G.I. Jane

Plot synopsis:
In Washington DC a Senate hearing is being held. The hearing is chaired by a powerful Senator, Lillian DeHaven, who questions the US military's policies of women being allowed to serve in combat situations. DeHaven plans to have a female naval officer enroll in SEAL training, one of the toughest training programs the US Military has to offer, with a 60% failure rate amongst its candidates. She receives much resistance from the Naval representatives at the hearing, however she uses her influence to put her plan into action.The candidate DeHaven handpicks is Lieutenant Jordan O'Neill, who works in Naval communications as a satellite communications specialist. O'Neill has been passed over for promotion within her division with many male coworkers having less experience than she does. O'Neill is also romantically involved with one of her superior officers, Royce. Tension arises between herself and Royce when she chooses to participate in the training course.O'Neill reports to the SEAL training facility and is immediately subject to ridicule and discrimination from her fellow candidates and the base's commanding colonel, who makes attempts to treat her delicately because she's a woman. The facility's command master chief (CMC), John Urgayle, addresses his candidates for the 1st time by reciting a poem, "Self Pity", by DH Lawrence. The trainees are then begin their "hell week" where they are subjected to extremely rigorous mental and physical conditions: they are forced to push heavy ship fenders up sand dunes, exercise in cold water, hold heavy rafts over their heads for prolonged periods of time and are constantly ridiculed by Urgayle's staff. When the training regimen becomes too much for a candidate they have the option of leaving the program voluntarily by ringing a ceremonial bell three times.Hell week ends for the candidates when they are required to run a difficult obstacle course under live fire. O'Neill is told that there will be a small set of wooden steps at a wall marking the end of the course, to make it easier for her to scale the wall -- she protests and is told to be quiet. The trainees, including O'Neill, make it to the wall; O'Neill pushes the step unit aside and volunteers her own body to allow her fellow trainees to get over the wall. The last trainee, Cortez, reaches his hand down to help O'Neill but keeps his grip just out of reach and then suggests she quit. (He is later punished for his actions.) O'Neill uses the stair unit to scale the wall and runs to join her comrades but misses a tripwire, signifying she may have killed some or all of the company. Later, when Urgayle's staff reads of the candidates' times, O'Neill finds to her surprise she passed the course, even though she came in dead last, behind other candidates who didn't finish in the required 12 minute limit. She's told that she was given a 30 second buffer, a concept they refer to as "gender norming". O'Neill meets directly with the base's colonel, who, never happy about the idea of a woman being allowed into SEAL training, tells her that he'd altered the program because she's a woman. O'Neill requests that she be treated the same as the male candidates, including being allowed to take up residence in their barracks. Her request is granted and she reports to the base's barber shop. The barber isn't there and she shaves off her long hair herself and joins the men in their barracks. After a brief argument with one of the other candidates, Urgayle orders the ranking officer, Wickwire, to make up a schedule to allow O'Neill privacy in the head and shower.Back in Washington, O'Neill's success in hell week is reported to DeHaven. It is revealed that DeHaven has also been generating publicity about O'Neill's candidacy but she has an ulterior motive: she is using the incident as leverage to prevent the closing of military bases in her native Texas, but voting for base closings in other states.O'Neill continues through the rest of the program, learning how to use weapons, field strip and reassemble them and learns the effects of forced drowning from interrogation. She manages to score higher than most of her male counterparts and slowly begins earning the respect of more of her comrades. During an exercise where they are extracted from the water by high-speed boats, O'Neill fails to pull herself from the water (though she receives little help unlike her male teammates). Urgayle lectures her later about her failure in the test and tells her he earned the Navy Cross for pulling a man much larger than himself from a burning tank. He worries that O'Neill may not be able to perform a similar task under combat conditions. He also tells her that she'll be taking over a squad when one of the other trainees must leave due to an injury.The trainees then enter a very crucial stage of the program called SERE. They will be placed into a simulated combat mission where they are very likely be captured and subjected to harsh interrogation and physical abuse. The teams are dropped off at the coast of Captiva Island and, under O'Neill's direction, make their way inland until they find what appears to be a deserted compound. While they perform their reconnaissance procedures, part