G.I. Jane (1997)

57% of critics liked it
(30 reviews)
58% of users liked it
(143,022 ratings)

Ridley Scott directed this flawed but involving study of Lt. Jordan O'Neil (Demi Moore), a Navy topographic analyst who is chosen as a test case for the presence of women in combat. Aware that she is making history and knowing that 60% of all male trainees will fail the rigorous training, Lt. O'Neil… More Ridley Scott directed this flawed but involving study of Lt. Jordan O'Neil (Demi Moore), a Navy topographic analyst who is chosen as a test case for the presence of women in combat. Aware that she is making history and knowing that 60% of all male trainees will fail the rigorous training, Lt. O'Neil struggles to prove herself physically and mentally worthy of becoming a Navy SEAL. What she doesn't know is that she is being sold out by hardbitten Texas senator Lillian DeHaven (Anne Bancroft in an amusing turn), who is being blackmailed by the Defense Department with politically fatal base closings unless O'Neil fails the program. The complicated political subplot, however, only distracts from the film's real virtues -- the wonderfully staged scenes of CRT selection training -- and fizzles at its climactic moment. The training scenes are wonderful, however, as the central recruits are pushed to their physical limits by a grueling weeding-out process. Viggo Mortensen is outstanding as Master Chief John James Urgayle, a steely-eyed, tough-as-nails instructor who somehow finds time to quote D.H. Lawrence when he isn't making people eat garbage and beating O'Neil senseless as part of a training exercise. Mortensen and the believably-buffed Moore are terrific, and their scenes of confrontation are the film's high points. Unfortunately, the screenplay by David Twohy and Danielle Alexandra falls down every time it attempts to sidestep a cliche, and the climactic mission (involving a downed satellite in the Libyan desert) positively wallows in a predictable Top Gun muddle. Still, the characters are engaging and those looking for an enjoyable variant on the basic-training subgenre of high-octane modern action films should be pleased. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: R, 2 hr. 4 min.
Directed By: Ridley Scott
Written By: David Twohy, Danielle Alexandra
Genres: Drama, Action & Adventure

In Theaters: Aug 22, 1997 Wide
On DVD: Aug 28, 2001

Critic Reviews

Rob Gonsalves, eFilmCritic.com
A rabid piece of militaristic pulp with a crucial and commercially shrewd difference: The hero, the soft clay to be molded into a steely instrument of death, is a woman.
James Plath, Movie Metropolis
A better movie than I expected, with decent performances. If only the script were a little more original, and the characters less familiar.
Christopher Smith, Bangor Daily News (Maine)
From 1997, a movie that explores whether a woman has the grit, the strength and the nerve to survive Navy SEAL training, with a bald Demi Moore sweating, swearing, smoking cigars and fighting in head-to-head combat to prove that she can.
Brian Mckay, eFilmCritic.com
Unrealistic execution of an intriguing idea - a woman in the Navy SEALS. Moore is intimidating - and built! Viggo Mortensen gives an excellent early performance.
James O'Ehley, Movie Gurus
The problem isn't that Ridley Scott is the Leni Riefenstahl of the U.S. military industrial complex, but that the man has no politics at all . . .
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
Shows how zeal can be a spiritual dynamo bringing out the best that is in us.
James Sanford, Kalamazoo Gazette
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.
Jeffrey Westhoff, Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)
Scott oversells every shot.

Read all 8 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

Jeff "

G.I Jane is an pretty interesting film to watch. Directed by Ridley Scott, G.I Jane tells the fictional story of the recruitment and training of the first woman Navy Seals. I don't understand why this film has gotten so many bad reviews. Granted it's not the best Ridley… More
G.I Jane is an pretty interesting film to watch. Directed by Ridley Scott, G.I Jane tells the fictional story of the recruitment and training of the first woman Navy Seals. I don't understand why this film has gotten so many bad reviews. Granted it's not the best Ridley Scott film, but it's as hell ain't his worst. People seem to hate this film because it's a different type of film for Scott. Obviously the big thing surrounding the film is the fact that Demi Moore had to shave her head for the part. Though not a perfect film, this is still a pretty good one. Viggo Mortensen is obviously the best actor here. G.I. Jane is a very interesting look at the Navy Seals, though flawed due to Hollywood dramatization. The film does give you an idea of the hard as hell training of the elite Navy Seals. G.I. Jane is a very entertaining film with political overtones due to the fact that the story revolves around a senator trying to further her career by having Demi Moore fail the Seals selection course. Not perfect in any way, G.I Jane however is very entertaining and has some cool scenes of boot camp training. Obviously cliched, the Seals are portrayed as dumb Jarjheads, which is an aspect of the film that doesn't work, because most people in the military are very intelligent and are University graduates. Unfortunately with yet another film like this, the soldiers are seen as dumb sexists, which for the most part isn't true in the military. That would be my only beef with the film. Other than that, G.I Jane is a good film, though not excellent by any means, and definitely isn't Ridley Scott's best. However it's far from his worst. Expect from G.I. Jane an innacurrate but entertaining look at the Seals program, and you may not be disappointed. And as far as I'm concerned, after her dreadful film, Striptease, this is a far better film for Demi Moore, and actually this is her only good performance.
Wahida K

