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Well on his way to becoming a new action hero, John Travolta's burly Army investigator battles a vicious gun smuggler and flirts with an attractive enlisted woman before Paramount's "The General's Daughter" turns into a fairly routine murder mystery set in the hothouse environment of fictitious Fort MacCallum, Ga.

Based on the novel by Nelson DeMille -- tailored by screenwriters William Goldman and Christopher Bertolini to draw the viewer into a heavy drama of potentially West Point-destroying crimes and other nasty secrets among our men in uniform -- "General's Daughter" doesn't look to be a huge winner at the boxoffice, but it should march off to a strong opening and finish with a healthy theatrical run.

James Cromwell is Joe Campbell, a U.S. vice president-bound, much-loved general with a big problem. His daughter Elisabeth (Leslie Stefanson) is a captain on the same base, and her beguiling skill while changing the tire of cigar-chomping Army-dick-in-disguise Paul Brenner (Travolta) is tame behavior. A psychological operations instructor and researcher, Elisabeth never recovered from a horrible incident she barely lived through years earlier during training at West Point, when she was one of very few women cadets.

When she finally chooses a dramatic and dangerous way of confronting her cowardly father about his role in her past, Elisabeth is apparently raped and strangled, left naked and dead in the road near the shot-up fake buildings where soldiers practice urban warfare. A Vietnam War survivor who served under Campbell, Brenner swings into action but never quite drops the Old Boy shtick.

This don't-screw-with-me maverick is able to uncover the truth about Elisabeth's death without much trouble. Along to make sure the investigator remembers he's a cop first and soldier second -- and to provide minimal sparks in a nearly romanceless date-night flick -- Sarah Sunhill (Madeleine Stowe) is also an Army sleuth who had a fling with Brenner years before.

The two crusaders for truth and justice suspect, investigate and practically have to blow the noses of a trio of weepy, remorseful colonels: Elisabeth's shifty boss in psy-ops (James Woods), Brenner's old buddy and the current provost marshal (Timothy Hutton) and Campbell's menacing adjutant (Clarence Williams III).

Travolta squints nastily and snarls his lines, while Stowe bats her eyes and flings out a few helpful observations. Travolta plays the hero like a heavy but not too roughly. Both do what they can with the characters, but they're the least interesting of a pretty dull group to begin with.

Be it the source material or director Simon West's much-too-kind approach to it, "General's Daughter" is also mangled storytelling, with the revelations growing progressively more kinky, felonious and preposterous. While the murder in question keeps changing in nature, with the leads stumbling into helpful witnesses and a few macho unfriendlies, the identity of the perpetrator is a too-well-guarded secret until near the end.

In its tone and serious subject matter, "General's Daughter" strives to be a political nail-biter in the tradition of Fred Zinnemann, Alan J. Pakula and Oliver Stone -- director John Frankenheimer even has a small role -- but there's really no comparison.

THE GENERAL'S DAUGHTER

Paramount Pictures

A Mace Neufeld and Robert Rehme production

Director:Simon West

Producer:Mace Neufeld

Executive producer:Jonathan D. Krane

Co-producer:Stratton Leopold

Screenwriters:William Goldman, Christopher Bertolini

Based on the novel by:Nelson DeMille

Director of photography:Peter Menzies Jr.

Production designer:Dennis Washington

Editor:Glen Scantlebury

Costume designer:Erica Edell Phillips

Music:Carter Burwell

Color/stereo

Cast:

Paul Brenner:John Travolta

Sarah Sunhill:Madeleine Stowe

Gen. Joe Campbell:James Cromwell

Col. William Kent:Timothy Hutton

Col. Robert Moore:James Woods

Col. George Fowler:Clarence Williams III

Capt. Elisabeth Campbell:Leslie Stefanson

Running time -- 116 minutes

MPAA rating: R...