Sunday, August 30, 2009

Reel American Hero

After reading lots of negative stories online--as well as mostly unflattering reviews about G.I. Joe The Rise of Cobra...My expectations were sufficiently lowered going into it...Add to the mix that I had all but bypassed cartoon series from 20 years ago...My only knowledge of the universe and characters was in playing with the toys for a brief time in the 70's....Imagine my surprise upon leaving the theater to note that the pic actually was better than I thought it was going to be.

Not a picture to change the medium or its genre by any stretch--It's just a highly entertaining action packed summer romp...Pure and simple...and guess what? There's nothing at all wrong with that...



In the near future, weapons expert James McCullen (Christopher Eccleston) CEO of MARS industries has created a nanotechnology-based weapon capable of destroying an entire city. He sells four warheads to NATO, which asks the US Army to deliver the warheads. Duke (Channing Tatum) and Ripcord (Marlon Wayans) are delivering the warheads when they are ambushed by the Baroness (Sienna Miller), whom Duke recognizes her as his ex-fiancee Ana Lewis.

Duke and Ripcord are rescued by Scarlett (Rachel Nichols), Snake Eyes (Ray Park) and Heavy Duty (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje). They take the warheads to The Pit, G.I. Joe's command center in North Africa, and upon arriving rendezvous with the head of the G.I. Joe Team, General Hawk (Dennis Quaid). Hawk takes command of the warheads and excuses Duke and Ripcord, only to be convinced to let them join his group after Duke reveals that he knows the Baroness.

McCullen is using the same nanotechnology to build an army of soldiers with the aid of the Doctor (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), detonating the warheads to cause panic and bring about a new world order. Using a tracking device, McCullen locates the G.I. Joe base and sends Storm Shadow (Byung-hun Lee) and the Baroness to retrieve the warheads with assistance from Zartan (Arnold Vosloo)...



Director Stephen Sommers unleashes an assault of action that will dazzle razzle and excite--somehow making it work. The film knows exactly who the target audience is--doesn't try to hide it or turn it into something else--Which made me as an adult strangely content. For once--I didn't care that a summer film had effects and action on overload... It's not supposed to be intricate and sophisticated--If you were expecting that here. Find it elsewhere

The cast is just fine also helping things along by not taking the material or themselves too seriously.

The script by Stuart Beattie, David Elliot and Paul Lovett connected dots creating backstory where none had existed before...Cobra Command and its Cobra Commander are given an origin for example...

One could pick apart the film all day long for sure--One effects shot involving Ripcord and the White House looked super cheesy and fake---But the film's problems didn't matter all that much really. The sequel set up is there...And I would go back for another round



The best way to ensure that you enjoy GI Joe TROC as an adult is to simply go with it and accept it as escapist entertainment built around action figures and toys targeted for young boys.

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