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27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great intentions but a flawed "climax", February 9, 2004
Demi Moore is great in this story about Jordan, a quite capable military woman who is chosen to become the first female Navy SEAL. Jordan isn't sure she wants to go through the hassle she knows will result from her presence at the training, but the congresswoman who is behind this encourages Jordan to try her best. Nobody expects Jordan to survive the harsh training program, and Jordan exceeds all expectations.Viggo Mortensen plays the Master Chief who is in charge of the training program. He is quite harsh, as you would expect from someone who is trying to separate the "best of the best" from a group of individuals who are all quite talented. Viggo isn't a mere brute - he reads poetry by D.H. Lawrence and truly cares about his trainees. He knows that if he doesn't do a good job at his training, the men here will die (and cause others to die) when sent out into combat. I understand and applaud all of that. Viggo throughout the film shows a good balance of concern for his trainees, a desire to push them to be their best, and a desire to weed out those simply not cut out to be SEALs. However, being a fan of the military and its task of protecting the weak, I had HUGE issues with the "pivotal scene" in the SERE camp. The movie is directed by Ridley Scott of Alien fame and you would think that this man would have respect for a strong female character and the situations that result. I very much equated Jordan to Ripley, both strong women who held their own and earned respect of those around them. But instead of just having Ripley and the others tied up or left in the sun or other "see if you can resist the concerns of your body", Ridley decides to have the Master Chief *brutalize* one of the soldiers and then almost rape Jordan. What???? If we know ANYTHING about real torture situations, it is that a torturer can eventually break anybody. We all have pain limits. There are always ways to inflict more pain! At some point either our body gives out or our mind snaps. That's why spies carry cyanide capsules, because you can't be "trained" to resist torture indefinitely. So what was the point of beating up on the first soldier? What was the point of almost raping Jordan? To prove she could be raped? Heck, any GUY there could have been raped too. Is it important for them to learn what rape feels like, just in case? Would the guys have been any more or less upset to see one of their fellow GUYS being raped vs a girl? Heck they might be MORE upset to see a fellow guy be raped because that would be even less "acceptable" to them. For Viggo's character to delve to those depths after everything he'd shown us previously was amazingly out of character - or indicated that Viggo was a depraved man who had no business training soldiers. The movie was supposed to show us that women can be just as strong as men are. Heck, real life shows us that. There are plenty of strong female characters in movies - from Ripley in Alien, to Sarah Connor in Terminator 2, and more come out every day. There are plenty of real life female police officers and fire fighters who are depended on by their coworkers every day. It was almost an insult to have the GI Jane character go through what she did, sort of an Archie Bunker situation where you are ashamed that there really are people left out there that think a woman with strength must be a lesbian. While I applaud the movie's intentions to say "hey you remaining bigots out there, it's time to wake up", to have to involve a supposed rape to make your point is very sad. To have to taint Viggo's character with a sadistic view towards woman (as much as he tries his best to be fair much of the time) is really saying that ALL guys will always have this power/lust attitude towards women that they have to keep under control. Which is entirely unfair to men. It weakens the entire point of the story. For those who are interested, the poem Viggo quotes is titled Self-Pity: I never saw a wild thing
sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
without ever having felt sorry for itself. D. H. Lawrence The point is that you do what you have to do to get by in life. You don't waste time or energy on feeling sorry for yourself, because it does little good.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty fun movie..., July 25, 2003
With a [beautiful] and gung-ho performance by Demi Moore, G.I. Jane is definitely fun to watch. But it has no basis in real Navy Seals training, which one can learn more about reading Dick Couch's "The Warrior Elite". In reality there is no mock P.O.W. camp where recruits are beaten and tortured, but there are endless sleepless nights of sitting in the 57 degree ocean water of San Diego. Real Navy Seals instructors are consumate professionals, who constantly put the welfare of their men before anything else. Evolutions (exercises) are mentally and physically challenging, but never grossly abusive as in G.I. Jane. Exercises are of the "run till you drop" variety than "we'll break your leg" variety. The point of real BUD/S training is to learn that teamwork can overcome any bad situation, not just how to take a beating. Also, unlike this movie, Seal recruits undergo BUD/S followed by years of intense training, qualifications, and testing before even being considered for active deployment. They are not sent into combat because they happen to be on a submarine near a hostile country.
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18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
"Is a woman's life more valuable than a man's?", August 23, 2002
As a female in the Navy, I put off seeing this movie for years. I thought it was just another Demi Moore 'jiggle' movie, some sort of vehicle that would have her beating up big men in one scene and then writhing around, full of lust, on the floor. I don't know about you, but I'm kind of tired of this new tough/sexy,love her/fear her, stereotype that Hollywood has been churning out since Linda Hamilton took on Terminator 2. I thought this movie would insult females in the military, and therefore insult the military. Well, some of it was definitely Hollywood's idea of the military, but other parts of it were fairly good portrayals.
Honestly, I think Demi Moore is a mediocre actress, at best. She just comes across as not being very bright or complex in every movie I have seen her in. But as Lt. Jordan O'Neil, she's suuposedly a brainiac. She's an intelligence officer that accurately predicts a retrieval point and time for a unit that is out of communication in one scene, and then rattles off the specs on a nuclear device in another. However,the rest of her dialogue doesn't reflect this keen mind and the scope of her emotions doesn't ever really sell the conflict one feels when they are the first to cross that gender line. She's 100% confident and angry all the time. I raise the Bravo Sierra flags (BS) on that one. The one point in the movie where she seems to be contemplating ringing out of training (quitting), just shows a blank faced Moore staring at the bell. Another problem I have with Moore playing this role is that I just don't buy the fact that she could keep up with her class in SEAL training with the type of build she has. two words--stress fractures. I wish someone else played this part. I like her better in movies that don't have a message.
On the other hand, Command Master Chief (CMC) John Urgayle is very well portrayed and I felt, a good representation of Navy leadership. A good military leader is going to do their best to weed out who doesn't belong using any means necessary. Viggo Mortenson looks like a SEAL. (and by the way, those shorts are real-live Navy issue.) He is not happy about the female presence. The scene where she is captured and beat up and he begins to attempt to rape her, does make all the trainees face the fact that 'yep, rape does happen during wartime and what are you going to do about it? how will you react to it?' After that scene the CMC and other instructors are discussing their personal reactions to what happend and the CMC says something like "She's not the problem, we are." The CMC has a new respect for Lt. O'Neil, however the 'man' still has certain feelings about 'women' and doesn't quite fully come to terms with his deeply held belief that men should protect women. Which is exactly what he tries to do later in the story.
There are truly great moments in the movie that debate the 'women in combat' question. After the female Senator that got her into the SEAL program (thinking she'd never succeed) tries to yank her out. O'Neil and the Senator debate the issue. All of it is distilled down to the best question of the movie "Is a woman's life more valuable than a man's?"
This movie was a lot better than I expected but I wish it could have been more thought provoking and complex. It really could have been. All of the necessary elements were included. The CMC was an exceptional character. I wish we could have known more about him. I'd love to see a whole movie just about him (so long as they cast Mortenson).
Demi Moore was o.k.
I thought Ann Bancroft as the Senator was great and they could have done more with her character in this movie. Female Senators are pretty scarce, what did she really think about gender lines? Her character seemed to contradict herself--Why? And so long as I am questioning things, what's with all the hair scenes? The Senator is having her hair done in her office while she works, the CMC has his hair cut in his workspace while he reads, and Lt. O'neill shaves hers off.....? What is the symbolism of that?
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