The General's Daughter Review
by Jerry Saravia (faust667 AT aol DOT com)July 8th, 1999
Recent thrillers have become mired in lurid details and overcooked melodrama. Some manage to be suspenseful ("8mm") and others are just plain flat and dull. Nothing can be further from the truth than "The General's Daughter," a silly, humdrum thriller purporting to be more than the sum of its parts. The basic premise deals with the titled character, Captain Elisabeth Campbell (Leslie Stefanson), who is found strangled, naked and spread-eagled openly at an Army base. John Travolta is the Army cop, Paul Brenner, assigned to the case to investigate her death - he met her briefly when she fixed his flat tire. Everyone at the Army is a possible suspect, and the fierce Paul will do anything he can to uncover the truth. It seems almost every Army official slept with Elisabeth. And there are the incriminating S&M videotapes found in her basement. And there is Elisabeth's father, Gen. Joe Campbell (James Cromwell), who may be a key figure in her torrid past at West Point Academy. "The General's Daughter" heads for the low road once the investigation begins...simply because nothing remotely interesting happens. Once the S&M tapes appear, they are whisked away violently by someone in the Army and never mentioned again. The introduction of Elisabeth's mentor, Col. Robert Moore (James Woods), a supposedly key figure in psychological warfare and alleged lover of Elisabeth's, is fascinating but is dispatched too early on. We are left with many plot holes after every suspect is questioned - there are no answers and no logical spins. Instead, we get many red herrings, shopworn characters, and inexplicable motivations.
Travolta is one of the film's few virtues. He is charismatic, smart, unrelenting, and vigorous, if only the script was involving enough to lure our interest. He does have numerous one-liners and his slight tilt of the head and cocky walk are more than enough compensation for the thin characterization, just not enough to save the film.
Still, the central focus of the film should have been the relationship between General Campbell and his daughter. The West Point flashbacks are visceral and powerful but the film peters out with a predictable, anticlimactic conclusion. The theme seems to be that women have no place in an organization like the Army - they will be abused, mishandled, or worse, murdered. It's unfortunate the film does not stay true to its original convictions.
"The General's Daughter" is nasty and tedious, sacrificing illuminating story potential about sexism, murder, and scandal in the Army with absurd plot twists and clinical murder investigations. Once it is over, you may ask yourself: who was the General's Daughter anyway?
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