of O'Neill's team, Cortez and Slovnick, break off and try to retrieve a helmet for a souvenir, contravening her direct orders. The helmet is shot off its perch by a sniper and a net traps them both. O'Neill and the rest of her team try to retreat into the forest and are quickly captured.Their captors turn out to be Urgayle, his assistant Pyro and the rest of their training instructors. The ranking officers, including O'Neill, are thrown into confined wooden boxes and taken one at a time into the main shack to be interrogated. When O'Neill is taken in, Urgayle preys upon his perceived notion of O'Neill's weakness & her ability to carry out one of her team who was injured in their attempted escape. Urgayle then begins to beat O'Neill viciously, under the pretense of the treatment she'd receive if she were really captured by an actual hostile. Urgayle drags O'Neill outside and shoves her head in a trough of muddy water, demanding that the other prisoners reveal intelligence about the rest of the SEAL team in the forest. Urgayle then threatens to rape O'Neill in front of the company. O'Neill, her hands bound behind her, kicks Urgayle in the crotch and slams her skull into his face, breaking his nose. She then kicks him further. Urgayle gets to his feet and beats O'Neill down. He staggers to the prisoner corral and tries to convince the male members of the team, who have all turned their backs on him, that O'Neill is a weak link that could get them all killed. O'Neill, having regained her feet, suddenly shouts "SUCK MY DICK!!" to Urgayle. The rest of the team rallies behind her and Urgayle gives up, defeated.After returning from SERE training, the team, with new found respect and admiration for O'Neill's tough nature and courage, treat her to a drink. Shortly after, O'Neill is called into the colonel's office and presented with pictures of her hanging out with female officers suspected of being lesbians. O'Neill is told she'll be sent back to Washington and will take up a desk job until the matter is investigated. If O'Neill wishes to complete the SEAL program, she'll have to start over again. Furious at the false charges, O'Neill rings out of the SEAL program and drives back to Washington. She goes to the home she'd been sharing with Royce. Royce shows her evidence from DeHaven's office showing that the Senator had sent a memo to the Navy about the dangers of letting a woman complete SEAL training and that US citizens aren't ready for women to enter combat. O'Neill goes to a Senate committee hearing concerning the closing of military bases and confronts DeHaven openly. Accusing DeHaven of deliberately sinking her career for her own gain, DeHaven says she's actually amazed that O'Neill had gotten as far as she did in the training program and that her approval of O'Neill's enlistment was a publicity stunt. O'Neill threatens to take DeHaven's actions regarding military base closings to the news units just outside the hearing room and DeHaven promises to get O'Neill back into the SEAL program and does. O'Neill returns to her unit.The last phase of training is to be conducted somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea. While awaiting orders aboard a submarine, an emergency mission comes up and Urgayle's team is ordered to participate. A US satellite had come down in Libya and the US Army Ranger team sent in to retrieve it needs assistance in reaching their pickup point. The plutonium in the satellite is weapons grade according to O'Neill and could easily fall into enemy possession. After landing on the beach, O'Neill & Urgayle split from the rest of the team and reconnoiter a nearby Libyan camp. When a Libyan border patrol party shows up unexpectedly, O'Neill hides while being covered by Urgayle. They quickly determine that the Ranger team could be discovered. When one of the party gets too close to O'Neill's hiding spot, Urgayle shoots him, drawing the attention of the man's comrades. O'Neill and Urgayle retreat, O'Neill making it safely back to the beach. Surmising that the Chief wouldn't draw the Libyans back to the rallying point for both the satellite recovery unit and the SEAL team, she identifies another location that the Chief would more likely retreat to. The team sets up an ambush there with a minefield, and the Chief shows up. During a furious firefight, Urgayle is hit in the leg and O'Neill rushes into the minefield and drags the Chief out. The mines are detonated and the team escapes. On the beach, they receive assistance from a helicopter unit & are all loaded onto one of the choppers and lifted out.Back at the SEAL training facility, the successful graduates receive their pins for completing the training from Urgayle. O'Neill goes to empty her locker and finds a copy of DH Lawrence's poetry with a Navy Cross marking the page with the poem "Self Pity". She sees Urgayle, who gives her a glance, and then walks out of the locker room. The closing credits are preceded by Urgayle's speech to the candidates before they begin hell week.

Tags: cult, comedy

Review:
Let me comment on what some other people have said, and talk about what I think Ridley does well with this film.I think Mr. Scott gets a really excellent performance from Demi.
