G.I. JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA (2009)

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"‘Technically, this unit doesn't exist. But if it did, it would be comprised of the best soldiers from across the world.’"

This film is filled to the brim with action and content making for 118 minutes of continuous entertainment. This highly stylized film is heavy on the special effects which almost put the viewer into visual overload. The special effects are good, but some did not quite make it in my opinion, especially the silver aircraft, it just looked cartoony to me. While there were scenes that you could tell were done in front of a green screen, if you did not think about it too much you could ignore the little flaws in the special effects department.

One of the things I liked about this film is it does not try to be something it is not, a very serious film with a bunch of lessons in morality. It is what you expect, a fun big-budget action filled movie with the apparent hopes of a sequel. Yes there are certain things that could have been done better, but I think I expected as much. I do hope if there is one (the probability is good) that they improve upon this one and fix the discernible flaws. I would also like to see more of 'Snake Eyes' for we did not get to see enough of him as an adult in the movie.

I guess a bunch of eye-rolling and cheesy moments should be expected from this film but this one seemed to have more than usual. They were scattered appropriately throughout the film but to me there were just too many of them. The acting was not fantastic but decent enough. Hopefully should there be a sequel the director will concentrate on the acting a little more so some of the characters are not so wooden, especially Channing Tatum. But I have to say the cast had chemistry and each brought something to their perspective roles. I also was bothered by how much 'The Doctor' resembled Darth Vader with even the breathing (toward the end of the movie especially). I felt this could have been a little more imaginative.

I am not going to write a synopsis of the film because there is literally too much ground to cover in order to be a decent overview. I will say the movie revolves around science, technology and 'nanobite' technology. Amid all the action you do find yourself wondering exactly how long it will be before some of these things will be a reality, especially the training facilities.

BOTTOM LINE:

When I think of G.I. Joe, I think of the action figure my brother had when we were kids and I used him to play with my Barbie dolls. Other than that I have no other image or familiarity with the character/concept so I went to see the film with virtually no expectations whatsoever. I found the film overall to be exciting, fun and action packed. I would recommend it to anyone who can see it without expectations and for what it is, a big-budget action flick filled with cool special effects and explosions. It is not a film that can or should be nitpicked because in my opinion that would take all the fun and enjoyment out of it.

Thanks for reading.