A cutesy name for an abrasive and confronting film about prejudice.

Rating: 6/10 (29 September 2009)

Demi Moore is one female Seal out of water.
In most cases of discrimination, the minority party is a small percentage of the total population. They have friends, you might say. Here its one against the world. The odds aren't hardly fair. The environment of prejudice here is completely believable. We don't need much convincing that Navy Seals training is a hardcore testosterone-fueled boys club. And its a scary place to be. I'd liken it to a girl put into an all-boys public high-school. She's eaten alive at every turn. The viewer is put in the position of such vulnerability, because we are aligned with the one woman in a world full of bitter, threatened soldiers, constantly passing sexist comments and threatening to take advantage of the female Seal.
There are moments that border on exploitation: Demi Moore's implants are put to good use in a sequence doing pushups in a short cut-off shirt, set to Three Dog Night's Mama Told Me (Not to Come). There is a speech intended for dafter viewers by an African-American character sympathising with Moore by likening her to his grandfather who was refused navy service on the grounds that African-Americans can't see at night (A surreal anecdote, but believable.) On the whole, however, the film is well made in Ridley's late style, which is to say, less style than his earlier pictures. It has several glimpses of the striking lighting which characterised his earlier pictures. My recommendations are as follows: 1) If you're looking for a silly movie, this is not one. Its dark.
2) If you're looking for a dark war training picture, or a good drama, then I recommend it.
3) If you're going through all Ridley Scott's movies as I am, this is a good three-star picture, but probably won't be one of your favourites by the end, which for me so far are Alien, Legend and Blade Runner.