Die Akte Jane

It's easy to film a star faking the Navy Seal training. The key line of the movie is uttered by Demi Moore when she is beaten to a bloody pulp by Master Chief in training while the rest of the trainees watch. She gets up and spits out "suck my dick" thereby claiming a virtual penis so that she can offer the ultimate insult to Master Chief and become an honorary male to the cheers of the men. At no point does the movie ever deal with the way men would really react to a good looking woman in their midst while undergoing a trial which most of them fail in real life. This is feminist propaganda turned into sensational Hollywood entertainment that belies the truth and turns GI Jane into a another racist she male who can gun down expendable lesser breeds such as Arabs with the best of them on their secret mission to Libya.

Senator DeHaven (Anne Bancroft) pressures the Navy to be gender blind. They accept as long as a woman test case can measure up to the men's standards. They figure on the U.S. Navy Combined Reconnaissance Team which has a 60% wash out rate. DeHaven picks Lieutenant Jordan O'Neil (Demi Moore) out of the approved candidates for her looks. Command Master Chief John James Urgayle (Viggo Mortensen) is their trainer. She has to overcome expectations, sexism, politics and the pressure of the program to succeed.

There is nothing surprising or original in this movie. It's got all the training and director Ridley Scott is an expert at jazzing up those 'action' scenes. The most compelling originality comes from Demi Moore shaving her hair. I do have to say that she looks fierce with the bald head. She looks fierce generally and Scott has her exercising up a storm. The movie probably needs some of the other characters to step up but nobody can ever be on the same level as Demi.

It's disconcerting to see Demi Moore in such a different role in her career. You can't imagine the main actress from Ghost as an elite military corps member until you see her. But the fact is that she does it, and I must say I don't dislike her work at all. Of course, this isn't a film for every taste (it's not a pacifist movie...), but you'll enjoy it if you like the films in the line of First Blood or The Dirty Dozen. At this point I can even say that this film is better to me than First Blood in some sense (for example, its perspective isn't so epic, and the characters are more human). The only things I don't like are the continuous zoom effects in the last part of the film. I still don't know what they are supposed to be... But there's good acting, good tempo, appropriate music, and, why not, another good production from Ridley Scott with which you don't have time to get bored. I also must say that after having watched the film I don't feel like joining the elite forces at all :-), but anyway my rating is 7 out of 10.

This movie received lot's of hate and to be honest I can only assume it was due to bad publicity.

It has a great cast who all play their parts well. Demi Moore got a razzie for this which is totally unjustified as she plays her part really well. It has great music and is definitely in the list of good Ridley Scott movies.

I'd put it up with "Jarhead", "Tigerland" or "Heartbreak Ridge" any day of the week.

Recommended.

This movie was really great. I loved every bit of it. The cinematic shots were insane. The protagonist was so bold and strong.

GI Jane 2, can't wait to see!!!