‘The General’S Daughter’ Is A Confusing Mess

There are more loose ends in “The General’s Daughter” than in a fringed shawl.

The movie is so intent on jolting us every 10 minutes or so that it doesn’t care that the jolts are pointless. It starts with a rape and murder with pervy elements that are trotted out for titillation and then forgotten because they have absolutely nothing to do with anything. Then there’s a relationship between investigators John Travolta and Madeleine Stowe (in a beige role) that turns out to have absolutely nothing to do with anything. A frenzied scene that cross-cuts between a fencing match, a suicide and an officer fondling some medals, all of which have nothing to do with anything. And James Woods, overacting with a now-is-the-winter-of-our-discontent voice and a psycho/ham’s leer, who says ominous things that have nothing to do with anything.

What does have anything to do with anything? That’s a toughie, because so little of “The General’s Daughter” makes sense. It’s a “yeahbut” movie, where every plot development makes you say, “Yeah, but …” A general’s beautiful daughter is murdered in an extremely unlikely but significant way, for instance (“Yeah, but the psychology of the crime doesn’t make sense”). Travolta is told he has only 36 hours to solve the crime (“Yeah, but how come the time limit is never again mentioned?”). Woods tries to stop Travolta from solving the crime (“Yeah, but that only makes sense if Woods did it or if the movie is willing to do anything to make us think he did, even though he didn’t.”).

Travolta is no miracle worker. There’s so much busy-ness swirling around him that, even though Travolta is the star, you begin to wonder if even he has anything to do with anything.

“The General’s Daughter” Location: Cheney Cinema, Lincoln Heights, Lyons, Spokane Valley Mall, Post Falls Cinema, Showboat Credits: Directed by Simon West; starring John Travolta, Madeleine Stowe, James Woods Running time: 2:00 Rating: R