G.I. Jane: Review By moviegeek

G.I. Jane is a film that was made to say something, but instead the film is rendered mute by its own conformities to Hollywood typicalities. Demi Moore is electric in her headlining role, and her supporting cast is fairly strong as well; but the film is too uneven, too barren, and too divided to ever make a coherant point.

Jordan O'Neill (Moore) enrolls into Navy SEAL training as their first female prospect. Her rigorous training places her right alongside the other men. As you might expect, everyone expects her to fail. As she proves to be more and more accomplished both physically and mentally, her determination attracts the attention of her peers, her officers, and the media.

As mentioned earlier, Demi Moore gives a near-perfect performance. This isn't something Oscar-worthy; she doesn't break down in tears or give a lengthy monologue. Instead, she proves she has acting chops in her fiercely level performance. Many actresses would have timidly shied away from the material, or, even worse, they would have outshined the material. Moore plants her feet and matches the material flawlessly. Her other cast members including Viggo Mortensen, Jim Caviezel, and Anne Bancroft hold their ground well also.

G.I. Jane is directed by Ridley Scott who shows talent behind the camera visually, but who lacks any sort of direction or aim for the picture. We are belabored with routine training exercises where O'Neill must prove herself. Eventually all of those skills will be put to use in a climactic battle. That's all fine, if this were a movie about her character. It is not.

The film patterns and molds itself according to its story, and its story is uneven. There comes a twist near the end (or at least what I thought to be the end) that jeopardizes O'Neill's standing as a SEAL recruit. That's all to be expected, of course. But the movie takes a deliberate halt right then to do ALL of its character development. All of the people begin to speak up and say what they've really felt. The problem is that we've grown accustomed to all of these characters as they've acted in the past hour and a half.

What's worse, while the film comes to a dead stop there to sort out loose ends, something climactic is rising in the background. The film immediately picks up pace and lumbers its way through an awkward ending. Instead of being an interesting look into the mind of THE VERY FIRST female trainee of the Navy SEAL program, or even being a look into the process and exclusivity of it, G.I. Jane pulls back and brushes past everything. The film trots for over two hours without really presenting a meaty core.

This isn't a bad movie. It's just a significantly underwhelming one. The film wants to be a little bit of everything and, therefore, lacks a defined focus. This is a forgettable picture that, at very best, kept me occupied for two hours or so.