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p18the tribune thursday august- 28 1997 j st b the tribune arts entertainment gi jane falls prey to hollywood conventions youve really got to hand it to demi moore although some of her recent films have been neither financial nor artistic successes shes not afraid to go out on a limb or do whatever it takes to make her characters as believable as possible for the universallypanned striptease she underwent cosmetic surgery and learned how to thrust and gyrate like a pro for her role as a single mother who works as an exotic dancer in the scarlet letter she went medieval to play glamourless harlot hester prynne for gi jane she shaves her head and builds such a buff bod that even toughguy hubby bruce willis would be envious like those other films however her per sonal sacrifices and willingness to live the part are all for naught in gi jane moore plays navy operations officer jordan oneil a smart ambitious and frustrated lieutenant whos restricted to desk duty because of the corps reluctance to allow women into combat she finally gets an opportunity to break through the glass ceiling when shes recruit ed to be the first female seal the navys elite combat battalion unbeknownst to oneil the opportunity is more than simply an attempt to bring equal ity to the seal program its actually being used to make political points a us senator anne bancroft wants to be known as the woman who helped make the corps coed while a couple of chauvin istic navy officers are anxious to see her fail and make a point that women arent fit to be soldiers much of the films action takes the form of a navy training film oneil is put through the paces and forced to participate in the same grueling exercises as her male coun terparts naturally she also has to overcome the resentment of her commanding officer and fellow recruits how deeply symbolic the war for equality continues off the battle field that kind of tired cliche is indicative of the flaws that plague the film directed by ridley scott gi jane is a vapid easter egg of a film its visually pleasing but empty like most of his recent screen scene stuart green films white squall black rain 1492 the conquest of paradise scott has created a big glossy noisy film that epito mizes style over substance when the action is out in the fields the film is wellphotographed albeit tiresome but when the story turns to the characters its just plain silly the situations are over dramatized the dialogue over scripted and the acting overblown moores performance is more notable for the personal offscreen sacrifices she had to endure during the filming than her on- screen work which is weak to say the least gi jane may have started with noble ambitions but it falls prey to hollywood convention early and often mimic also disappointing a similar fate befalls mimic the latest entry in this summers busy science fic tionhorror sweepstakes mira sorvino stars as entomologist susan tyler the head of a scientific team that develops a new breed of super bug which is used to stop a deadly plague three years after the plague ends though strange things start happening in new yorks underground the super bugs which were genetically engineered to die off in three months are believed to be responsi ble mimic starts out as a very promising fan tasy thriller with sorvino heading up a pretty solid cast that includes f murray abraham and charles s dutton but things fall apart about 30 minutes in when the action moves to new yorks underground actually a toronto sound stage there the film turns into a routine monster movie apart from some good special effects and a couple of genuine thrills mimic is very disappointing first female seal demi moore stars as the first woman allowed to train as a highly covert navy seal in rid ley scotts new film gi jane top viggo mor- tensen plays a naval intelligence officer who gives lt jordan oneil moore a hard time during train ing right a mud- covered moore per severes against nearimpossible odds to succeed in the most honoured fighting force in america wm