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Posts Tagged ‘CID’

The Cost Of Deferring Justice

Posted in General Comments, Movie Review, Movies, Reviews, tagged Bouncing Betty, Boyd Kestner, Broken Arrow, Captain Elisabeth Campbell, Chief Warrant Officer Paul Brenner, CID, Clarence Williams III, Colonel Kent, Colonel Robert Moore, Criminal Investigations Division, Daniel von Bargen, General Comments, James Cromwell, James Woods, John Travolta, Leslie Stefanson, Lieutenant General Joseph “Fighting Joe” Campbell, Low to Moderate Movie Recommendation, Low to Moderate movie review, Madeleine Stowe, Movie Reviews, Reviews, Taps, The General’s Daughter (1999) – movie review, The Last Of The Mohicans, Timothy Hutton, United States Military Academy at West Point, Warrant Officer Sara Sunhill on September 14, 2025| Leave a Comment »

“The General’s Daughter” (1999) – movie review
Today’s review is for the military mystery thriller: “The General’s Daughter” (1999), starring John Travolta as Chief Warrant Officer Paul Brenner (a CID investigator with charm, grit, and a knack for uncovering buried truths), Madeleine Stowe as Warrant Officer Sara Sunhill (a rape specialist and Brenner’s former lover, brought in to assist the case), Leslie Stefanson as Captain Elisabeth Campbell (the titular daughter, a psychological operations officer whose murder exposes a web of secrets), James Cromwell as Lieutenant General Joseph “Fighting Joe” Campbell (Elisabeth’s father, a revered military figure with a hidden past), James Woods as Colonel Robert Moore (Elisabeth’s superior officer and mentor, he is evasive and entangled in the investigation), Timothy Hutton as Colonel Kent (the base provost marshal, protective and politically cautious), Clarence Williams III, Daniel von Bargen, and Boyd Kestner round out the supporting cast as officers with varying degrees of complicity.

Background: I picked this film up expecting a standard whodunit with a military slant. What I got was a layered, emotionally charged drama that blends procedural investigation with psychological trauma and institutional (military) cover-up. It tries to speak to a culture in which absent justice allows crime to happen by failing to address first causes. Basically, if you don’t deal with problems now, increasingly bad things will happen in the future.

Plot Summary: While undercover in Georgia, CID agent W.O. Paul Brenner crosses paths with Captain Elisabeth Campbell, daughter of a high-ranking general. When she’s found murdered — her body staked to the ground at a training facility — Brenner is assigned to investigate. He is joined by rape specialist W.O. Sunhill (with whom Brenner has shared some unspecified prior personal relationship). As they dig deeper, they uncover a disturbing psychological warfare campaign Elisabeth has been waging against her father, which was rooted in a traumatic event (“gang” rape) during her time at West Point Military Academy. The investigation of her personal residence reveals a hidden room filled with BDSM equipment and secret videotapes recording a string of sexual encounters with fellow officers. In the film, Elisabeth’s death becomes a symbol of institutional failure, personal vengeance, and the military’s struggle to reconcile honor with truth.

So, how’s the movie? The acting? The filming / FX? Any problems? And, did I like / enjoy the film? Short answers: So-so; much better than expected; the cinematography is good and there is very little FX (mainly the effects of one landmine explosion); multiple problems in the story and characters; the movie was interesting, but I can’t say I “enjoyed” it.

Acting: Travolta delivers a surprising performance — definitely one of his better ones, even if not always (or even mostly) believable. His chemistry with Stowe adds interesting interactions in what is a cross between a “buddy-cop” and “ex-relationship” genre film. Stowe is effective as the wily partner in the duo. But, though her character (Sunhill) plays a major part in breaking the case, she really isn’t given enough to do in this film. Stefanson is convincing in some of the film, but not so for most of the film. She is better as the victim than as she is as the emotional “strategist” / manipulator she’s made out to be. I like Cromwell as an actor, but in this film while he is convincing as a General, he is unconvincing as a father. I’ve never been a fan of Woods, but he was okay in this role. I’ve liked Hutton in some of his past roles (particularly “Taps“), but he was only so-so in this role.

Filming & FX: Visually, the film is cleanly shot (focused), but it is occasionally too dark (frequent night scenes) visually. The flashbacks and a video are injected in the story appropriately (timing in the story arc), but seemed to me to be more for audience voyeurism than for improving the film’s realism. (Spoiler Alert:) The most notable FX is a landmine (“Bouncing Betty”) explosion which kills the actual murderer; it blows him into pieces. It looks good in the film, but that’s not what would happen in real life. The weapon is designed to severely injure and kill using hundreds of pellets for up to 25 meters, but not blow someone into small pieces and mist.

Problems: The film is chock-full of scenes that stretch credibility (test your gullibility). Travolta trying to loosen tire nuts with a set of pliers. LoL. Stefanson stops to assist, but instead of handing him the tire wrench, she proceeds to change the tire herself (while in a dress uniform no less) – and he just watches. Yeah, right. Later, they fraternize when he thanks her with flowers. Not gonna happen – flowers, maybe; fraternize, nope. While undercover, Travolta runs across the roof of motor-boat home, but the man trying to kill him can’t shoot him with an automatic machine-pistol. They fight underwater. I’ll just say it: Travolta really just looks too old and too overweight to play this role convincingly – and that was 25 years ago. LoL. All of those are minor to the biggest “problem”: I just don’t believe a father would agree to cover up a gang-rape of his daughter to protect his job / career, let alone a university – and I don’t care if it is West Point!

Enjoy the film? So-so – and only mildly. The film tries to be a gripping, morally complex mystery-thriller that asks hard questions about power, trauma, and silence (cover-up). It really didn’t succeed for me. Sometimes I can “enjoy” a movie because I like the actors and their interactions in a film, even if the film itself really isn’t / wasn’t a very good film. That’s the case here. I really disliked early Travolta (mainly TV and “dance” movies), but I’ve liked him a lot more since he started sprinkling “bad-guy” roles into his career (circa 1996 “Broken Arrow“). I’m not real familiar with Stowe (other than “The Last of the Mohicans“), but I will start to look for her in more films from the 1980s onwards.

Final Recommendation: Low to Moderate. “The General’s Daughter” is a film that wants to blend mystery, military culture, and psychological trauma into a compelling “who-done-it”. I liked the actors, but not the film. The film is rated “R” for violence, sexual content and language. It is not appropriate for young viewers. Now that I’ve seen it, I doubt I’ll ever watch it again. I’m glad I didn’t shell out my normal $5 for it (only $3).

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