G.I. Jane (1997)

Some movies are just ridiculous right from the start and this is one of them. First there is no such thing as CRT. Second women are not in combat for very good reasons. Now while some women can compete at things like running or swimming, they cannot compete with anything that requires upper body strength. The idea that you can make it through BUD/s but somehow wash out in CRT training is also nuts. BUD/s has a 70% failure rate and only those who really want to be there will make it through. It's a lot harder than it looks. Safety is the number one concern in training and eating bad food (as they depict in the movie) has no point at all. The instructors in this movie come off as sadists where as in real training the instructors actually want you to succeed. The marines spent 2½ years doing research on integrated teams and in every case all male teams out performed integrated ones. You might be able to march 20 miles with 75 lbs. on your back but the real question is how effective are you when you get there? Simply put men are built for war and woman are not.

Fmovies: 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.

"G.I. Jane" is the story of Lieutenant Jordan O'Neill, a Naval Intelligence officer who gets chosen by a senator to be the test dummy for woman's acceptance into Military Combat. She gets put into training for the Navy SEALS, the most elite and toughest training. Now, O'Neill must prove she has what it takes to be among the best of the boys. Directed by Ridley Scott and co-written by the creator of the "Chronicles of Riddick" series, I wasn't sure what to expect. Ridley Scott is an amazing director but I didn't like "Pitch Black" that much, so I didn't know if I ended up liking this movie. But you know what? I highly enjoyed it.

Demi Moore plays Lieutenant O'Neill, a tough, no-nonsense girl who just wants to get in on the action. Out of all the roles I've seen Demi Moore in, this is my favourite one yet. She's strong-willed, determined, and as the film goes on, she becomes a giant badass. If there was ever a woman's version of "The Expendables", Demi Moore would definitely be in it. She's a great character and you really want to see her succeed and kick all the guy's asses. She also gets into the best shape of her life. Even when she shaves her head, forms abs and gets totally ripped, she is still incredibly hot.

Viggo Mortensen plays John, the Master Chief. No, not the one from Halo. The moment he steps on screen, you know this guy is hardcore. He's brutal, mean, and is really a dick towards O'Neill. Of course towards the end they become allies but the stuff he does to O'Neill is just terrible. You do not like this guy at all, but that just shows that Viggo Mortensen did a good job as Master Chief. Only way he could be any more badass is with an energy sword.

The atmosphere in this movie is awesome. You're watching all these guys and O'Neill go through boot camp and you're just sitting there going "Yeah, I couldn't do that. That's just gross". Like there's one part where they have five minutes to eat dinner and do they get fresh food? No. They get the scraps from their lunch. So their eating like half eaten corn and weird goop that been sitting there for half a day. I have to be honest, I wouldn't survive 1 day at that place.

The last 20 minutes are my least favourite part of the film. It's kind of like "Full Metal Jacket" in the way that once they leave bootcamp, the movie goes downhill. But unlike "Full Metal Jacket", the movie only goes downhill a bit. It was kind of just an excuse to make stuff blow up and have a gunfight but I'm not complaining. Got to say, Demi Moore grenading Iraqis and Aragorn sniping people is pretty cool.

Overall, I highly enjoyed "G.I. Jane". I thought it was a great entertainment and Demi Moore was excellent. It's a badass military film that shows that girls really can kick ass, and I would watch this any day. Definitely a buy on Blu-Ray.

G.I. Jane fmovies. Demi Moore's character in the movie was selected for the SEALs because of her looks. That was a bad start and the movie went down from there. The plot was totally unbelievable. The will to make it in a tough military unit is not enough. This movie did not convince me of a woman's physical ability to perform the types of tasks required.

Trying to pretend that women and men are basically the same is an insult to everyone's intelligence. The differences between the sexes are what makes life interesting.

This film's basic premise is a political cartoon. I suppose for those who know nothing about the realities of the military this is probably a "feel-good" film on gender equality. Indeed a recent commentator stated: "it lets women know that they can do anything they want to do." What claptrap! No one, man or woman can do anything they want to do, and unfortunately Demi Moore "buffing" up for SEAL Hell Week in the early 27 week BUD/S program by a few sessions at the local gym and her desire alone to be a SEAL is simply not going to make it so. There is approximately an 80% dropout rate in what is arguably THE roughest military training program - those are the ones who voluntarily drop out, can't compete on a physical level, suffer frequent physical injury during the training or can't handle the psychological harassment. I never got beyond the shallowness of the contrived, purported message of this film. In the real world, Demi wouldn't last the first 24 hours in this harsh and sustained physical training. Wishing alone won't do it. Skip this film as wishful thinking, and better spend your time reading "The Warrior Elite" by Dick Couch (Crown, New York 2001)for the best description as to what really goes on in this training. Ring the bell, Demi!

I ignored this on it's release and caught flashes of it during it's run on HBO, there were some exciting action sequences and amazing glimpses into the hell that SEAL training requires, but somehow I just couldnt put all the pieces together. It didnt make sense.....until now. I finally watched this movie in it's entirety last night and I am hooked. Whether the film misses the target on it's "statement" is not the point. It's just a good flick. Demi Moore pulls off the roll in convincing style and Viggo Mortenson has his best part as the Master Chief of the SEAL training unit. They have this crazy dynamic between themselves that finally unfolds at the ending, leaving you wishing for just a little more. Solid action film with a great support cast and a perfectly despicable villain played to the hilt by Anne Bancroft as a Senator who compromises GI Jane for her own political gain. Well, at least she tries. I think Demi Moore is one of the most underappreciated talents in recent memory. She has this unique combination of hardass determination and sensitivity that is rare. 9/10