I find her performance fun and a joy to watch.I don't know if Mr. Scott has any military training, but he does a better job of conveying the realities of it to the screen than most.
It is a group of Navy SEAL trainees, deep into their training cycle, with a buttload of prior experience (IF you pay attention you will note that one of the trainees is a US Army Ranger, one a Marine, probably from RECON, these are guys who know the job already, and this is true to reality).
they just said "you know what, that wasn't half bad." That don't sound like much, but it's high praise from that group.Probably why this has such a poor rating is because it isn't Hollywood enough for the lowest-common-denominator crowd.Enjoy the film..
The haircut scene is a good example; though it's directed with cinematic flourish, she does it matter-of-fact.Moore's performance is one of the two performances that elevate this from your standard grunts-become-soldiers movie.
Demi Moore pulls off the roll in convincing style and Viggo Mortenson has his best part as the Master Chief of the SEAL training unit.
Solid action film with a great support cast and a perfectly despicable villain played to the hilt by Anne Bancroft as a Senator who compromises GI Jane for her own political gain.
I suppose for those who know nothing about the realities of the military this is probably a "feel-good" film on gender equality.
No one, man or woman can do anything they want to do, and unfortunately Demi Moore "buffing" up for SEAL Hell Week in the early 27 week BUD/S program by a few sessions at the local gym and her desire alone to be a SEAL is simply not going to make it so.
Skip this film as wishful thinking, and better spend your time reading "The Warrior Elite" by Dick Couch (Crown, New York 2001)for the best description as to what really goes on in this training.
Demi Moore's character in the movie was selected for the SEALs because of her looks.
This movie did not convince me of a woman's physical ability to perform the types of tasks required.Trying to pretend that women and men are basically the same is an insult to everyone's intelligence.
"G.I. Jane" is the story of Lieutenant Jordan O'Neill, a Naval Intelligence officer who gets chosen by a senator to be the test dummy for woman's acceptance into Military Combat.
Ridley Scott is an amazing director but I didn't like "Pitch Black" that much, so I didn't know if I ended up liking this movie.
I highly enjoyed it.Demi Moore plays Lieutenant O'Neill, a tough, no-nonsense girl who just wants to get in on the action.
The key line of the movie is uttered by Demi Moore when she is beaten to a bloody pulp by Master Chief in training while the rest of the trainees watch.
At no point does the movie ever deal with the way men would really react to a good looking woman in their midst while undergoing a trial which most of them fail in real life.
I was really looking forward to G.I. Jane, because I always tried to think of it when I was renting movies, but it always slipped my mind, then I just saw I love the 90's on VH1 and was reminded one more time, so I just stuck it in my head and finally watched it tonite.
My problem with the film was the way it ended, it just turned into those big twist stories that wasn't really needed, because you are just rooting for Demi to make it throughout training and there is always some kind of block to make the audience "interested".Jorden O'Neil has been given a very special assignment, the army does not feel the need for equal opportunity for women when it comes to their jobs.
Of course no one will accept her into their teams, but she pulls her way through to prove that no one will hold her down.I loved how hard Jorden kept pushing herself, Demi did a great job in showing the hardships of what it is still like to be the outsider in a man's world.
Oh G.I. Jane, you can be my wing man anytime.The premise is good, but as soon as Hollywood gets a hold of it, we end up with Top Gun with tits.What more is to be expected from commercial US films anymore?
Demi Moore plays a female officer who is trying to become a Navy SEAL and has to battle against the odds against tha sexism, politics amd physical toughness to make the grade.
Demi Moore and Viggo Mortensen, both totally miscast in an overaggressive film about a girl going to the army.
I hope that the many talented persons involved in this project realize this type of film does not deserve their attention, and that in the future they will work on more honorable and more intelligent movies than this useless mess..
Well, it's no surprise that this movie not only lost money but hurt Demi Moore's career in the process.GI Jane is a ridiculous feminist Propaganda piece that plays make believe that women and men can become functionally equivalent if they just choose to be.Ridley Scott has a fetish for 'masculinizing' women and the attempt here was to turn poor Demi into the action star equivalent of her then husband Bruce Willis.The movie is both unrealistic and inaccurate to the point of being little more than a painfully predictable cartoon.
