G.I. Jane

The other memorable line doesn't bear mentioning here, not because it's especially profane, but because it would be a shame to spoil its effect, but I'm pleased to say that it ranks right up there with "Get away from her you bitch!!" the sume taunt from Ripley in Aliens. Need I say more!

Demi Moore in G.I. Jane does a Bruce Willis, a Diehard in Army gear, and you get the idea from her bloodied, impassioned performance in G.I. Jane, that she's just been aching to have a go.

She plays Lt Jordan O'Neil, a blood hungry Navy Intelligence Officer who's been wanting to get into combat to do a Bruce Willis, but can't because of gender bias.

An ambitious Senator, Lilian DeHaven, (played with depth by veteran actor Anne Bancroft) allows her to get into the gung ho Navy Seals training program; a program designed to break a good many very tough men in a very short time. Will our G.I. Jane make the grade??

I was reminded in G.I. Jane of another fantastic female warrior on film. The female marine in Aliens was all muscles and guts with the boys, and immensely strong and emotive character.

That Demi Moore's O'Neil in G.I. Jane can be included on the same team as that magnificent stousher is a tribute to the determination Moore was able to live into her part.

This sort of plot doesn't promise much to those who find fulsome cinematic blood and guts loathsome, but G.I. Jane is well worth seeing even by those with a more developed emotional timbre, because the tension doesn't drop and on a lesser scale there's some depth developed within an unlikely lot of characters.

The director is probably the key. Ridley Scott has directed Alien, Blade Runner, Black Rain, and Thelma And Louise; a list that includes at least one masterpiece (Blade Runner).

In addition Thelma And Louise certainly isn't a weak film and some consider Alien to be superb, as indeed it was when it was released. Ridley Scott has turned an unlikely candidate in G.I. Jane into a film well worth seeing.

And that's in spite of some devastatingly banal plot turns in the last reel, (they could hardly be called twists), including a dictable transfer of the trainees into actual combat, and an equally dictable rescue of the "Masterchief", her chief enemy by one G.I. Jane; a device common in these sorts of films, and one that is high indeed on my "groanablity stakes".

Demi Moore has finally come up with another strong performance, but it's taken her over a decade. About Last Night was made in 1986 and is a favourite film for me. Others have found her appealing, but her slight rough, "girl next door" persona hasn't been transferred into huge success.

I suppose that G.I. Jane won't make her a superstar either, it's hardly a glamourous role, but O'Neil in G.I. Jane won't be forgotten. Moore is devastating in a very effective film.