Could've been a 'must see', but ends up as 'worth a look'

Rating: 6/10 (12 April 2006)

G.I. Jane follows a female soldier as she train to become a SEAL operative, not knowing her career is all just a political stunt from a Senator.
This movie don't know where it's going. Is it a pure action movie or is it trying to be critical and political? While the idea in it self is interesting; let's follow a female training to become a Navy SEAL, the writing just isn't good enough. First off all you know from the second you sit down how it's going to end. Then it tries to join a political story with the personal story and don't do it very well. It simply doesn't know which one is the number one story and so the movie has problems focusing. It starts off strong looking like a political thriller just to have this story put on ice and forgotten. It's first brought back up when they realize they have to tie up the loose end it made. They aim too high making the political plot too big and the connection a bit too vague. They could've made a own movie about it and left it out of this one. The dialog contains too many cheesy punchlines witch creates a funny moment, but kind of takes the credibility from the dialog and makes it seem fake. The film tries to be realistic and accurate, but the dialog along with logical errors and other errors and mistakes becomes so obvious and such a contrast that it just makes it funny and makes you take it less serious.
Demi Moore does a really good job as Lt. Jordan O'Neil and the over all acting is good. Viggo Mortensen deliver as Master Chief John James 'Jack' Urgayle and the rest of the cast is nothing less than good. They bring this movie up one or two levels, no doubt about it.
As for the music it's good in it self, but the use of it is rather odd. They use some pretty tense action music for some scenes set in a slow paced political meetings. No doubt it makes the scenes more action filled and make them seem less boring, but you're not used to the combination and it seems really odd and misplaced. As for action sequences, they're tense and good. The music is generally good, both the original and non-original.
The cinematography is all over good. The composition of the shots as well as the lightning is good, but what really caught my attention as really nice was the effects of the very quick shock zoom at the ambush near the end. They make good use of the camera and it's all quite nice to look at.
I'd also have to mention the production design witch struck me as quite cool and fitting. The locations on the beach and in Libanon is quite nice as well.
G.I. Jane is not the film of the century, nor the decade. The back of my DVD-case reads: "If you are to watch one action movie in your life, G.I. Jane is it!". I can think of a couple of others I'd see before this one, but it's not a waste of time. I'd say this movie don't use it's full potential and had the writing been better this could've been a must see. Still it ends up as one that's just "worth a look".