G.I. JANE (1997)
A movie review by Michael J. Legeros
Copyright 1997 by Michael J. Legeros
(Hollywood)
Directed by Ridley Scott
Written by David Twohy and Danielle Alexandra
Cast Demi Moore, Viggo Mortensen, Anne Bancroft, Jason Beghe,
Lucinda Jenny, Scott Wilson, David Vadim, Morris
Chestnut, Josh Hopkins
MPAA Rating "R" (presumably for violence and profanity)
Running Time 128 minutes
Reviewed at Six Forks Station Cinemas, Raleigh, NC (09AUG97)
==
The new one from Ridley Scott-- enough of a reason right there to run out and see it-- is a feature-length retort to "let's see if she can take it like a man," where "she" is a naval intelligence officer (Demi Moore) hand-picked to be the first female allowed to undergo Navy SEAL training. (A program that 60% of the *male* recruits don't finish.) And, surprise, we learn that she can do it, and without any gender handicapping, no less. (She sleeps in the same barracks, wears the same shaved head, and must endure the same levels of physical abuse. Well, almost. None of the *guys* experiences a simulated attempted rape from Viggo Mortensen's Master Chief from Hell.) No, G.I. JANE isn't much of a message movie, nor is it a particularly effective character study. (Heh, *what* character?) But as a ball-breaking, black rain-soaked depiction of the most brutal basic training that you could possibly imagine, the movie is gangbusters. (My favorite sequences: a jog through the mess tent, where they're given about sixty seconds to eat, and a late-night essay-writing exercise.)
Alas, once Moore's character wins the respect of her teammates-- which happens about eighty minutes in-- the story doesn't have a clue where to go next. So, we take an excursion off base, for a confron- tation with an oily Texas senator (Anne Bancroft, drawlin' away). And then we wrap with a cliched training-exercise-turned-real that, while mildly engaging, has been done to death before and even by the director's brother Tony in TOP GUN. Neither sequence is particularly well-paced-- the character and plot developments feel rushed, but, you know, what's one more summer movie that tanks in the last half (or whole) hour? Now, for the nit picks: can military instructors actually physically abuse their recruits? Did Ridley Scott direct those combat sequences while under the influence? Can Demi do more than a handful of one-handers at a time? And, most importantly, has anybody transcribed that delicious exchange about a cigar and it's, ah, particularly aromatic aroma?
Grade: B+
-- Mike Legeros - Movie Hell http://www.nonvirtual.com/hell
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