Rating: 
Summary: "Is a woman's life more valuable than a man's?"
Review: 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?
Rating: 
Summary: She's not the problem, we are
Review: G.I. Jane is a brilliantlly done movie that forces the audience to look at their own concerns about women in combat. Demi Moore plays Jordan O'neil an accomplished athlete and Intelligence worker, who is frustrated by the lack of oppurtunities for women to get operational experience in the military. Anne Bancroft is great as a feminist senator, pushing for the military to practice the full integration of women. Jordan is selected as a test case to see how a women can hold up in Navy Seal training.
Arguably the best performance in the Movie is buy Viggo Mortenson, who is incredibly convincing as a Navy Seal Master Chief. Mortenson's character makes a genuine attempt to treat O'neil equally. And in the Navy Seals equally is at best hostile and at worst brutal. He beats her when she's captured and even begins a simulated rape, talks to her while she's naked in the shower, and doesn't tolerate any other Seals treating her as anything but a teammate. In one of the movie's most telling lines the Master Chief says she's not the problem, we are. This summarizes the main theme of the movie. The reality is, that it's society and often men that are uncomfortable with women being in combat. Its not that they're physically incapable, but military men and many others don't want to treat women like men. They're not comfortable with it. The Master Chief explains that during the POW training he is trying to demonstrate that a woman can be a liability because she can be exploited by the enemy to get information from sympathetic prisoners. Many men couldn't stand the site of a women being beaten or even pushed as physically as the navy seals are. So while there are undoubtedly issues to having women go through Seal training, GI Jane makes you believe there is no reason it couldn't happen.
Rating:
Summary: I find it very realistic
Review: I see many of you have decided to take the liberty of becoming the critic of the actors and director of this film. They are successful for reason, and have earned their success and reputation through many years in the business. Above all, from all I have read and researched on the SEALs, I find the movie to be very accurate (aside from the over-dramatization of the conflict b/w Mortensen and Moore which is key to the plot - but inaccurate since women are not allowed to be SEALs) in its depiction of the BUD/S training/"Hell Week" which Moore goes through. For example, incase any of you maybe wondering about the night scene, when the BUD/S (Basic Underwater and Demolition/SEAL training - they are not SEALs yet) are in the water - this is a very intense part of the mental training which BUD/S undergo. They are sent out into the water, and must reamin there until they near the point of hypothermia. They are then called back on to the beach, perform calesthenics to get there body temperature back up, then are sent back into the water again. Overall, I enjoy these points of realism and find the movie to be very loud expression of our society's sexists mindset.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty fun movie...
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: GI Jane
Review: "GI Jane" starring Demi Moore is a movie about one woman's decision to be the first female to enter the Navy SEALS training program and the problem's she encounters. Lieutenant Jordan O'Neil (Demi Moore) enters the program in a senator's political scheme to gain re-election. Everyone expects the attractive, slender, Lieutenant to fail miserably in the first two weeks.
Upon entering the training program O'Neil is met with angry males who do not want a woman holding them back and ruining there team's performance. The sergeant in charge is particularly tough on her and refuses to go easy on her. The fact that she is expected to fail because she is a female only pushes Demi Moore's character to try that much harder to make sure she doesn't. She abandons her femininity via such actions as shaving her head and trying to be one of the guys.
Demi Moore's character is anything but the prototypal female. She is independent and disregards her partner's order not to enter the program. She acts as she wants and not as she is expected to. She is strong and determined, and won't be held back by the men surrounding her. When she is framed and kicked out of the program she breaks all the rules of femininity and the law in order to get back in.
In the end, she proves that women are just as capable, if not more, than men. In her first real life mission, she takes control of the situation in order to save her sergeants life. Upon graduating the program she finally gains the respect of the nation, but more importantly to her, was the respect she gains from her sergeant.
