Demi becomes one of the boys

Rating: Null/10 (27 November 2000)

Using the familiar plot of an against the odds win over adversity, "GI Jane" is a satisfactory film. It bears resemblance to "An Officer and a Gentleman", only this time the lead character isn't a cocky rogue but a woman.
The premise is simple enough. Tired of the treatment of women in the military, a Texas senator (Anne Bancroft), wants a female put into an all-male arena: the elite Navy SEALs. Cue Demi Moore as Jordan O'Neill, a sexy, young and energetic female officer. With all assurances that she will be treated fairly, she enters the SEAL training camp, against the advice of her boyfriend Royce (Jason Beghe).
Upon entering it is obvious to the viewer what is going to happen. Countless episodes of minor sexual harassment abound, but O'Neill presses on with the training. She is hounded by her unforgiving drill sergeant, Master Chief John Urgayle (Viggo Mortensen in his best role). Things reach boiling point in a training exercise and the sadistic Urgayle brutally beats up O'Neill, as if to show she is 'just' a woman. Of course, O'Neill doesn't give up.
The most disappointing element of "GI Jane" is that in terms of being accepted by her fellow comrades, O'Neill has to almost become a man. In the start of the film, there is a scene where she and Royce are in a bath together, with low contrast lighting and plenty of bubblebath. She looks very feminine, with her long wet hair and tanned soft skin. Yet at the end of the movie, she has shaved off her hair, strutting around a bar and drinking Budweiser with her crew. The crunch scene, where O'Neill crosses the gender line is after she has been beaten to a pulp by Urgayle. He tells her to give up, to which she replies, "Suck my d*ck!" Had O'Neill not shaved off her hair or not replied to Urgayle like that, the film may have had some more credibility.
The film ends as the viewer expects, with Mortensen fulfilling his Louis Gosset Jr type - hard man with a heart of gold drill sergeant. O'Neill saves the day and we are all happy.
Demi Moore has plenty of on-screen presence and should be able to hold down a film as a lead actress. Yet throughout this film she does not come across enough as O'Neill, we only see Demi Moore playing a Navy SEAL. An almost soft-porn sequence of shots of O'Neill working out, complete with wet t-shirt and ultra-tight shorts, make it seem more like an aerobics work out video or music clip, which sets a similar tone for the whole film.
In the end, Ridley Scott has taken the easy route and let Moore be the centre of attention, rather than him controlling the film's vision. "GI Jane" is an entertaining no-brainer that will be a must for Moore fans (she isn't all that bad and she is good to look at), and a good piece of mindless action for everyone else.