20140603: Action Review--GI Joe: Retaliation

GI Joe: Retaliation

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2013, rated PG, 110 minutes, action, scifi.
2. IMDB: 5.9/10.0 from 110,396 audience ratings.  Estimated budget, 130 million USD; estimated world wide gross, 375 million USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 28% on the meter; 49% liked it from 196,820 audience ratings.
4. Directed by: John M. Chu.  Written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick.
5. Starring: Dwayne Johnson as Roadblock, Jonathan Pryce as President, Byung-hun Lee as Storm Shadow, Elodie Yung as Jinx, Ray Stevenson as Firefly, DJ Corona as Flint, Adrianne Palicki as Jaye, Channing Tatum as Duke, Ray Park as Snake Eyes, Luke Bracey as Cobra Commander, Arnold Vosloo as Zartan.


2. Setup and Plot


1. The current film is the sequel to GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009).  Since the first film, Cobra Commander and Destro are in custody. Zartan has successfully impersonated the President of the US.


2. The Joes get orders from the President to recover stolen nuclear weapons from Pakistan.  The mission is successful, but someone kills the Pakistani head of state.  This is pinned on Snake Eyes, and the whole mission is classified by the White House as the Joes going rogue.  Where do they get off stealing nuclear weapons?  The President orders that the Joes be sanctioned.


3. Roadblock, Lady Jaye, and Flint survive the attack.  Using secret channels, the trio reaches out to any other Joes.  They make face-to-face contact with General Joe Colton, who founded the Joes.


4. In an alternate thread, Storm Shadow and deadly ex-Joe Firefly spring Cobra Commander from the prison in Germany.  Cobra Commander abandons Destro in the process, and Storm Shadow is badly wounded before they can exit.  Storm Shadow retires to the Himalayas to recover.  Snake Eyes and Jinx capture Storm Shadow and take him to Japan.  Storm Shadow reveals that he only joined Cobra to get revenge on Zartan for killing his uncle.


5. General Colton helps the remaining Joes get close to Zartan and get a DNA sample to prove he is not the President.  With definitive proof, they prepare for more retaliatory action.


6. Zartan (as the US President) calls a conference of world nuclear leaders.  He tricks them into destroying all nuclear weapons, then shows them project Zeus, which allows Cobra to destroy whole cities with one shot.  Cobra Commander arrives and demands rule of the entire world.


7. Will the Joes be able to stop this plan and restore the legitimate President?  Will they re-capture Cobra Commander?  How many cities will be destroyed by the Zeus project?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: The action sequel to Rise of Cobra was quite a commercial success.
2. Two stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 9/10 Shaky at times, but mostly excellent.


2. Sound: 4/10 Bad sound leveling.


3. Acting: 4/10 I liked the performances of Dwayne Johnson and Jonathan Pryce. Otherwise, not so much.


4. Screenplay: 4/10 The segment where Zartan gets world leaders to fire huge numbers of nuclear missiles, then destroy them, was the most stupid version of 'Simon says' that I have ever seen. The lines written for Duke were indeed inappropriate, as Roadblock put it.  The supposition that the public will accept anything is still a bit tough to take.