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| Source: rec.art.movies.reviews newsgroup | | Rating: 4
| Demi Moore's struggle to give a star making performance has finally paid off with 'G.I. Jane'. Moore gives an incredibly strong performance filled with dedication to her craft thanks largely in part to the guidance of experienced veteran director Ridley Scott. Scott, whose films include 'Alien', 'Blade Runner' and 'Thelma and Louise' has crafted a film with some of the most intense basic training ever seen in a motion picture. Stanley Kubrick's 'Full Metal Jacket' from 1987 featured an incredibly harsh treatment of raw recruits being inducted into the U.S. Marines but that film is tame in comparison to this.
Moore plays the first woman in the U.S. military to be trained as a Navy Seal. This reportedly is supposed to be the toughest training of any fighting force anywhere. Apparently, they have a drop out rate of 60 per cent. The master chief of the unit (Viggo Mortensen) vows that the first day will not end until someone drops out. The first day of training lasts 19 hours and the trainees look very physical in their roles. Attempts are made to give Moore preferential treatment since she is a woman. She resists any attempts at special treatment and tells her commanding officer that she wants to be treated EXACTLY the same way as every other man in her unit. Her three months of training hit some rocky spots from officials within the military who conspire against her in their attempt to keep the Navy Seal unit entirely dominated by men.
Ridley Scott's control of the camera in working with director of photography Hugh Johnson plunges the audience directly into the action with authentic scenes of military training both compelling and convincing. Demi Moore is thoroughly convincing in a very demanding physical role she plays with total credibility. She even sports a buzz cut to her hair to give the role more punch.
'G.I. Jane' is primarily a basic training film which is not a film classic but rather a slick opportunity to present a visual style of the military not done before in motion pictures. Anne Bancroft has some of the best work of her career in years as a U.S. Senator who recommends Moore as the first female candidate. She plays her role perfectly and convincingly by providing the basis of high rolling bureaucracy in doing what's convenient at the time of her profile among her peers and in front of the media complete with hypocrisy and different loyalties to suit the moment. 'G.I. Jane' is a film that rightfully knows the limits of its subject matter.
By : Walter Frith
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| | Source: rec.art.movies.reviews newsgroup | | Rating: 0
| Synopsis: Test case Jordan O'neill (Demi Moore), eyes glaring beneath her military crew cut, must survive rigorous basic training for the US Navy Seals, an elite special forces division because if she makes it, the military might rewrite its guidelines restricting women in the armed forces. O-neill (Demi) deals with discrimination from the men, a cruel instructor (Viggo Mortensen), and questionable politics by Senator DeHaven (Anne Bancroft). The film consists mostly of training scenes of recruits doing grueling exercise and of course one obligatory ending scene where an emergency forces the recruits to use their skills in real life. Take a guess. Will Demi pass this macho training with flying colors and earn the respect of her seemingly cruel commander so that the credits can roll?
Opinion: Director Ridley Scott, who directed Sigourney Weaver in that Alien movie with the space marines definitely has a flair for creating strong female characters amidst gung ho military boys. If you can stomach watching 40 minutes of pushups and situps and a pre-fab action ending, you'll love this film. If not, you'll probably feel that it was still an okay film, Demi Moore does a great job acting, but they can lop off 20 minutes worth of exercise film no problem. The moral of this movie is: never give up.
By : David Sunga
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