SummaryMoore stars as gutsy Lieutenant O'Neil, the first woman ever given the opportunity to earn a place in the armed forces most highly skilled combat unit -- the elite Navy SEALS. But the already brutal rigors of training camp turn into an unimaginable test of courage and determination once it becomes clear that no one -- powerful politician...
SummaryMoore stars as gutsy Lieutenant O'Neil, the first woman ever given the opportunity to earn a place in the armed forces most highly skilled combat unit -- the elite Navy SEALS. But the already brutal rigors of training camp turn into an unimaginable test of courage and determination once it becomes clear that no one -- powerful politician...
The training sequences are as they have to be: incredible rigors, survived by O'Neil. They are good cinema because Ridley Scott, the director, brings a documentary attention to them, and because Demi Moore, having bitten off a great deal here, proves she can chew it.
Very entertaining. Vigo and Demi are amazing in this. They carry the crap plot and that makes it better than average. Loved seeing the hardcore Seal instructor vs the first woman in Seal history. Amazing chemistry carried this movie.
Demi qui ne fait décidément pas les choses à moitié s'engage corps et âme dans un drôle de film féministe, un film vraiment hilarant -à l'insu de son ignorance assurément- et qui remporte le titre si convoité de la comédie de l'année... 1997.
En effet, avec l'aide de Ridley Scott et d'un scénario assez rocambolesque, G.I. Jane porte ses clichés à bout de bras et les exploite jusqu'à la dernière goutte afin -sans aucun doute- de dénoncer le sexisme et le machisme... dans l'armée américaine !
Ainsi, véritable petite caricature ambulante, Demi Moore nous campe une "warrior" comme on dit -ou plutôt une "warrieuse" pleine de folie furieuse qui fait des pompes et jure comme un bidasse aviné. Têtue et enragée, elle fait voir sa gueule de guerrière qui ne déplaîrait pas au fameux Sergeant-Instructeur Hartman ("vous me boufferez du parcours à en crever la gueule ouverte").
Mais l'instructeur qui nous occupe ici est incarné par le très bon Viggo Mortensen, volontiers sadique et encore plus taré... On l'a compris, le film pèche par ses excès en tout genre bien qu'il ne soit pas encore transgenre, ça c'est la prochaine étape de l'agenda LGBT pour les futurs commandos des SEALS du 21ème siècle...
La réalisation de Scott est solide mais se laisse aller étrangement à la fin : elle devient agitée et confuse dans l'action ; par ailleurs, comme déjà mentionné plus haut le scénario se vautre inopinément dans quelques manipulations polticardes qui sont comme un (long) cheveu (féminin) dans la soupe.
Dans le fond cela dit, le film reste pavé de bonnes intentions, c'est sa méthode et ses gros sabots qui font bien rire et dont personnellement je ne me lasse pas. Seule Demi Moore pouvait soutenir un tel rôle jusque-boutiste !
Mr. Scott's affinity for the visceral and strenuous, from ''Alien'' to ''Blade Runner'' to ''White Squall,'' is much more central here than the renegade feminism of his ''Thelma and Louise.'' With punishing intensity, he plunges his audience into the maelstrom of the training program.
In spite of a catalogue of downsides, including clunky dialogue, fuzzy morals and preposterous story lines, G.I. Jane does offer a perverse level of enjoyment.
This story is confused: overlong, it begins by being about a woman battling to overcome prejudice, and ends up a gun-toting Arab-killing action movie. Political intrigue is also thrown in, with Bancroft as a senator with a secret agenda, but this is soon discarded in favour of guns and explosions.
In trying to fit into this man's world, Moore overdoes the belligerence: the apotheosis of her gung ho bonhomie being her resounding cry of "**** my ****!", as she is finally accepted into the all-male company. She's one of the boys, cigars and all. Her character is unsympathetic and, like everyone else, has no real depth. The only glimmer of interest is produced by Mortensen's master chief, the obligatory hard-ass with a heart of gold.
While it aims to be about women's rights, male prejudice, and political corruption, this film is really just about looks. Ace stylist Ridley Scott is in his element during the action sequences, luxuriating in the visual detail: the trademark moodicam interiors, the stark white deserts, the camera soaking up Moore's moonlit one-arm press-ups. Physically at least, the ex Mrs. Willis certainly earns her fee - in the transformation from girly desk-bound type to paid-up army grunt, we get a good five minutes of Moore shaving her long hair down to the celebrated buzz cut.
In spite of a catalogue of downsides, including clunky dialogue, fuzzy morals and preposterous story lines, G.I. Jane does offer a perverse level of enjoyment. Scott's divine aesthetic interlaces the ensuing nonsense with stirring gung-ho, ever-increasing weaponry - and cigars - for shallow appeal. But for all Moore's grunting and growling, this is still a man's view of the world. Any feminist subtext has clearly gone AWOL.
Production Company
Caravan Pictures,
First Independent Films,
Hollywood Pictures,
Largo Entertainment,
Moving Pictures (I),
Scott Free Productions,
Trap-Two-Zero Productions Inc.