G.I. Jane

It's easy to film a star faking the Navy Seal training. The key line of the movie is uttered by Demi Moore when she is beaten to a bloody pulp by Master Chief in training while the rest of the trainees watch. She gets up and spits out "suck my dick" thereby claiming a virtual penis so that she can offer the ultimate insult to Master Chief and become an honorary male to the cheers of the men. At no point does the movie ever deal with the way men would really react to a good looking woman in their midst while undergoing a trial which most of them fail in real life. This is feminist propaganda turned into sensational Hollywood entertainment that belies the truth and turns GI Jane into a another racist she male who can gun down expendable lesser breeds such as Arabs with the best of them on their secret mission to Libya.

Senator DeHaven (Anne Bancroft) pressures the Navy to be gender blind. They accept as long as a woman test case can measure up to the men's standards. They figure on the U.S. Navy Combined Reconnaissance Team which has a 60% wash out rate. DeHaven picks Lieutenant Jordan O'Neil (Demi Moore) out of the approved candidates for her looks. Command Master Chief John James Urgayle (Viggo Mortensen) is their trainer. She has to overcome expectations, sexism, politics and the pressure of the program to succeed.

There is nothing surprising or original in this movie. It's got all the training and director Ridley Scott is an expert at jazzing up those 'action' scenes. The most compelling originality comes from Demi Moore shaving her hair. I do have to say that she looks fierce with the bald head. She looks fierce generally and Scott has her exercising up a storm. The movie probably needs some of the other characters to step up but nobody can ever be on the same level as Demi.

It's disconcerting to see Demi Moore in such a different role in her career. You can't imagine the main actress from Ghost as an elite military corps member until you see her. But the fact is that she does it, and I must say I don't dislike her work at all. Of course, this isn't a film for every taste (it's not a pacifist movie...), but you'll enjoy it if you like the films in the line of First Blood or The Dirty Dozen. At this point I can even say that this film is better to me than First Blood in some sense (for example, its perspective isn't so epic, and the characters are more human). The only things I don't like are the continuous zoom effects in the last part of the film. I still don't know what they are supposed to be... But there's good acting, good tempo, appropriate music, and, why not, another good production from Ridley Scott with which you don't have time to get bored. I also must say that after having watched the film I don't feel like joining the elite forces at all :-), but anyway my rating is 7 out of 10.

I fully admit I am not the biggest Demi Moore fan in the world. As a matter of fact, she's been in some of my least favorite movies of the decade (A FEW GOOD MEN, INDECENT PROPOSAL, THE SCARLET LETTER, THE JUROR, STRIPTEASE), and she really hasn't been good in any of those. But she did win me over in this movie, because she lives up to her character's line, "Look, I'm not trying to make any sort of statement here." And she isn't. Instead of letting vanity get in the way, or injecting pathos, she lets her actions speak for her, just like her character does in trying to win acceptance as a SEAL. The haircut scene is a good example; though it's directed with cinematic flourish, she does it matter-of-fact.

Moore's performance is one of the two performances that elevate this from your standard grunts-become-soldiers movie. The other is the riveting Viggo Mortenson as the Master Chief, who's the drill instructor. He doesn't play the role as a sadistic tyrant, but rather as a subtle manipulator who gradually recognizes Jordan O'Neill(Moore) is someone worth taking seriously. He also avoids going for pathos.

The movie is best when it concentrates on the training. Ironically, making just a standard grunts-become-soldiers movie makes its message work, because like O'Neill's superiors, we take her seriously because she becomes no different than anyone else. The beginning is bad, and the climatic battle at the end is overblown, which weakens the movie. Still, it's worth a look, and I maintain Moore was only given a Razzie Award for this movie and performance because of her past work, and the naysayers really weren't paying attention to her performance here.

Demi Moore shines with shiners and a bit more in an often brutal film about the first woman to enter the elite Navy SEALS training. While some scenes in the movie, such as the confusing end battle, seem a little out of place (exactly who were the trainees fighting?) the film moves along with startling pace and precision. Moore, who as everyone knows shaved her head for the role of Jordan O'Neill, is tough but feminine and internally vulnerable as a woman scorned by her male teammates. The most violent scene in the film comes during the survival exercise in which O'Neill is bashed around by the Master Chief. It's gruesome but necessary, and O'Neill earns her fellow trainees' support during the ordeal.