Editorial Review:

Description:
Based on Hasbro’s immensely popular action figures, G.I. Joe is the ultimate elite fighting force, engaged in an extraordinary action-adventure matchup of good versus evil! In G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, the G.I. Joe team, armed with the coolest hi-tech gadgets and weapons, travels the world from the Egyptian desert to the polar ice caps in a high stakes pursuit of Cobra, an evil international organization threatening to use a technology that could bring the world to its knees.

Amazon.com:
The Rise of Cobra is not your grandfather's G.I. Joe. It's more like C.G.I. Joe with explosive special-effects action sequences that provide the film with a surplus of "Boom Boom Pow" (to quote the Black Eyed Peas song that drives the end credits). This blast from the summer past is very much like the metal-munching nano-mite missiles a (literally) mad Doctor (Joseph Gordon-Levitt cashing in some of his indie cred) and McCullen, a Scottish weapons dealer (Christopher Eccleston), threaten to unleash upon the world. It never stops. Ever. The original G.I. Joe action figure was an all-American hero. These Joes are--all together now--"the best of the best," an elite multi-national squad. Two soldiers, Duke (a buff Channing Tatum), an "on the ground, in the fight" kind of guy, and Ripcord (Marlon Wayans), his wisecracking best friend, are rescued by the Joes after they are ambushed while transporting the missiles. These are no ordinary Joes. Snake-Eyes (Ray Park) is a silent ninja, Stella (Rachel Nichols) a bodacious brainiac, Heavy Duty (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) the imposing weapons specialist, and Breaker (Said Taghamaoui) the techie. They are led by gruff Gen. Hawk (Dennis Quaid), who barks out lines like, "When all else fails, we don't," with polish. Duke and Ripcord are recruited to join the classified unit after Duke discovers that Ana (Sienna Miller), his former fiancée, is in cahoots with McCullen and now sports the sinister moniker the Baroness, not to mention killer cleavage-enhancing latex outfits. This being the first in a budding franchise, there is much backstory to cover. Flashbacks date back to 1641! But the order of the day is underground military command centers, underwater evil lairs, gleaming high-tech weaponry, breakneck chases, and cool gadgets, such as a speed-accelerating hydraulic suit. It's enough to make you want to dust off your original Hasbro action figures or, the studio no doubt hopes, buy the new ones. --Donald Liebenson

Stills from G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (Click for larger image)

This movie is full of action. Sometimes you can have a little too much action, but very good.

Average Rating:

Rating: - Action
This movie is full of action. Sometimes you can have a little too much action, but very good.

Rating: - G.I. Joe - The Rise of Overyhype and Merchandising
I've always held to the belief that the more of an attachment one has to literary characters, the more apt that person is to criticize a cinematic portrayal of those characters. The G.I. Joe comics were a big part of my life growing up, so when I heard that a movie was being made - scheduled for an August 2009 release (August is, traditionally, a month for dud movies to be released) - I was skeptical.

As far as the acting goes, some of it was adequate, and some of it was awful. Dennis Quaid completely phoned in his performance as General Hawk. Channing Tatum was bad as Duke, and needs to seriously consider an acting class before making another movie. While the casting of any Wayans brother is historically box office poison, Marlon Wayans actually didn't hurt the movie as much as I expected. I was more surprised that he was cast as Ripcord, rather than Stalker (although it made sense as the story unfolded). Snake Eyes, to me, would be the character that could either make or break this movie. Ray Park, as usual, didn't disappoint. He's usually cast as "the guy who kicks ass but doesn't talk", and this film was no exception. His martial arts sparring with Storm Shadow was one of the highlights of the movie. Christopher Eccleston is perfectly cast as McCullen, the arms dealer who goes on to become Destro. I spotted this movie ten percent on my rating (yes, I really am that shallow) because of Sienna Miller's portrayal of The Baroness. She is, in my opinion, the sexiest recreation of any female comic character on-screen...yes, I'm going to say it...ever. She is a million fanboy fantasies come to life. Her character is also pretty authentic to the source material, unlike Breaker, who was changed from a bubble-gum chewing Tennessean to a man of Arabic descent.

