by Kroze Kresky, Media Editor
Hasbro hasn’t had the best of luck when it comes to adapting their franchises to the silver screen. G.I. Joe, Transformers and Battleship have been all considered critically subpar, and nothing besides Transformers has made a dent at the box office (despite being multi-million dollar action summer blockbusters). In another attempt to use the G.I. Joe license, a psudo-sequel to 2009’s The Rise of Cobra that once again hopes to capitalize on what should be an easy over the top action military popcorn flick using the property. G.I. Joe: Retaliation is the result.
In Retaliation, some time has passed since the previous film. Cobra Commander and Destro have been captured and stored away within a secret government facility. During this time, Duke (Channing Tatum – G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra) has fully established himself in the Joes as their leader and commands the entire force. Recent recruits Roadblock (Dwane Johnson – Fast Five), Flint (D.J. Cotrona – Skin) and Lady Jaye (Adrianne Palicki –Red Dawn) . Meanwhile in the White House, Zartan has been impersonating the President (Jonathan Pryce) and using his position of power to manipulate the government into destroying the Joes and convincing the world they stole a nuke.
A strike force is sent out to destroy the Joes, with a bunch of them including Duke dying in the attack. Roadblock takes up the leadership mantle to get revenge on those who would seek to destroy this team as him, Lady Jaye, Flint and the original Joe (played by the aged yet still major ass kicking Bruce Willis – Die Hard) must make it back to the states before Cobra is able to complete their master plan.
The plot and dialog of this film is much improved over Rise of Cobra, putting fun back into the equation. The action sequences are quite spectacular and over the top, most notable of which is a vertical ninja sword battle on the side of a mountain. The entire sequence is possibly the best moment of the entire film and is fully worth going to see the film (especially in 3D) to see this battle as it is one of the most imaginative fight sequences seen in recent years. Much credit goes to Jon M. Chu who normally is known for his work on the Step Up movie franchise and various music videos who transitions into the action movie genre perfectly and makes these battles work.
Something that might bug long time Joe fans a tiny bit is while some characters are completely spot on to their comic/show counterparts (Zartan and Lady Jaye mainly), others such as Roadblock are completely altered from their original versions to more fit within the overall plot of the film.
What can’t be excluded from being mentioned is all of the nods to the original series and toys from the franchise left and right in this film. Normally these movies (and the old school animated series) are only made by Hasbro to help sell toys but seeing a lot of these vehicles in a live action film like this really made this reviewer’s inner 5 year old squeal with happiness and glee. If you were familiar with the show and the toys then you will fully enjoy all the nods contained within this film.
Overall
G.I. Joe: Retaliation is a much vast improvement over its predecessor and finally shows Hasbro has nailed this whole adapting their various franchises over into big screen flicks. While many people will be sad about how Duke is killed off within the first 15 minutes of the film but it works to distance itself from Rise. If you are in the mood for a fun entertaining popcorn action flick then look no further than G.I. Joe: Retaliation to begin the blockbuster action movie season!
ComicsOnline gives G.I. Joe: Retaliation 4 out of 5 “GO JOE!”s.
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