In spite of its feminist politics and the irritating way this movie has of reducing legitimate concerns to babble that can be refuted with simple, eloquent one-liners, G. I. Jane is a thoughtful, entertaining study of women in the military. It is directed by Ridley Scott, who hasn't let up on his feminist tirades since 1991's Thelma & Louise, but at least now he's back to making good movies.

The plot involves an experiment, set in motion by a senator advocating women in the military, to let a woman enroll in Navy SEALS training, the toughest and most rigorous of the U.S. military training programs. The movie handles some complex issues that this situation implies -- dissention in the ranks and interference by politics and the media among them -- and it handles them very well. I'm not normally a fan of Demi Moore, but here she created a compelling character and was perfectly believable in a role few other actresses could have pulled off.