Go Joe!

Movie Review: G.I. Joe - The Rise of Cobra

Up front - I liked this movie! No kidding. I went in thinking, "Hey, this'll be fun. They will blow some stuff up. Some meatheads will fumble around their lines and then they will blow up some more stuff." And just so you understand this reviewer - I like that from time to time. Some times I just want to get a special effects/explosions fix and don't really need a plot or great acting to do that. But GI Joe came through in a big way.

For starters the action was great! They blended the CG and live action stuff well. The sequences flowed well and even pulled off advancing the plot unlike other many other action flicks where the plot the plot is usually the first victim when the action starts. The explosions were spectacular. The hand to hand combat was solidly choreographed and believable (mostly).

Speaking of plot, GI Joe not only had one, but it had a really robust one. The main story - deadly WMD's in the hands of the bad guys - was laid out very plausibly. But, don't order yet! There were even some really compelling subplots and story lines that managed to be woven in without convuluting the overall story ... Bravo! That takes talent and the talent reached into the writing, as well.

If you spend much time at all on the Action-Adventure aisle, you're all-too-familiar with Jug-head Heroes stumbling through their 5 minutes of dialogue and over-the-top villians who never seem to rise much above school yard bully in their character development. But, GI Joe delivers way more. All the actors delivered solid performances.

Overall, The great strength of this movie was in its self-control. George Lucas modeled this in the first Star Wars Trilogy: exploiting the current state-of-the-art techniques without letting them drive the action. This was the difference in GI Joe, too. They certainly brought the CG portions in with a bang (a lot of bang!), but they did push it so far that it weaknesses could diminish the quality of the production. Self-control also greatly helped the writing. The story lines were subtle and the writers had the reserve to let the actors and audience fill in the blanks a bit.

I like this movie. I would watch it again, and I certainly want to own it when we get a big Screen to watch it on. Go Joe!