Some of the dialogue was bad. REALLY bad. There are references to the cartoon that are cheesy, and somewhat forced. Origins and background on certain characters are told in flashback mode. In some cases, that worked, and in others, it didn't. I'm all for suspension of disbelief when entering a movie theater, but when that suspension of disbelief is so great that I risk giving myself brain damage, then I have a problem with it. G.I. Joe was always about superior weaponry and technology. However, if you honestly believe that a suit that weighs at least 100 pounds can cause a man to run faster, jump higher, and climb walls with the ease of Spider-Man, then go ahead. The plot is thin, but I wouldn't call it "ridiculous", as based on the context in which it was presented.

The action scenes were very well done. The scene in Paris emphasized that the conflict between G.I. Joe and Cobra was boundless, as well as punctuated the mercilessness of the Cobra. The climactic action scene at the end was presented with a breakneck pace, and was well done. The CGI, overall, was lacking. Some of the CGI in this film was unfit for a Coca-Cola commercial, let alone a big-budget Hollywood movie.

There are a few interesting twists in the movie if you were never a fan of the comic or show. If you were a fan, then you see these twists several scenes before they happen. While the movie came to a satisfying conclusion, it also left just enough thread to create an interesting sequel. Based on the subtitle of this film, I'd imagine that's exactly what the producers had in mind. We'll see. I'd really like to see Hollywood make movies like this into more serious films, rather than a schticky one. `The Dark Knight' told the world that it's OK to make comic book movies for adults, and it would have been nice to see G.I. Joe get the same kind of treatment.

I walked into this movie fully expecting it to suck out loud, based on the critics' - as well as many moviegoers -- response to it thus far. I don't think the movie was dreadful, per se, but parts of it were very cheesy and much exaggerated. This movie is, for all intents and purposes, an extended toy commercial. If one goes into the film expecting a Scorsese-caliber film, then of course you will be disappointed. If you go in expecting a silly, fun, somewhat intentionally over-the-top summer popcorn movie, and simply want to be entertained for two hours, then you very well might enjoy `G.I. Joe - The Rise of Cobra'.

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Rating: - Solid Movie with a hyperactive ending
I had heard a lot of bad stuff about G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra and it was, for the most part, a bad rap. Sure, it wasn't set back in the 60's when G.I. Joe was founded, but World War 2 and Vietnam movies have been done to death. So, it was refreshing to see them take G.I. Joe in a completely different direction. The future. With new weapons, new technology and new faces.

Sure the script has been criticized as being non-existent and smothered by action sequences and special effects. Yet, G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra is by far, a more creative and involving story than many actions movies of recent, as in, anything by Roland Emmerich, Twilight movies or whatever. It actually is a fast and furious pace with an actually very complicated story. That to me, was the problem. Because the fast and furiuos pace would brush over the story elements with a very thin brush and so when the ending finally got there, there were way too many loose ends and they all seemed to come pouring down in the final 3 minutes.

They could have slowed down and made the story elements more important, but all in all, what you get with G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra is an energetic, cyber-weapon summer flick that gave people what most summer movie viewers want, slam bam action with cool effects.

If anything, G.I. Joe tried to do TOO MUCH story, and didn't cover all of it or give it justice because they were more interested in pleasing the teenage crowd that buys the tickets. People like me, a 40-year old male who likes that stuff too, but would rather save his money to get by on bills, enjoyed the heck out of it in his living room with some surround sound and some Orville Redenbacker.

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Rating: - Movie Bad!
This movie is close to one of the worst I have ever seen. The plot, special effects, and acting are all downright horrible. This should have been a release-to-DVD movie or ABC miniseries.

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Rating: - Had potential... Wayans kills it
This is on par with the latest Transformers movie (Rise of the Fallen) in its excessive use of computer graphics for the action scenes. The story wasn't bad, but the casting of Marlon Wayans as Ripcord really REALLY killed it for me. I kept waiting for the next Scary Movie gag to appear. He really tries to act, but is more suited for comedies than anything else. He ended up being a major distraction. Hopefully the next Joe film will replace him with a real actor. The pacing of the film seemed a little off to me as well. All in all, it was watchable... but I had hoped for something with more character development and a cohesive story line. Maybe this was the setup for Joe 2.

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