Don't tell me what I can't do

Rating: 6/10 (7 December 2009)

This deals with the idea of both sexes having the same opportunities, using the idea of a female in the military, as a soldier. A Navy SEAL, no less. There's no doubt that Moore is by far one of the best choices for the role. She's one of those women who can pull off being tough without ceasing to be attractive, and who, without coming off as masculine, does not really exude a vast level of girliness, or at least not often(in her roles, I know nothing about her outside of that). It starts out very promising, confronting the stereotypes, the prejudice and the special treatment. The acting is great, Moore, Mortensen and Bancroft are all spot-on. I guess the reason Caviezel was given nothing to do was that he hadn't been discovered yet. The cinematography and editing are quite good. However, then this changes, turning itself into a blind and exaggerated battle cry(it doesn't help that the last bit is filmed in an overly shaky manner, trying to increase the intensity in a fake way) for the gender, claiming it to be superior. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the goal of feminism equality? Is it not only the extremists who wish to reach outright dominance? I am not in any way downplaying the plight that they have suffered throughout history. With that said, isn't it smarter to go for a fair situation, instead of shifting the balance all the way? There is a lot of Hollywood in this, that prevents you from taking all of it at face value. The DVD comes with a four and a half minute featurette, B-roll footage, interviews(with Demi, Viggo and Ridley), trailers(domestic and foreign), TV spots and a music video. I recommend this to those who are interested in the conflict that it explores. There aren't enough films about it, and I hope that there either already is, or at least will be, one that is better than this one. 6/10