Not quite the next evolution

Definitely one of Ridley Scott's lesser moments, GI Jane's main problem is that the script takes an interesting, somewhat possible scenario and quickly hurries it towards absurdity. The first hour of GI Jane is absolutely riveting, as Demi Moore's character is selected to be a trial subject for a "gender-blind" Navy. Naturally, sexist politicians and Naval higher-ups want to see her fail, so Navy SEAL (Sea, Air, Land) Combined Recon Team (CRT) is chosen as her trial by fire. It's all smooth as silk in Scott's hand, and a pre-Lord Of The Rings Viggo Mortensen is electric as the over-the-top Command Master Chief Urgayle, tasked with making commandos out of the maggots. Trevor Jones' bombastic chanting and horns borrows a bit too heavily from the best bits of Hans Zimmer's score for Crimson Tide (another Navy action-drama, ironically directed by Ridley's brother, Tony Scott). Jones' music tends to be excessive and overwhelming during the action scenes, though it's quite effective when it goes for quick, sudden orchestral hits of chanting between scene changes.

The problem with GI Jane is its simplistic and heavy-handed way of asking the film's "big questions," which seem like they were written so that even the dumbest person in the audience will quickly get the point. Additionally, halfway through the film there's a sudden shift in tone, and the film rapidly becomes a really dumb action flick in the vein of Shooter or The Rock. By the time this supposedly stealthy and precise team of SEALs starts blowing up half of the Libyan coast, you can't help but wonder what happened to that interesting movie you were watching. Thankfully, the film ends before the "you can be my wingman/teammate any day, Demi! Top Gun-motifs can fully sink the film faster than the Titanic.

Still, Demi does a bang-up job getting into shape and stomping around witht the boys. Aragorn is, as said before, delightfully excessive, and Jim Caviezel, prior to playing Jesus for Mel Gibson, was a wacky yet lovable Navy SEAL. Some of the other supporting performances are just a bit awkward, however. Naturally, being a Ridley Scott picture, everything is exquisitely shot.

GI Jane could have been a really thought-provoking film, but neither screenwriters David Twohy and Danielle Alexandra or the producers are willing to risk that kind of intelligence. As a result, the film is a smart-dumb flick like Michael Bay's The Rock: it's smart enough to draw you in and keep you immersed, but once it ends, any intelligent analysis will just make your brain hurt.

Excellent movie.

I enjoyed this movie very much. The acting was splendid and the story interesting.

Unrealistic and inaccurate

This movie was a real disappointment. Laced with inaccurate facts and utterly unrealistic scenarios. Not worth the watch.