The General's Daughter is a crass study of internal military politics and cover-ups, another in a chain of poor role choices by John Travolta. Simon West's angry thriller thinks it's latching onto a timely issue, decrying the poor treatment of women in the armed forces, but instead comes off as a simplistic and misogynist film in which a rape victim (Leslie Stefanson) becomes the base slut before being strangled to death. It's not that any movie featuring a prominent female soldier must portray her as a saint, but the treatment of Stefanson's character is so casually harsh that it borders on irresponsible filmmaking. One of the more distressing elements in this often graphic film is the lingering scene of Elizabeth Campbell's rape, which feels more like pornography than the loftier goal of brutal realism. Madeleine Stowe's rape counselor and investigator is also treated as something of a fool, and it's hard to distinguish whether it's the Army or West who views her this way. Not that many of the male characters come off any better -- James Cromwell, Clarence Williams III, Timothy Hutton, and James Woods are all seething caricatures, with only Woods rising above the shallow character written for him. Travolta is rather beastly himself, chip firmly planted on shoulder, pointing fingers in people's chests and biting his lip with years of built-up rage. Add in gaudy flourishes that are left over from West's days as a commercial director, and the film is cheapened further.