G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra Review

Just as a warning there minor spoilers for the movie in the review though I'll try to limit it at best I can.

Review
Before I start this review for G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra I am going to admit I have never really been a fan of the toy franchise, cartoon, or have any experience reading the comic book. The only GI Joe toy I had as a kid was a Snake Eyes toy. Personally as a kid I played with those old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from the 80s and 90s cartoon, Power Rangers, and with some Marvel and DC superheroes toys. So going into this movie as completely new into the franchise with the only thing I know is that Snake Eyes is a badass.

Going into this movie I thought it would be a typical action movie that is nothing more than a waste of 2 hours. And really my expectations for this movie could have been lower.

From the few trailers and commercials I saw of this movie I went in thinking it would be similar to Transformers 1 and 2 teasers. I went in thinking Paramount Pictures, the distributor of the movie, just showed us all the action scenes in the trailers and not really have a good clear story behind it ala Transformers 2, though I did not hate Transformers 2 as I liked it for what it was.

But to my surprise I actually came out liking this movie a lot. Just like most first movies of a franchise now a days G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is yet another origin story movie of not the team but of the central characters of the movie namely Duke, Ripcord, Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow, The Baroness, and the Cobra Commander. Outside of those characters all the other characters origins are only briefly mentioned during the course of the movie.

From what I can tell the director and writers of the movie did a good job picking these characters as the ones to tell their origins about. All the characters had interesting backstories and for the most part the actors did a very good job giving these characters a lot of charisma and show why the characters are well liked by fans. Though at times there was the occasional cheesy dialogue that most action movies have anyways.

Out of the characters origin story that were the best told and detailed was the one showing us the connection between Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow and why they are rivals. And this whole movie could have be devoted to those two characters backstories and various fights and I would have been happy. The fight choreography for the whenever these two fought, whether in the childhood flashbacks or in the present, was very well done and the highlight of the film.

I honestly came out of the movie theater wishing we got to see more of Snake Eyes in the film than we did. The writers really did a great job with the character and showing why the character is such a badass.

Outside of those two characters probably my favorite character in the film was The Baroness. I've be lying if I didn't say that it was in no small part because of the actress portraying her, Sienna Miller, wasn't smoking hot. Sienna Miller did a great job giving The Baroness both the character plenty of sex appeal and badassness. I did find it interesting to see that The Baroness wasn't actually evil but being controlled by her brother, but more on him in a bit, and the relationship between her and Duke.

As for Duke and Ripcord, who could be considered the stars of the movie, were well handled for the most part as rookies within the Joes. I don't really have much to say about the characters other than they both played the role of the heroes of the movie, along with Snake Eyes, well. The actors did a good job giving the movie comedy, specifically Ripcord (Marlon Waynes), and they had a great scene with the accelerator suits.

Were this movie really falters is with the members of Cobra, outside of The Baroness, never really interest me, specifically the guys who play Cobra Commander and Destro. Something about the performance of the two actors just didn't click for me. The performance felt like it was enough to push the story forward to build up this movie franchise but they never do more than that to make either performance memorable. And didn't really like the connection between Cobra Commander and The Baroness as it felt a bit forced in order to give more drama for the two characters and Duke. But I guess for the origin movie that is fine, I just wish Cobra Commander would have worn mask from the toy and comic line than the metal mask that they gave him.

Also while Duke, Ripcord, and Snake Eyes were well developed the rest of the Joes weren't really well developed. The Joes from the Alpha Team, Hawk, Scarlett, Heavy Duty, and Breaker, were just their as supporting characters and never really given much to do other than watch Duke, Ripcord, and Snake Eyes save the day. And with how strongly The Baroness was developed throughout the movie I couldn't help but feel that Scarlett could have been develop much more than she was.

Now as for the plot itself it was probably the most comic book feeling type story that these toy/comic book based movies have been. At no point do the writers try and convince you that this is something that could take place in the real world. The whole plot felt like something straight of a comic book.

While that may sound like a bad thing it's not. I actually think it is a good move by the writers, director, and producer to make this movie franchise feel like it is a comic book as almost every comic book movie being produced is aiming to make the story and characters feel like they can exist in our world. And I think they set up the movie as a good launching point for a movie franchise especially with how the movie ends.

Personally, the movie's plot is actually refreshing as everyone involved just lets their imagination run wild and try to think of some things that wouldn't be possible in the real world and make them happen in the movie.

The Joes secret base is under a desert in Egypt, the villains have big secret underwater base in the North Pole, accelerator suits, camouflage suits that make you invincible and have a 360 sight, holo deck-type training, and other stuff that would not exist in our world. And that is really what has been missing from other comic book movies like Batman, Spider-Man, Superman, The Fantastic Four, and others were they try and give a scientific explanation for everything to make you think this stuff could actually happen. It is not a bad thing for those movies and I have actually liked what they've done with Batman Spider-Man, and Iron Man but having that sense that this stuff can only happen in your imagination is a nice way for G.I. Joe to set itself apart from other comic book movies.

As for the CGI work done in this movie I will say that there were specific spots like when we first go to the desert location were the Joes are located and other scenes that weren't very well done. Some of them, specifically the first desert scene, felt like it was work done for an old PS2 game. Overall though the CGI did a good job with all the action scenes and the accelerator suit scene in Paris was fun to watch.

Were this movie does shine though is all the action we get in the movie. There very few slow moments in the movie as there was almost always some sort of action going down or someone getting beat down. And really that is what I came into this movie looking for. The movie plot was secondary. The fight and stunt coordinators did a very good job giving this movie plenty of great action scenes. I especially liked the fights between Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow that we get throughout the movie with their fights in the past and present.