Awesome perfomance by Demi Moore.
Jani H

"Suck my dick!" Ridley Scott has made several films that are on my top list of all-time movies ('Gladiator', 'Alien'...) and consider him to be one of the most talented directors "on the market". I remember when this film came out and there was… More
"Suck my dick!" Ridley Scott has made several films that are on my top list of all-time movies ('Gladiator', 'Alien'...) and consider him to be one of the most talented directors "on the market". I remember when this film came out and there was a lot of fuzz about Demi Moore's role in the movie because... Oh my God, she shaves her hair! After just completing 'Striptease' she sure as hell has a fine body but there's actually pretty much nothing fine about this movie. The military needs women. I think that women can manage any role just as long as they have the strength to succeed in more demanding jobs. This is what 'G.I Jane' is all about. The Navy Seals are considered to be one of the toughest groups and now it's time to get a tough ass chick in there. The plot / script is what it is but if I could say it with one word, then the word useless would do just fine. Crap comes next to mind... Instead of making this a story about the strentgth of the human mind, Scott just wants to complete the movie in an easy way. The end conflict sequence is just so utterly bad that I can't really remember it by now (finished the movie 5 hours ago, my first and last time with 'G.I Jane'). The actors are totally lost and the only thing I could think about was the "Gunther" mustache that Mortensen had and the lost puppy face which Jesus.. sorry, Jim Caviezel had on his face. So nothing special to report here! Next issue! 'G.I Jane' is by far the worst Ridley Scott film I have seen. I'm not at all surprised that after this movie he had a three year absence before completing 'Gladiator', which is a movie of totally different caliber. Maybe he should take longer breaks in the future as well? Skip this movie, you won't get nothing good out of this.
Anthony L

It?s only just over 10 years old and already its dated really badly! Viggo Mortensen & Anne Bancroft do a good job though!
Lady D

The ultimate movie of sex equality, it does have it?s ?Holywood Action? moments, which are set to dramatic music, but this is certainly my favourite performance by Demi Moore and of course you have to admire her athletic form in this film. Incredibly, it took me at least two… More
The ultimate movie of sex equality, it does have it?s ?Holywood Action? moments, which are set to dramatic music, but this is certainly my favourite performance by Demi Moore and of course you have to admire her athletic form in this film. Incredibly, it took me at least two watches of this film before I realised it starred Viggo Mortensen (a neme that keeps popping up recently with surprising results).
Film C

I really liked this film..WOMEN POWER! its great i like the fact demi moore against all odds proves women are just as fit mentally and physically to to battle anything so really worth a watch its action packed and inspirational
Dean M

Demi Moore does the most amazing and daring performance of her career in this powerful action film.
Candy R

Demi joins the Navy Seals and goes through grilling training.
Rachel F

Really good.
xGary X

All the usual boot camp cliches are in effect here, given a feminist spin as Demi Moore attempts to become the first female Navy Seal. Ridley Scott displays his usual visual panache (although the final action scenes are almost wrecked by some uncharacteristically unsophisticated and… More
All the usual boot camp cliches are in effect here, given a feminist spin as Demi Moore attempts to become the first female Navy Seal. Ridley Scott displays his usual visual panache (although the final action scenes are almost wrecked by some uncharacteristically unsophisticated and jittery camerawork) and it has a grittiness missing from many of these kind of militaristic flagwavers. The fact that it's so predictable and has the inevitably cornball ending means it's hardly Scott's finest hour, but it's a lot better than anything else I've seen Demi Moore in.
danny d

sort of stupid and pointless
Jason S

Where's your hair?
Leigh R

Well done movie on Demi's part.
Deb S

Demi Moore, with grim determination plays Jordan O'Neil, a Navy lieutenant accepted as the first woman in the SEAL training program. Here Jordan, nicknamed "G.I. Jane," is certainly sinewy and impressively buffed, able to do one-armed push-ups and upside-down sit-ups… More
Demi Moore, with grim determination plays Jordan O'Neil, a Navy lieutenant accepted as the first woman in the SEAL training program. Here Jordan, nicknamed "G.I. Jane," is certainly sinewy and impressively buffed, able to do one-armed push-ups and upside-down sit-ups for hours on end putting herself through hell in order to convince military chiefs that women should be allowed on combat duties. The aspect of feminine intelligence is highlighted again and again within the screenplay and evokes in O'Neill a strength and resiliency that allows her to "gut it out". She seeks not to outdo the boys, but to be accepted as one of them. (A nasty fight scene, in particular, was quite well staged.) Viggo Mortensen played a spectacular bad guy with a heart of gold as Master Chief Urgayle. Things become a little silly and implausible once a training mission turns into the real thing, but it remains enjoyable. <a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=2i8bwg0" target="_blank"><img src="http://i53.tinypic.com/2i8bwg0.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a> <a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=2lnzck6" target="_blank"><img src="http://i54.tinypic.com/2lnzck6.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a>
Yinalí R

Amazing, powerful and inspiring; but other than that, I think it needed more plot parts that would compliment the story better.
Andrew F

It was dumb. It just kept going and going. There were hardly any action scenes, and it was boring.
Anastasia B

i just give it a 3 because I like girls with shaved heads... LoL otherwise, it's one of the worst films in terms of politics and it's the first sign in Ridley Scott's career, that he sold out- e.g. next big trash war film: Black Hawk Down.
Dimitris S

Bollocks!And I mean it!I would never expect such trash from a cult director like Ridley Scott,and there he is: masked with the feminist propaganda,a militaristic bullshit from top to bottom (not miss Moore's),especially the recreation of idiotic war units by… More
Bollocks!And I mean it!I would never expect such trash from a cult director like Ridley Scott,and there he is: masked with the feminist propaganda,a militaristic bullshit from top to bottom (not miss Moore's),especially the recreation of idiotic war units by challenging,no,wait,opposing the big guns (meaning the upper ruling class,army in our occasion) and hey,what joy,victory is inevitable!Erase this piece of patriotic understatement with the snap of the finger! Half star more for Ridley's technical skills.
Nikki M

Its always nice to see a girl kick some ass, way to go Demi!!! :]
Sarah P

Demi Moore was great - a real "girl power" movie!