The film itself is shot dark and grainy and the dreaded shaky camera sequences are used to imply action.Nothing more needs to be said than women are not men, sorry Mr. Scott, get over it, and that this movie is an insult to any thinking person who knows BS when they see it..
He and Charlie Sheen would make a good team - the Two Stooges.Thinking about the training the SEALs undergo - makes Parris Island look like Wuss City.
I. Jane" is hard to beat although, of course, Moore got 'beat' during half the movie, but she prevailed.One final note.
Demi Moore shines with shiners and a bit more in an often brutal film about the first woman to enter the elite Navy SEALS training.
While some scenes in the movie, such as the confusing end battle, seem a little out of place (exactly who were the trainees fighting?) the film moves along with startling pace and precision.
Demi Moore plays Jordan O Neill, a determined, plucky individual who has her mind and heart set on going through the infamous Navy SEAL training, making her the first woman to undertake the task.
Perhaps there's a secret cache of Scott films which only Freemasons know about.So "G.I. Jane" is precisely what one would expect from the director of the criminally over-rated "Alien", the tediously worthy "Blade Runner", the pretty but hollow "Legend", the lifeless "Black Rain", the exploitative "Thelma and Louise" ...
Ms. Moore is Lt. Jordan O'Neil and she is put in the dubious position of proving that women can keep up with their male counterparts during the rigors of military training.
Of course if you are interested in the crapstory (Demi Moore just wants to prove that a woman can be part of the NAVY Seals) that is the most stupid cliché one I can think of, you'll say "GI Jane" is a great movie.
Just the performance from Viggo Mortensen made this movie bearable but hell, I can't think of Demi Moore being Rambo (especially not during the last, useless, 30 minutes).
Ridley Scott doesn't deserve the credits to make this movie one that comes up for women with equal rights, it's just brainless propaganda for the American army and to make it more attractive they dropped Moore in it.
Of course the main premise is nonsense, a female navy seal is out to show the patriarchy that women can do the job just as well but that isn't what seals the fate of this trash.No, what seals the fate of this trash is the superficial photography and fast editing that makes the film look like a TV commercial, which isn't surprising when you consider that's what Ridley Scott is, a TV commercial director.I like Blade Runner, Alien, The Duelists, but post Blade Runner I think Ridley, like his brother Tony now deceased, has taken the lazy route of film direction and relying mostly on visuals at the expense of depth and substance.Not much more to say other than avoid this turkey.
It's like one of those connect-the-dots puzzles that are provided on the backs of the menus in some Chinese restaurants to keep the impatient kids occupied, only here, instead of winding up with a pencil drawing of a clown it comes out as a dollar sign.Demi Moore is good at playing a tough cookie with that voice of hers that sounds as if it had been cured by Gauloise.
This had the potential to be a very good movie- a talented director like Ridley Scott who has made some very good movies, a great actress like Annne Bancroft who has been in some outstanding films like The Elephant Man and the Miracle Worker and a sexy actress like Demi Moore who has been in some not so good movies but she has given some good performances.
A senior female Senator pushes the issue of the role of women in the military and finds herself with an ultimatum  put some test cases through the Navy SEAL training programme and, if they make it, then the possibility of equality is on the table.
The applicants are varied but Senator DeHaven settles on Lt Jordan O'Neil, an intel officer who has the smarts and the drive to potentially make it but also the looks to help by being quite "media-friendly".I might be wrong but I do recall GI Jane being one of the films that saw Moore's career start/continue its slide from box office success to box office risk.
The problem is though the film is not really intelligent enough to rise above these basics.So what we do get is a rather noisy affair where guts and violence are exposed in all the characters and probably too many shots of O'Neil in tiny shorts and vest doing push-ups with lots of sweaty flesh exposed; I got the point it was making but it did feel a bit gratuitous.
Likewise the narrative did emphasis the degree to which O'Neil proved herself equal in terms of violence and aggression, although I was glad that the overall thrust was that she was an equal member of the team, with her intel skills being what earned her her place rather than the ability to kick people.Moore is a good presence in the lead role but she never really has a character that goes deeper than one that can be described in simple words like "determined" or "gutsy".
NOt only that, but studies have shown that women are better multi-taskers, which makes them good under time constraints and pressure...aka BATTLE.Of course G.I. Jane had an attractive female for the lead role, movie-goers are sexist.
