be fairly nice to have and a sort of sequel we got in 2000 titled, The Base 2: Guilty as Charged. The film is directed by Mark L. Lester (who previously directed The Base and is most famous for directing 1985's Commando). The film stars Antonio Sabato Jr. (The Big Hit and Shark Hunter) and James Remar (48 Hrs. And Hellraiser: Inferno). And funny enough, for those Mortal Kombat fans out there, you will notice Deron McBee who played Motaro in Mortal Kombat: Annhilation (which also starred James Remar) and also played in Batman: Forever. The more you know!

Army Investigator John Murphy is sent to go undercover at a base after the dissappearances of several soldiers. Essentially a re hash of the first film but instead of drugs, it's soldiers.

The Base 2: Guilty as Charged hardly qualifies as a sequel which is probably why the first name for this film is called "Guilty as Charged". The only real thing this film shares is name, a single shot of a bar that was in the previous film, and the plot which is just a big old rehash of the previous film but instead of drug smuggling. I honestly had relatively high expectations going into this because I really enjoyed the previous film. What I found odd about this film was surprisingly not James Remar, but rather not having the same actors play their characters (at least the ones that survived) and make another film. But now we have different characters (though they are pretty much the same cliches as seen previously). Where the first Base film stood out amongst the ranks of direct to video action movies, this one simply does not. There are very few action scenes in this film and nothing truly ground breaking in terms of direct to video. I would go on to say that the scenes just pass as being watchable enough to be entertaining. The whole undercover plot is interesting enough, but there is nothing new done with it this time around. Again, everything seen here is a big rehash. Our main lead is pretty mediocre and not really badass considering that he is not given any scenes where he can show off his badass skills. While doing some research on this film (which is basically just the less than 10 reviews on IMDb) apparantly this film is highly inaccurate when it comes to ranks and whatnot. Yeah, I found it weird that a full blown Colonel was in charge of a small little squad on a base. Plus the motives of this whole squad is strange. Sure, punishing those who are not properly punished by the court in itself is cliche enough but I guess it is a serious enough subject. But why put the squad in a bad light? Sure, certain crimes like arms smuggling would be really dumb to go and kill someone over but crimes like rape, I mean, go right ahead, punish away.

The Base 2: Guilty as Charge is not really great but has some charm to it that makes it entertaining for a viewing or two. Though, I would highly recommend the first Base film over this film any day of the week.

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.

Only rarely does such a great film come along! This film is one if the best action films you will ever see - Using a familiar premise (the most dangerous game) this film puts a neat and needed twist onto it, making it a shock a minute marathon! This film makes you hate the devilish army officers responsible for performing the deeds, but you also sympathise with them, because it is their way of trying to make the world a safer place. This film has all the makings of a great action movie, and deserves so much more than to be classed as b grade fodder.