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G.I. Jane
Demi Moore does one-armed push-ups on the Rocky road to equality as she joins the Navy SEALS training programme, intent on defying the odds by completing it, thus qualifying to kill people
Simple biology prevents G.I. Jane from being classified as yet another testosterone-fuelled action picture - its protagonist is, of course, a woman. In many other respects, however, this tale of a female soldier's attempt to get through Navy SEAL training conforms to the blueprint of many an underdog-battling-against-the-odds-in-extreme-circumstances film before it (think Rocky, Rambo). Not necessarily a bad thing, and with Ridley Scott at the helm, it all adds up to something slightly more worthy than a sequence of gratuitous shots of a sweaty Demi Moore running around with a big gun. (If, however, this is your bag, you won't be disappointed.) Lieutenant O'Neill (Moore) enters the SEALS training programme at the behest of Senator DeHaven (Bancroft). The regime can only be described as sadistic (indeed, in one scene, O'Neill is literally tortured), and the drill instructor, Master Chief Jack Urgayle (an excellent Mortenson), is a professional bastard of the highest order. For her own political reasons, however, DeHaven needs O'Neill to fail, as do most of the square-jawed beef-cakes on the programme with her. The plucky lieutenant sets out to prove them wrong, and it's this that provides the thrust of the film's entertainment, rather than any of the lame attempts at issue-raising (women's equality in the military, political corruption) that are presented. It's all relentlessly gung-ho stuff, sure, but when a shaven-headed O'Neill retaliates against Urgayle after a particularly savage incident, standing above him and bellowing "Suck my dick", you find you can't help but root for her. Verdict Director Ridley Scott transforms what could have been a predictable Demi Moore vanity project into a slightly less predictable Demi Moore vanity project. It's all very watchable, however, and even quite stirring. |