This is one of my all time favorite movies; Demi Moore is a powerful actress, and this part was written for her.
G.I. Jane tells the story of a first female ever to go through the hellish training at the Navy SEALs. The training is the most difficult and hard in existence as the instructor says in the film to the lead character O'Neil played by Demi Moore.
The whole finale in G.I. Jane looks ugly and is nothing more but stupid and brainless shooting and killing.This is Ridley Scott's worst movie in my opinion and there are no significant touches from which this great director is known.
Taking a "Women in Combat" controversy, although it seems less so Today", and shoving it in your Face like a Drill Sergeant daring you to speak out.This Movie is a Noble effort, but it may have aimed a bit too high.
Lt. Jordan O'Neil (Demi Moore) is selected to be the first female to enter the rigorous Navy S.E.A.L.S. training program, that has a 80% drop out rate.Although the story is difficult to take too seriously, it is done with plenty of believable looking scenes, good direction and a feel good, well dramatised screenplay.
Anyway this was good, Demi Moore gave a good performance and looked really determined to fit in, make the grade, and be treated like everyone else.
Moore's portrayal of Lieut Jordan O'Neill putting herself through hell on a Navy SEAL training course, in order to convince military chiefs that women should be allowed on combat duties, may appear superficially to strengthen the argument for equal opportunities, but in reality undermines the case.
However, before we the audience reach that conclusion, director Ridley Scott has set us up to sit through the sight of a group of men and a woman being literally and metaphorically dragged through the mud, culminating in O'Neill being beaten up by the Master Chief in charge of training, played all too convincingly by Viggo Mortensen.
I didn't like the way she looked on the G.I. JANE movie poster, though.
Is it a film about feminism or sexism?It shows what can happen in last consequence if women want to achieve the same like men.
The film was good, great acting by everyone, especially Moore.
And if you don't pay attention you come away with the idea that Viggo's character is an asshole when actually he's not even vaguely.Demi Moore has very large breasts for an athletic character but aside from that I think she's very good, even if she had watched Aliens 2 a little too much before playing the part.In summary: Viggo very hot, his mustache is not so hot, his acting is great, and DH Lawrence rocks..
It's completely on point when it comes to sexism in society, and is a definite self-esteem booster for women all over America who aren't happy making less money in less important positions at work, or just being seen as cooks, cleaners and baby-makers at home.The storyline revolves around Lt. O'Neil (Demi Moore), a female intel officer in the U.S. Navy, chosen out of an array of female officers, to participate in CRT SEAL Training as a result of a female Texas Senator's (Anne Bancroft) feminist power-play for popularity.
But it would take some kind of ice-cold human being to not appreciate experiencing the story of a woman who makes the decision to "gut it out" and prove that that extra "x" chromosome doesn't stop someone from beating the odds, just like the other guys.Demi Moore plays the character perfectly, conservative and reserved, just like an officer in the military.
Viggo Mortinson plays with the depth of the tough Master Chief and gives us a level of reality and harshness that is absolutely necessary in a film about gruelling SEAL training.
Demi Moore really deserves credit for playing in this movie,not many female actors would dare to take this role,especially because they had to shave their heads for the role.
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.
Yet throughout this film she does not come across enough as O'Neill, we only see Demi Moore playing a Navy SEAL.
Although violent and often unpleasant, GI Jane is, at its core, a very uplifting tale of one woman's determination to battle sexism in the military, and to meet the tough standards set by Navy SEAL training.
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).
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..
Demi Moore was also pretty good in this movie.
First off, however well done some people thought this movie was, that it was believable and portrayed very well, there's a huge, glaring problem: WOMEN CAN'T BE NAVY SEALS.
Demi Moore was outstanding in this film - in my opinion it was her best role yet.
The same happens with some of my friends and still they liked the film when I recommend it.I think Demi Moore did an impressive job preparing herself physically for the role.
Demi Moore was perfect for her role as Jane - Good casting call!
If you like action and/or military movies, just disregard the more blatant critics (I always do, knowing they have some personal agenda they're bringing to the film) and watch for enjoyment, without preconceptions...
Demi Moore is great as the woman who made SEAL- a friend of mine who is a SEAL saw this with me and said that is exactly what training is like.
Like I said though, I'm not a SEAL, so if one comes up to me and tells me the movie was completely wrong...I'll believe them!
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.