Now would I put this up there with my favorite movies of the year? Not really, but for what it was G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is an entertaining 2 hour action movie. G.I. Joe is one of those movies were you just got to go in thinking it as a good action movie and nothing else. As long as you go into this movie expecting that, similar to how you have to think of Transformers 2, you will like. But if you are expecting greatness from the movie you will be highly disappointed. Just go into the movie theater thinking about having some fun watching some good action and let your imagination run wild and you will most likely like the movie.

Final Verdict
Good summer/popcorn action blockbuster movie that is fun to watch that is worth watching. As long as you do not have high expectations about getting a great story and just have fun with it. And really that is what watching movies is all about. Just go in and enjoy the ride.

Movie Rating – 7.5 out of 10

Movie Review: The Dark Knight (Spoilers!!)

When I think of films that have captured what makes comics great they would be Spider-man 2, X2: X-men United, Batman Begins, and Iron Man come to mind. Now comes The Dark Knight, the sequel to Batman Begins, that has now set the standard for how to take already well beloved characters and take them to the next level. I know that it may sound a bit dramatic but the truth is that The Dark Knight was truly not just an awsome comic book movie but one of the best movies I have ever seen, if not the best. Everyone who worked on this film from the director, writers, stunt crew, actors and who ever else work on this film capture everything that makes Batman and his universe so great.


What makes The Dark Knight such a great movie is not the fight or chase scenes, which were great, but the psychological aspect that Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, and Aaron Eckhart brought to their respective characters. In this movie Christian Bale is playing a Bruce Wayne that has been Batman for about a year and has scared all the gangs of Gotham into hiding. One of the best things about how Batman is portrayed here is more of a symbol to be feared by criminals. Nolin did a smart thing to start the movie by having Lt. Gordon turn on the Bat-signal knowing Batman may not appear. But the real reason he turned it on was because he knew that every criminal in Gotham will see the Bat-signal and be scared off because it means Batman is out patrolling the city. This was an excellent way show how much criminals fear Batman's presence.


The letter Rachel wrote to Bruce before she left Wayne Enterprises was a brilliant move by Christopher Nolin. Throughout the movie Bruce was thinking about retiring from being Batman to live a normal life but we all know Bruce can never give up being Batman. And the letter Rachel wrote basically reinforced this fact because Bruce may be right that there may come a day Batman is not needed but Bruce may not be able to give up being Batman when the time comes. Almost every inch of Bruce's life is centered around being Batman that he is Batman and that the Bruce Wayne we see on screen or read in comics is just a mask.


I have to praise the performance of Heath Ledger because his Joker is the definitive Joker that all other Joker's will be compared to.I know that was a mouthful but Ledger's performance was truly top notch and I hope that he does get an Acadamy Award for this role. What was great about Ledger's performance is the psychological aspect he, Nolin, and the writers brought to the Joker. Because throughout the movie the Joker was almost always one step ahead of Batman, Gordon and Dent. Even when he was caught the Joker already had an escape plan no one saw. The way the Joker is portrayed he made every character question there actions and that people can be corrupted given the proper motivation. This brought an interesting question to Batman's moral of never killing and in the end Batman proved to be strong enough to not be corrrupted by Joker's influence.


Probably my favorite scene of the movie was Joker's magic tick that involve a pencil it was both histerical and showed how sadistic the Joker is. This is not the same Joker as Jack Nicholsons Joker. Unlike Nocholsons Joker, who was actually given a name (Jack Nappier), was the one who killed Bruce Waynes parents, crack some jokes, and was more out for himself as a mob leader, Ledger's Joker had no motivation outside of his own entertainment of watching people suffer with zero empathy. But if you are a person that liked Nicholsons portrayal of Joker than you may not like Ledger's performance. I say this because I have heard and read articles that did not like Ledger's performance because they might be expecting a much tamer version such as Nicholsons Joker. Me personally loved Ledger's performance.


Now the third star of this film was Aaron Eckhart who brought a much, much, better performance as Harvey Dent/Two Face than Tommy Lee Jones previous performance, which was horrible. What is interesting about Dent in this movie is that he started of as probably the most honorable person in the movie, people in Gotham even call him "The White Knight," but was corrupted by the death of Rachel (SPOILER!!) and Joker's influence. I actually thought that we would not see Two-Face until the end of the film to set up the sequel but is was suprised he turned to be the second villain of the film. Also the parallels between Bruce and Harvey in the film was impresively presented because Harvey, at least the first half of the movie, was what Bruce Wayne could have been if his parents weren't killed. Also how both dealt with the death of their loved ones was portrayed similarly since in the first film(Batman Begins) Bruce was out to kill his parents killer but chose not to and train himself so it would not happen again. But for Harvey could not take the timme Bruce took to get over Rachel's death like Bruce did and took action immediatly. So Harvey's downfall was tragic in the end.


Also let me just mention the performance of the supporting cast. Morgan Freman and Michael Caine turned in excellent performance as Lucious Fox and Alfred, respectively, because they were both the moral compase to Bruce Wayne giving him advise when needed. Gary Oldman performance as Lt. (later Commissioner) James Gordon was great because he played the straight man and turned in one of the best line of the film by saying Batman is not a heor but a guardian of Gotham. Maggie Gyllenhaal, who replaced Katie Holmes, Rachel Dawnes was provided the neccessary job for the role and her death was impactful when it happend.


In the this was an excellent film that may go down as one of the best films made, at least the best film of the year. Now only if DC could have taken advantage of The Dark Knight and made there move to sell more books. But that is not the case since this month DC got beat again by Marvel in sales but that is another topic altogether. If you have not seen The Dark Knight yet than do yourselves a favor and see the movie.

Movie Rating: 10/10