Demi Moore has had an incredible streak of bad luck lately. Millions steered clear of her ribald vision of ``The Scarlet Letter'' and her tepid would-be thriller ``The Juror,'' and while her paycheck for ``Striptease'' made her the Twelve Million Dollar Woman, her performance made her the butt of a lot of scalding jokes.
But Demi is eager to repent, and she's willing to give her blood, sweat and tears - quite literally - for one more chance. ``G.I. Jane'' offers her the opportunity to do all that and more: She even sheds her hair in an amazing on-camera head-shaving, sure to be one of the year's most talked-about movie moments.
``G.I. Jane'' casts Moore as Jordan O'Neil, an intelligence officer who becomes the first woman to train as a Navy Seal. The title refers to a nickname applied to O'Neil by the press as she undergoes a grueling regimen that includes pushing tanks up sand hills in Sisyphus fashion, being tortured in a simulated prison camp, and digging her dinner out of a garbage can.
Dramatically, the picture is strictly by-the-book, and occasionally it teeters on the brink of self-parody, as stogie-gnawing officers plot against human dynamo Jordan. But, like the similarly over-the-top ``Face/Off,'' ``G.I. Jane'' has been directed with such finesse and infused with so much star power the movie works, almost in spite of itself.
Director Ridley Scott (``Alien,'' ``Blade Runner'') lends his customary striking visual sense to the proceedings: Even when Jordan is battered and bleeding in the rain, Scott makes her look like a portrait of gutsiness rather than a victimized mess. Scott's imagery is beautifully underscored by sterling new songs from the Pretenders, and it's typical of the film's canniness that Jordan's private moments of self-doubt are accompanied by music from rock 'n' roll survivor Chryssie Hynde, who could probably tell Jordan a thing or two about trying to carve out your niche in a man's world.
Moore's typically prickly demeanor, often cited by her detractors as her biggest liability as an actress, actually works to her advantage here, as she unearths the voracious ambition in Jordan's soul. It's easy to see this role as a mirror image of the actress herself, a similarly driven woman who's said to work out several hours a day. If you don't believe those reports, check out the frightening ease with which Moore executes one-armed push-ups and suspended sit-ups.
The screenplay by David Twohy and Danielle Alexandra makes Jordan into a kind of Everywoman that's difficult not to root for. Jordan's habit of boldly standing up to her superiors may not be credible, but it gives the audience several opportunities to cheer her on as she challenges sadistic Master Chief Urgayle (Viggo Mortensen) and a manipulative Texas politico (a campy Anne Bancroft) who betrays her.
Even as the film turns into an action extravaganza in the final stretch, Scott keeps his heroine solidly in the forefront. ``G.I. Jane'' is first and foremost a star vehicle and, thanks to Moore's astounding chutzpah, it's an entertaining one.
James Sanford
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