Customer Reviews

G.I. Jane

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

If you've ever wondered just how much a performance can carry a movie, then look no further than Ridley Scott's "G.I. Jane," in which a female becomes the first ever to train for the Navy SEALs as a result of a political squabble between government figures. As the title character, actress Demi Moore throws everything she has into the role, and essentially makes it her own. Ignoring the fact that her character is merely a pawn in a political game is easy enough, but there are aspects of the movie not so easily overlooked.

The movie begins with a heated battle between aspiring Secretary of the Navy Theodore Hayes (Daniel von Bargen) and Senator Lillian DeHaven (Anne Bancroft). The basis for the argument is quite simple: Hayes believes the Navy's position on women in the armed forces is fitting, while DeHaven pulls out the old feminist attitude and opposes his views. Thus begins their battle, which will rest on the shoulders of one female recruit who, if strong enough to pass the Navy SEALs training procedures, will prove once and for all that women have a place in the military.

That's where Moore's character comes in. Moore plays Lieutenant Jordan O'Neil, the intelligence officer called upon by DeHaven to take on the challenge of training. Though hesitant at first, she accepts. When she arrives, she finds that her superior officers are prepared to make changes in procedure due to her gender, and she is despised by almost all of her squad members. Most aggressive is Master Chief Urgayle (Viggo Mortensen), who sees fit to run her into the ground and make an example of her willingness to participate in the training with no special treatment.

For its star power, I recommend the movie. Demi Moore, for all her physical build-up for the role, truly embodies the courageous attitudes and ideals held by O'Neil. As with many of her previous roles, Moore has always excelled at playing strong-willed women characters, and this one is no exception; in fact, it's one of her finest roles. There are times when the movie seems to be working with her, and then there are instances when she literally carries the movie on her shoulders, such as her brutal standoff with Urgayle, which contains a priceless line of dialogue on her part.

As for the movie itself, it remains serviceable throughout most of its duration. The political subplots that threaten her very existence in the military have a certain sense of logic to them, carrying with them the message that power is everything when it comes to government matters. The unflinching look at the training of the SEALs is hard-hitting and, at times, dramatic enough to sustain interest for long periods.

And then the movie seems to be going downhill. A subplot involving O'Neil's boyfriend threatens to cast him in a bad light when he agrees to keep tabs on her for those who would destroy her credibility, while the revelation that Senator DeHaven was behind her sudden downfall seems contrived and misplaced. The final act of the film, a cliche-driven attempt to give the characters a chance at heroism, feels forced and holds little impact.

If you must see "G.I. Jane," then see it for Moore's outstanding performance, as well as those of some of her costars. As a stand-alone film, it provides some good popcorn-munching entertainment, but it never takes off as it should, and eventually it gets tedious. But hey, where else would you be able to hear a shaved-headed Moore growling the words "Suck my d---?"

I see many of you have decided to take the liberty of becoming the critic of the actors and director of this film. They are successful for reason, and have earned their success and reputation through many years in the business. Above all, from all I have read and researched on the SEALs, I find the movie to be very accurate (aside from the over-dramatization of the conflict b/w Mortensen and Moore which is key to the plot - but inaccurate since women are not allowed to be SEALs) in its depiction of the BUD/S training/"Hell Week" which Moore goes through. For example, incase any of you maybe wondering about the night scene, when the BUD/S (Basic Underwater and Demolition/SEAL training - they are not SEALs yet) are in the water - this is a very intense part of the mental training which BUD/S undergo. They are sent out into the water, and must reamin there until they near the point of hypothermia. They are then called back on to the beach, perform calesthenics to get there body temperature back up, then are sent back into the water again. Overall, I enjoy these points of realism and find the movie to be very loud expression of our society's sexists mindset.

This movie is a good girl power sort of film. TREZKU13 is actually incorrect. My sister just completed SEAR/POW training. They did everything, including the simulated rape. She had black eyes, couldn't talk because they punched her in the throat, even had to kill a rabbit while there with her bare hands. Anyway, yeah, the movie does play on some stereotypes and there are some inaccuracies (i.e. you don't fight back in POW training or you're gone). Overall, it's a decent film.

Before I watched the movie, I didnt know what to expect. I was thinking that it would be a typical overdone movie about how to make a point about Women, but it came just right. Before you complain, I like movies about strong females, but I just dont like movies trying to stuff your throat with a horrible black and white picture of the Gender Situation. This movie isnt really trying to stuff the viewer full of overdone women rights and portraying the stereotypical "Men are evil" picture. This movie is about being respected for who you are, regardless of sex or race. Its about both sides gaining mutual respect for each other, and seeing the good in others no matter the circumstances. Its also about a very strong woman who did everything to show the world that she could.

