Matty flies the flag for Mark L. Lester’s action-packed tale of bent squaddies.   

Mark L. Lester’s entry in the military hardware stakes (cf. Crash Dive (1996), Active Stealth (1999)), THE BASE (1999) is essentially an army-centric riff on the producer/director’s police thriller, Extreme Justice (1993), with dashes of Class of 1984 (1982) and Class of 1999 (1990) sprinkled in for good measure — specifically, their collective swipes at supposedly virtuous institutions housing a darker side. Lester’s key themes of teamwork and camaraderie are present and correct. Like Extreme Justice, The Base raises questions about masculinity, radicalisation and cults of personality (notions embodied by Fred Olen Ray favourite Tim Abell’s scorching performance as the film’s villain), and ponders how the actions of a group weigh on the individual. And like fellow Lester signatures Commando (1985), Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991) and the aforementioned Classes of ‘84 and ‘99, The Base’s hero (Mark Dacascos) rails against a force potentially far greater than themselves.

Written by Hersh Rephun (Chase Morran (1996)) and Nu Image regular Jeff Albert (Cyborg Cop III (1995)), and featuring uncredited tweaking by Corman acolyte Craig J. Nevius (The Fantastic Four (1994)), military hardware specialist William C. Martell (Crash Dive, Steel Sharks (1997)) and Lester’s subsequent Hitman’s Run (1999) collaborator Eric Barker, the plot sees army investigator Dacascos being sent undercover in order to bust snarling sergeant Abell’s clandestine drug trafficking ring at the eponymous Mexican border facility. A la the highly topical 1984 and 1999, Lester conceived the story after reading an article about a real-life bunch o’ grunts with a sideline in gun running. 

While as gritty and as gruff as one would expect a testosterone-fuelled ‘bloke’ movie to be (compared to the three-dimensional women in Lester’s preceding assignments The Ex (1996) and Misbegotten (1997), the film’s sole female character is a total nothing bit), The Base is substantially more fanciful in terms of narrative developments than Extreme Justice. Extreme Justice harboured an excessive streak; The Base almost completely eschews realism as it rattles along, Lester pushing credibility to the limit with a few groan-inducing contrivances. On the whole, though, the film is rollicking stuff. Its meticulous, Michael Mann-ish action licks – including a great rephrasing of Lester’s own ambush sequence in Public Enemies (1996), and an exciting tank chase towards the climax — are marvellous, and Dacascos and Abell’s final ding-dong is a deliciously shameless do-over of Commando and Extreme Justice’s crowd-pleasing sign-offs. Happily, it’s equally as effective; a top-notch conclusion to a generally ripping yarn.    

Shot at the mothballed George Air Force Base in Victorville, California, The Base premiered on Cinemax on 19th February 1999 and stands as the sixth Lester production to fall under his American World Pictures banner. American World’s previous offerings – Night of the Running Man (1995), Public Enemies, The Ex, Double Take (1997) and Misbegotten – all came about due to Lester’s long-time co-production agreement with Trimark. The Base is the first to come following Trimark’s dissolving into Lionsgate and is branded thusly. The film was released on cassette in the U.S. by Sterling Home Entertainment — a joint venture between Lionsgate and Danish company Scanbox International — on 1st June ‘99 and in the U.K. by First Independent/Columbia-TriStar. 

Sticking on the subject of firsts, The Base serves as the first Lester flick photographed by the late Jacques Haitkin, who went on to lens American World’s Blowback (2000), Bad Karma (2001), and Instinct to Kill (2001) (which, incidentally, also stars Dacascos and Abell as goodie and baddie). And as for lasts, The Base – which Lester swiftly sequelised at Lionsgate and Cinemax’s insistence – is the final film to be cut by David Berlatsky, Lester or otherwise. Berlatsky spliced Night of the Running Man, Public Enemies, The Ex and Misbegotten, and walks away with his patented Lester-era credit, “A Film Edited by”. In addition to this, The Base is the final Lester epic to be scored – brilliantly, I must say – by Paul Zaza, concluding their similarly stunning unions on The Ex, Double Take and Misbegotten.