Rating:
Summary: Okay but not great
Review: Despite its attempt to take on such a controversial issue, I found most of this movie just fell flat. I realize elite military groups like the Seals are one of the last bastions of male exclusivity, but the Israeli's have had women in combat positions in their army for some years. I personally wouldn't mind having a woman like Demi Moore in my platoon, and I don't think most guys would, either. On the other hand, if the guys hadn't resented Moore's presence, there wouldn't have been a plot, and Hollywood would have had even less of a movie than it was, and it was pretty thin to begin with. I'm not that big a fan of Demi Moore, but I like Viggo Mortenson despite his being sort of a bad guy for much of the movie, and Ann Bancroft was excellent as the woman Senator. The movie does capture the drama and grueling intensity of much of the Navy Seal training. I've never been a military man myself, but I was a karate instructor for many years and I've had Seals in my classes occasionally, and I can say from personal experience that these guys are pretty tough. So I give it three stars for that, even if I find the movie's portrayal of the men's attitude somewhat implausible.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding performance rescues a contrived plot.
Review: If you've ever wondered just how much a performance can carry a movie, then look no further than Ridley Scott's "G.I. Jane," in which a female becomes the first ever to train for the Navy SEALs as a result of a political squabble between government figures. As the title character, actress Demi Moore throws everything she has into the role, and essentially makes it her own. Ignoring the fact that her character is merely a pawn in a political game is easy enough, but there are aspects of the movie not so easily overlooked. The movie begins with a heated battle between aspiring Secretary of the Navy Theodore Hayes (Daniel von Bargen) and Senator Lillian DeHaven (Anne Bancroft). The basis for the argument is quite simple: Hayes believes the Navy's position on women in the armed forces is fitting, while DeHaven pulls out the old feminist attitude and opposes his views. Thus begins their battle, which will rest on the shoulders of one female recruit who, if strong enough to pass the Navy SEALs training procedures, will prove once and for all that women have a place in the military. That's where Moore's character comes in. Moore plays Lieutenant Jordan O'Neil, the intelligence officer called upon by DeHaven to take on the challenge of training. Though hesitant at first, she accepts. When she arrives, she finds that her superior officers are prepared to make changes in procedure due to her gender, and she is despised by almost all of her squad members. Most aggressive is Master Chief Urgayle (Viggo Mortensen), who sees fit to run her into the ground and make an example of her willingness to participate in the training with no special treatment. For its star power, I recommend the movie. Demi Moore, for all her physical build-up for the role, truly embodies the courageous attitudes and ideals held by O'Neil. As with many of her previous roles, Moore has always excelled at playing strong-willed women characters, and this one is no exception; in fact, it's one of her finest roles. There are times when the movie seems to be working with her, and then there are instances when she literally carries the movie on her shoulders, such as her brutal standoff with Urgayle, which contains a priceless line of dialogue on her part. As for the movie itself, it remains serviceable throughout most of its duration. The political subplots that threaten her very existence in the military have a certain sense of logic to them, carrying with them the message that power is everything when it comes to government matters. The unflinching look at the training of the SEALs is hard-hitting and, at times, dramatic enough to sustain interest for long periods. And then the movie seems to be going downhill. A subplot involving O'Neil's boyfriend threatens to cast him in a bad light when he agrees to keep tabs on her for those who would destroy her credibility, while the revelation that Senator DeHaven was behind her sudden downfall seems contrived and misplaced. The final act of the film, a cliche-driven attempt to give the characters a chance at heroism, feels forced and holds little impact. If you must see "G.I. Jane," then see it for Moore's outstanding performance, as well as those of some of her costars. As a stand-alone film, it provides some good popcorn-munching entertainment, but it never takes off as it should, and eventually it gets tedious. But hey, where else would you be able to hear a shaved-headed Moore growling the words "Suck my d---?"
Rating:
Summary: Great intentions but a flawed "climax"
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: terrible
Review: Cheesy, awful dialogue and a lame script sink the capabilities of Demi Moore and Viggo Mortensen, the stars who are unable to save this movie. Moore seems lost in her role as the movie's makeshift heroine: a woman let into the Navy SEALS training program under shady conditions, makes it very far and yet seems surprised to learn there were politics (gasp!) behind it. Even the usually sharp Mortensen appears to have a very choppy performance, probably due to poor editing. His performance as the evil military guy, the Master Chief, is not as sincerely evil as it could be and is not a winner. Predictable, boring, and typical would be the only ways to describe this one. Miss it.
Rating:
Summary: G.I. wish Demi was with me!
Review: Demi Moore is a Naval Lieutenant who is offered to recruit with the Navy S.E.A.L.S. by a female Senator whose only interest is to get re-elected....not to give women an equal chance to go into combat situations nor die for their country. Great stuff.
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