Apart from that, it was a really good movie, no real dead points like many other movies. Having watched a lot of Moore`s movies lately, I still hold her performance in G.I Jane highest. Not only is she stunning to look at, but she is also a really strong character, with a rock solid will to do what she feel is right. Under the course of the movie she goes head to head against the apparently inhuman Master Chief(Excellent played by Viggo Mortensen), and the selfish Senator. Naturally things go bump in the night, and things happen that in the end causes you to either smile or cry, or both.

Its a really touching movie, and it became one of my favorite movies, and I really adored Demi Moore after her role in this movie.

Ridley Scott, producer of Thelma & Louise, 1492 Conquest of Paradise, Black Hawk Down and more, really shines in this excellent Military Movie. The Scenery and Photographing is sharp and at the same time, dirty and edgy. Really High Quality on both Picture and Sound, and an overall pleasant movie experience.

A Minor Warning, please leave any logics outside the door. This movie is ment to be enjoyed for what it is, not to be broken down and critized to death. In the End, this movie gives you that really good feeling, and that`s what counts. Also, take note of the excellent soundtrack, and the two fantastic songs by The Pretenders. You`ll know them when you hear them.

This film is the first one for me to notice Viggo Mortensen before "the Lord of the Rings". I just cannot help being intoxicated with Master Chief John Urgayle's super cool facade with passion of a poet.@Although he looks ferocious when he attacks Demifs Lt. Jordan OfNeil in a training mock captive situation, but, as a professional trainer of the Navy Seals, he just did his job right to forge OfNeil into a damn good soldier, the toughest one in the whole seal cubs, it appears.

OfNeilfs proud display in the extremely bloody condition, and, eh, in extremely masculine terms, rewards her colleaguesf trust and respect. That scene gave me refreshing sensation. I think Demi Moore did there very fine job, too, doing most of her stunts herself. I am not particularly a big fan of her, but I definitely admire her by that super cool stuff.
As Master Chief Urgayle pointed out after having had his nose broken by OfNeil, it was the guys who were really a problem, not the woman, OfNeil, to deal with their own and each otherfs sexuality within a very man-oriented world. Still, it may be a very fine line OfNeil has been walking on among the tough guys. After completing all those fierce trainings and getting closer to her male colleagues, when a guy asked bruised OfNeil; gAre you O.K.?h, which by the way was very sweet of him, but, OfNeil had to dodge menfs eyes by laughing-off remarks; hGet out of here!h and running into girlfs rest room. Because, though she may have become like a man-beating steel war machine, it is not that she became a man. She is still a woman with tender heart. So, I guess the guyfs kind concern may have made OfNeilfs eyes quite moist.
As a woman, I really felt proud of OfNeilfs success as a proper Seal, yet, on the other hand, it is also true that if OfNeil had not been such a gorgeous beauty even with her skin-head, the success story may have been quite deferent.

"GI Jane" starring Demi Moore is a movie about one woman's decision to be the first female to enter the Navy SEALS training program and the problem's she encounters. Lieutenant Jordan O'Neil (Demi Moore) enters the program in a senator's political scheme to gain re-election. Everyone expects the attractive, slender, Lieutenant to fail miserably in the first two weeks.
Upon entering the training program O'Neil is met with angry males who do not want a woman holding them back and ruining there team's performance. The sergeant in charge is particularly tough on her and refuses to go easy on her. The fact that she is expected to fail because she is a female only pushes Demi Moore's character to try that much harder to make sure she doesn't. She abandons her femininity via such actions as shaving her head and trying to be one of the guys.
Demi Moore's character is anything but the prototypal female. She is independent and disregards her partner's order not to enter the program. She acts as she wants and not as she is expected to. She is strong and determined, and won't be held back by the men surrounding her. When she is framed and kicked out of the program she breaks all the rules of femininity and the law in order to get back in.
In the end, she proves that women are just as capable, if not more, than men. In her first real life mission, she takes control of the situation in order to save her sergeants life. Upon graduating the program she finally gains the respect of the nation, but more importantly to her, was the respect she gains from her sergeant.

Demi Moore is great in this story about Jordan, a quite capable military woman who is chosen to become the first female Navy SEAL. Jordan isn't sure she wants to go through the hassle she knows will result from her presence at the training, but the congresswoman who is behind this encourages Jordan to try her best. Nobody expects Jordan to survive the harsh training program, and Jordan exceeds all expectations.

Viggo Mortensen plays the Master Chief who is in charge of the training program. He is quite harsh, as you would expect from someone who is trying to separate the "best of the best" from a group of individuals who are all quite talented. Viggo isn't a mere brute - he reads poetry by D.H. Lawrence and truly cares about his trainees. He knows that if he doesn't do a good job at his training, the men here will die (and cause others to die) when sent out into combat. I understand and applaud all of that. Viggo throughout the film shows a good balance of concern for his trainees, a desire to push them to be their best, and a desire to weed out those simply not cut out to be SEALs.

