In the Trenches with Demi: "G.I. Jane" Ain't Half Bad

Reviewed by Vickie, Cinema Geek

RATING (out of five):

= There's two hours of my life I'll never see again. Is it too late to ask for my money back?
= They could have done SO much better. Wait for the video.
= Not bad at all. Some solid work.
= Wow! I'm very impressed. I might go see this one again.
= For the love of all that is good and kind in the world, what an amazing movie!!!

My name is Vickie. I saw "G.I. Jane." And I liked it.

There. I said it and lightning didn't strike me down where I type. Granted, this is not a flawless and brilliantly crafted piece of celluloid, but it certainly isn't nearly as bad as many people are hoping it will be.

For anyone who's missed the massive marketing campaign and the sight of a shorn Demi Moore plastered in magazines and on billboards everywhere, the general gist of the movie is this: Demi wants to be a Navy S.E.A.L. and neither hell nor high water nor Anne Bancroft nor brutish military types nor training that would make Arnold Schwarzenegger cry like a baby will stand in her way.

Directed by Ridley Scott (the man who had women everywhere cheering for "Thelma & Louise"), the movie chronicles the efforts of Navy Intel Lieutenant Jordan O'Neil (Moore), who's recruited by a tough broad of a senator (Anne Bancroft) as a "test case" to see, among other things, whether women should be allowed into the elite S.E.A.L. ranks. What follows is a down and dirty look at both the brutal training process and the even more brutal abuse -- both physical and psychological -- O'Neil suffers as she desperately attempts to succeed.

In recent years, Demi Moore has become somewhat of an icon -- to be worshipped or ridiculed, depending on your point of view. It's become standard fare to read about her outrageous salary, to malign her performances, to question her worth as an actress, mother and businesswoman, etc. Amidst all of this, or perhaps due to it, she's lost the ability to disappear into a role. We don't see Hester Prynne, we see Demi Moore dressed as a Puritan. We don't see a single mother working as a stripper, we see Demi Moore peeling off her clothes for a reported $12.5 million. Every move she makes is broadcast on "Entertainment Tonight" and reported on in the trades and tabloids alike. With that kind of coverage, the audience has grown to know too much about Demi Moore. For her, and performers like her, it takes a whole lot more to get the audience to buy them as anything other than a big-time Hollywood celebrity.

That said, in the beginning of "G.I. Jane," all I could see was Demi Moore dressed like a Navy officer and spewing lines I knew she didn't understand. But as soon as she became the underdog, as soon as she walked into the S.E.A.L. mess hall to jeers and cat calls, as soon as I began to seriously worry about her character's safety, I was on her side. And that, pardon the pun, was half the battle. I wanted O'Neil to succeed. I wanted to see her outperform her burly counterparts. I wanted to see her make it and rub her achievement in the faces of all of her detractors. As soon as the movie had me cheering for O'Neil, I forgot that I was watching Demi Moore. I no longer saw the actress, but the character she was playing. And that made even the melodramatic, eye-roll inducing head-shaving scene tolerable.

Demi Moore does a solid job. With her hyper-toned body and bare head, she muscles her way through the film and gradually loses herself in the journey of Jordan O'Neil. She's tough, she's scary, she's confident. But she's also afraid, she's nervous, she's pained. She's all that she can be and then some. Demi may not be the best actress in Hollywood, but I don't know if there are many "name" actresses who could have taken on, or would have wanted to take on, the physicality of this role. Somehow, I just don't see Julia or Sharon or Sandra lining up to have their faces kicked in. (Oh yes, that happens in the movie!) It's not a pretty role and, in the wrong hands, could have gone horribly awry. It didn't.

The film as a whole, was decent. It wasn't great, but it wasn't awful. The performances of the supporting cast were impressive, given their often one-note roles (the boyfriend, the bad guy in charge, the shifty politician, etc.). Viggo Mortensen was excellent as the delightfuly menacing Master Chief, the man responsible for turning the soldiers into the world's toughest unit...by any means necessary. I didn't know whose side he was on, or even if he had a side, until the final moments of the story.

But be warned: there is violence in this movie. Some of it graphic. Both O'Neil and her fellow S.E.A.L.s-in- training are beaten, bloodied and bruised in the name of preparedness. Anyone with an aversion to such things may well want to stay away.

One of the films main flaws, however, is the lack of development for the supporting characters. O'Neil's unit-mates are prime examples. Some of the men are behind her, others want her out. But when you can't tell one from the other because you're not sure whether that's Cortez or Flee, it makes for confusion. It also doesn't make the viewer care about what happens. If so-and-so dies in combat, oh well. We hardly knew him anyway. Director Scott also goes a little overboard with the quick-cut, montage-like sequences where the action flies by in bits and pieces and you're never quite sure who or what you're looking at. That may make for a realistic recreation of battle (the confusion and general mayhem, etc.) but not so much for a film where you're meant to be able to follow the story and the characters in it.

So, should you see this movie? Why not. Is it a "vanity piece" to show the world what Demi is made of? Maybe. But look at "G.I. Jane" as a metaphor for the film, and the making of the film, itself. It's about a determined recruit/Hollywood actress who wants desperately to be accepted by the military elite/fickle viewing public and who therefore subjects herself to brutal training/brutal reviews in a bid to come out on top/have a career again. Will it work? Well, if the film is any indication, Demi should be able to hang on to her rung of the Hollywood ladder...or, at the very least, beat the stuffing out of anybody who tries to tell her different.

So there.

Vickie, a self-confessed movie addict, has spent the last few years working at an entertainment magazine in Canada. When she's not toiling away at her computer in the office, she's toiling away at her computer at home-- hacking away at unfinished screenplays and planning her acceptance speech for the Academy Awards.