G. I. Jane MPAA Rating: R Entertainment: +2 1/2 Content: -2 1/2

Navy intelligence officer Lt. Jordan O'Neil (Demi Moore) sets a historic precedent when she is recruited as a test case to be the first woman allowed to train for the highly covert operations unit known as the Navy SEALs. Selected for her courage, skills, and levelheadedness, O'Neil is determined to succeed in the most demanding, most merciless, and most honored fighting force in the world, in which 60% of her male counterparts will fail. Under the relentless command of the Master Chief, O'Neil is put through weeks of physical and emotional turmoil. Everyone is expecting her to fail, from the senator who is using O'Neil as her re-election puppet to the commanding officer who hated the idea to begin with. However, O'Neil perserveres, and when the final training exercise turns into a real recovery mission, she must gather all her courage to save the team and the mission. Adult audiences will be engaged by the fast-moving and intriguing plot of this film.

G.I. JANE offers a warts-and-all look inside D.C. politics and Navy power channels. Military commanders are portrayed as male chauvinists, and a corrupt senator sells out O'Neil to make a deal for her re-election. As with many military movies, foul language and violence abound. Particularly disturbing are the 55 obscenities, and a violent scene in which O'Neil and her team are captured during a training exercise. The team members are brutally interrogated and O'Neil is nearly raped. In addition, O'Neil has a sexually active relationship with her boyfriend, and that relationship is depicted as wholesome, although no nudity or sex creeps into the action. Most of the military personnel smoke heavily and drink hard liquor. Yet, in this tirade of offensive material, the message of G.I. JANE never gets lost -- the highly controversial idea that women should serve on the front lines of war. Moviegoers will be too shocked and appalled at much of the action to enjoy the movie.

Preview Reviewer: Jason Shepherd
Distributor: Hollywood Pictures, 500 S. Buena Vista St., Burbank, CA 91521