Plot
A female Senator succeeds in enrolling a woman into Navy SEALS training where everyone expects her to fail.
Release Year: 1997
Rating: 5.6/10 (30,905 voted)
Critic's Score: 62/100
Director:
Ridley Scott
Stars: Demi Moore, Viggo Mortensen, Anne Bancroft
Storyline When a crusading chairperson of the military budget committee pressures the would be Navy secretary to begin full gender integration of the service, he offers the chance for a test case for a female trainee in a Navy SEAL-style training qualification. LT Jordan O'Neill is given the assignment, but no one expects her to succeed in an inhumanly punishing regime that has a standard 60% dropout rate for men. However, O'Neill is determined to prove everyone wrong.
Writers: Danielle Alexandra, David Twohy
Cast: Demi Moore
-
Jordan O'Neill
Viggo Mortensen
-
Master Chief John James Urgayle
Anne Bancroft
-
Lillian DeHaven
Jason Beghe
-
Royce
Daniel von Bargen
-
Theodore Hayes
(as Daniel Von Bargen)
John Michael Higgins
-
Chief of Staff
Kevin Gage
-
Instructor Pyro
David Warshofsky
-
Instructor Johns
David Vadim
-
Cortez
Morris Chestnut
-
McCool
Josh Hopkins
-
Flea
Jim Caviezel
-
Slovnik
Boyd Kestner
-
Wickwire
Angel David
-
Newberry
Stephen Ramsey
-
Stamm
Taglines:
Failure is not an option.
Release Date: 22 August 1997
Filming Locations: Beaufort, South Carolina, USA
Box Office Details
Budget: $50,000,000
(estimated)
Opening Weekend: $11,094,241
(USA)
(24 August 1997)
(1945 Screens)
Gross: $49,000,000
(Worldwide)
(8 March 1998)
(except USA)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
Director Trademark:
[Ridley Scott]
[ceiling fan]
There is a large ceiling fan in the cabin during SERE training.
Goofs:
Continuity:
Near the end, when the helicopters are flying in to support the soldiers, it is possible to see in at least one shot that the Cobra helicopter's rocket pods are empty (the sun shines through the tubes from the back). Later, the same Cobra is shown firing its rockets, even though this would not be possible.
Quotes: Sgt. Cortez:
You know O'Neil, I like you better when you drink. Lt. Jordan O'Neil:
You know Cortez, I like you better when I drink.
User Review
Don't believe the rating
Rating: 9/10
OK this is going to be a bit long... but it will be good food for
discussions.
Yes, this movie is "Hollywood". The Plot line is predictable, but it is
the concepts that the director explores along the way that make it
interesting an thought-provoking, assuming you pay attention and didn't
just rent it for the bang-bang, or a chance to see Demi in a wet
T-shirt. Ridley make some mistakes, but he does some really good things
too. Let me comment on what some other people have said, and talk about
what I think Ridley does well with this film.
I think Mr. Scott gets a really excellent performance from Demi. I feel
this is her best film, but I haven't seen to many, because she usually
gets on my nerves. However, she is believable in the role of a woman
who just wants to prove to herself that she can do this. I believe her
when she says she doesn't want to be a poster child for women's
rights... and the Commander is right in telling her that she's gonna
have to wear that hat anyway.
Viggo is great too. I don't think too many people knew who he was when
this movie came out, but he was even billed above Anne Bancroft.
Someone said he looks embarrassed in every scene... hogwash. He looks
like a very tough character in a very difficult situation. He knows
that the issue is not whether a woman can make it, many can. This isn't
about women's rights... this is about how men, mainly YOUNG men, relate
to women in stressful situations. If all soldiers were in their late
thirties, emotionally and psychologically, then the issue would be much
smaller. Most of these guys are young, dumb and full of... you know the
rhyme. I was there too, once upon a time. Viggo is excellent, he reacts
the way many military instructors would... trying to stop the
inevitable, fighting against politicians way over his head who have
never been in the crap, but think they know better. Pay attention, you
can just see that he respects LT O'Neil. But he believes he has to make
an example out of her. Ms. Bancroft is excellent as well, some people
say over the top, they obviously haven't had to deal with high level
politics before. Perhaps she is a bit rough for reality, but remember,
it is a movie, making a point, and being entertaining, things have to
be gritty... and Senate will always be more vicious than any military
training. I find her performance fun and a joy to watch.
I don't know if Mr. Scott has any military training, but he does a
better job of conveying the realities of it to the screen than most.
Yes, the SERE segment goes farther than real SERE training would go...
but not by much. Talk to someone who's been through it. It would not
have been the same group of instructors... it's a very specialized
field and the instructors have extensive psychological screening and
training. However, I'll give that one to Ridley, he's trying not to
complicate the plot, and he needs the scene with Master Chief Urgayle.
BTW Women do go through SERE sometimes... and the instructors do use
them against the men's emotions.
As for other Militray stuff, much of the language, feelings about chain
of command, frustration with training constraints and political
a**-covering was /On The Spot/. I speak from 6 years of experience as
an Army officer (some of the stuff you see on active duty is amazing,
but in the end it all balances out and the US Armed Forces are still
the best in the world). Even the way Ridley has to frig with the plot
to put the trainees in a an actual firefight was plausible... not
possible, but plausible. Remember, it is a movie, he's got to have a
real combat situation to entertain the dumber audience who just came to
see the boom. But Ridley even goes far enough to give the Master Chief
a chance to back out. It is a group of Navy SEAL trainees, deep into
their training cycle, with a buttload of prior experience (IF you pay
attention you will note that one of the trainees is a US Army Ranger,
one a Marine, probably from RECON, these are guys who know the job
already, and this is true to reality). You are also talking about a
straight forward mission facilitating extraction of US Army Rangers
from the deep inland mission. Ridley even has that right, this would be
a Ranger mission, and the Spec-ops community may do a joint op where
the SEALS secure the sea-side extraction point.
Quite frankly... the movie is better than most people could have done.
Matter of fact, I think it was a tough challenge for Mr. Scott and
don't think anyone could have done much better. One bad point I agree
with is that artistically, the movie is shot entirely too dark.. that's
about the worst thing I can say about it though. As for plot
predictability... how often do you REALLY see an original plotline?
One last comment. I was at the Army Officer's Advance Course when this
movie came out. There was a group of Officer's that were gong to see
this movie, ostensibly to have a good laugh. These were
Ranger-qualified Infantry guys, a Marine officer from RECON, a couple
guys going to or coming from SF training... all Type A's. The next day
they weren't laughing... they just said "you know what, that wasn't
half bad." That don't sound like much, but it's high praise from that
group.
Probably why this has such a poor rating is because it isn't Hollywood
enough for the lowest-common-denominator crowd.
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