Demi's Surprising Turn In A Movie Falters

Rating: 6/10 (14 December 2011)

Ridley Scott directed this flawed but involving study of Lt. Jordan O'Neil, a Navy topographic analyst who is chosen as a test case for the presence of women in combat. G.I. Jane is an action film tells the fictional story of the first woman to undergo training in U.S. Navy Special Warfare Group.The movie stars Demi Moore together with Viggo Mortensen and Anne Bancroft.The SEAL/CRT (Combined Reconnaissance Team) course depicted in the film is offered at Coronado Naval Amphibious Base in California.O'Neil is hand-picked by U.S. Senator Lillian DeHaven to go through the rigorous training right along with the men. Also,she faces sexism and physical challenges as well as the horse-trading by the Senator who selected her for the experimental program.
In the story,aware that she is making history and knowing that 60% of all male trainees will fail the rigorous training, Lt. O'Neil struggles to prove herself physically and mentally worthy of becoming a Navy SEAL. What she doesn't know is that she is being sold out by hard-bitten Texas senator Lillian DeHaven, who is being blackmailed by the Defense Department with politically fatal base closings unless O'Neil fails the program. The complicated political subplot, however, only distracts from the film's real virtues -- the wonderfully staged scenes of CRT selection training -- and fizzles at its climactic moment. The training scenes are wonderful, however, as the central recruits are pushed to their physical limits by a grueling weeding-out process.Master Chief John James Urgayle, a steely-eyed, tough-as-nails instructor who somehow finds time to quote D.H. Lawrence when he isn't making people eat garbage and beating O'Neil senseless as part of a training exercise. Mortensen and the believably-buffed Moore are terrific, and their scenes of confrontation are the film's high points. Unfortunately, the screenplay by David Twohy and Danielle Alexandra falls down every time it attempts to sidestep a cliché, and the climactic mission positively wallows in a predictable Top Gun muddle. Still, the characters are engaging and those looking for an enjoyable variant on the basic- training sub-genre of high-octane modern action films should be pleased.
Demi Moore tries a surprising turn to play Lt. Jordan O'Neil,who unfortunately turns more into an action figure instead of a character that is a human being the possesses both strength and weaknesses. Added to that,the it was an unrealistic execution of an intriguing premise and does not make it a point to make it realistic and plausible.Also,Scott's direction turn into making the film commercially viable by presenting Demi's scenes by overselling them. Too bad that it could have been a good movie considering the talent of the cast involved if the filmmakers prioritized telling a good story rather than prioritizing Demi's appeal into an interesting role.