However, being a fan of the military and its task of protecting the weak, I had HUGE issues with the "pivotal scene" in the SERE camp. The movie is directed by Ridley Scott of Alien fame and you would think that this man would have respect for a strong female character and the situations that result. I very much equated Jordan to Ripley, both strong women who held their own and earned respect of those around them. But instead of just having Ripley and the others tied up or left in the sun or other "see if you can resist the concerns of your body", Ridley decides to have the Master Chief *brutalize* one of the soldiers and then almost rape Jordan. What????

If we know ANYTHING about real torture situations, it is that a torturer can eventually break anybody. We all have pain limits. There are always ways to inflict more pain! At some point either our body gives out or our mind snaps. That's why spies carry cyanide capsules, because you can't be "trained" to resist torture indefinitely. So what was the point of beating up on the first soldier? What was the point of almost raping Jordan? To prove she could be raped? Heck, any GUY there could have been raped too. Is it important for them to learn what rape feels like, just in case? Would the guys have been any more or less upset to see one of their fellow GUYS being raped vs a girl? Heck they might be MORE upset to see a fellow guy be raped because that would be even less "acceptable" to them. For Viggo's character to delve to those depths after everything he'd shown us previously was amazingly out of character - or indicated that Viggo was a depraved man who had no business training soldiers.

The movie was supposed to show us that women can be just as strong as men are. Heck, real life shows us that. There are plenty of strong female characters in movies - from Ripley in Alien, to Sarah Connor in Terminator 2, and more come out every day. There are plenty of real life female police officers and fire fighters who are depended on by their coworkers every day. It was almost an insult to have the GI Jane character go through what she did, sort of an Archie Bunker situation where you are ashamed that there really are people left out there that think a woman with strength must be a lesbian. While I applaud the movie's intentions to say "hey you remaining bigots out there, it's time to wake up", to have to involve a supposed rape to make your point is very sad. To have to taint Viggo's character with a sadistic view towards woman (as much as he tries his best to be fair much of the time) is really saying that ALL guys will always have this power/lust attitude towards women that they have to keep under control. Which is entirely unfair to men. It weakens the entire point of the story.

For those who are interested, the poem Viggo quotes is titled Self-Pity:

I never saw a wild thing
sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
without ever having felt sorry for itself.

D. H. Lawrence

The point is that you do what you have to do to get by in life. You don't waste time or energy on feeling sorry for yourself, because it does little good.

G.I. Jane is a brilliantlly done movie that forces the audience to look at their own concerns about women in combat. Demi Moore plays Jordan O'neil an accomplished athlete and Intelligence worker, who is frustrated by the lack of oppurtunities for women to get operational experience in the military. Anne Bancroft is great as a feminist senator, pushing for the military to practice the full integration of women. Jordan is selected as a test case to see how a women can hold up in Navy Seal training.
Arguably the best performance in the Movie is buy Viggo Mortenson, who is incredibly convincing as a Navy Seal Master Chief. Mortenson's character makes a genuine attempt to treat O'neil equally. And in the Navy Seals equally is at best hostile and at worst brutal. He beats her when she's captured and even begins a simulated rape, talks to her while she's naked in the shower, and doesn't tolerate any other Seals treating her as anything but a teammate. In one of the movie's most telling lines the Master Chief says she's not the problem, we are. This summarizes the main theme of the movie. The reality is, that it's society and often men that are uncomfortable with women being in combat. Its not that they're physically incapable, but military men and many others don't want to treat women like men. They're not comfortable with it. The Master Chief explains that during the POW training he is trying to demonstrate that a woman can be a liability because she can be exploited by the enemy to get information from sympathetic prisoners. Many men couldn't stand the site of a women being beaten or even pushed as physically as the navy seals are. So while there are undoubtedly issues to having women go through Seal training, GI Jane makes you believe there is no reason it couldn't happen.

Demi Moore is a Naval Lieutenant who is offered to recruit with the Navy S.E.A.L.S. by a female Senator whose only interest is to get re-elected....not to give women an equal chance to go into combat situations nor die for their country. Great stuff.

When a crusading chairperson of the military budget committee pressures the would be Navy secretary to begin full gender integration of the service, he offers the chance for a female trainee to join the elite Navy SEALS commando force. Lt. Jordan O'Niel (Demi Moore) is given the assignment, but no one expects her to succeed in an inhumanly punishing regime that has a standard 60% dropout rate for men. However, O'Niel is determined to prove everyone wrong. It's a story about what would happen if women were not stereotyped as weak and unable to fight, physically and mentally.