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G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (Two-Disc Edition + Digital Copy) [Blu-ray]

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.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)

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars THE BEST REVIEW
BACKGROUNG

I was a fan of G.I.JOE cartoons back in the 80’s. I’m 34 years old now. I would say that this movie is only based on the G.I.JOE idea, resulting in a very a different concept. The characters are also different from the original ones. Some more than others. The similar ones (in appearance at least) are Scarlett, Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow, General Hawk and the Baroness. Others are completely different and only the original names remain.

PLOT

The plot is similar to most of the recent tv/movie remakes, telling about the origins of the characters and re-writing the original story to make it work for the XXI century (Batman Begins, Ironman, Transformers, Spiderman, Star Wars, Star Trek….etc).

It’s an action packed summer sci-fi style movie. Please don’t expect an Oscar winning drama. If you just sit back and relax you will end enjoying this movie. If you are a hardcore fan of the original 80’s cartoons/comics and expect an exact replica of the looks, characters, concept and story, you will be disappointed.

In this new story the “JOES” are not “Real American Heroes” anymore, but an international division of the best soldiers of many nations. If you loved the “patriotic” American concept of the original show/comics you may not like this new idea. But it’s not a bad idea. Remember that current troops in Iraq are not only American; there are also British troops, Spanish and other nationalities.

The plot works well. Tells the story of how a powerful unscrupulous multinational company becomes a terrorist organization (as a fan, have you ever wondered how Cobra get’s money to finance weapons, planes, armies, etc?… well they first were the largest weapons manufacturer of the world, this makes some sense).

PERSONAL COMMENT

Many people is complaining about a weak non-realistic plot, but please remember that the original cartoons were filled with a lot of sci-fi and even fantasy situations (monsters, lost reptilian civilizations…etc). This movie rescues the sci-fi part of the cartoons creating futuristic technology applied to weapons, planes, suits…etc. Too much CGI for you?, well remember that the original show is 100% animation, so don’t complain!

CAST

Most of the actors perform very well (again, remember we are talking about a summer action film, don’t expect Marlon Brando-Godfather style dialogues or dramatic Schindler’s List-style situations). You’ll find Christopher Eccleston (as Destro) very interesting, and also Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the future Cobra Commander; Sienna Miller is brilliant as the Baroness, and Byung-hun Lee is a perfect Storm Shadow. Channing Tatum is perhaps the weakest link here as I think he never fully understands his role as Duke. Josh Duhamel, who plays Major Lennox in Transformers could have been a better choice (compare both performances).

MUSIC

The music of the film really could have been better. It sounds plain and generic. I would love an adaptation of the G.I.Joe (cartoons) song for future films.

CONCLUSION

If you are looking for a good sci-fi pop corn movie just to spend a good time and have fun, this is the perfect one for you. If you are a “purist” of the original concept (show/cartoons) you may hate it but you should accept that the original looks were something similar to the Village People, so the change is not that bad dude!

I can’t wait to see the next one!

YO JOE!

4 Stars Loved Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow
I loved the actors whom played Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow, they got their characters down to a ‘T’!

The rest of the movie however, so-so, the story line could use a bit of tweaking.

4 Stars GI Joe goes high-tech with great special effects
4 of 5 stars for the action movie G.I. Joe. OK, so I’ve lost touch with some of the new things… When you say GI Joe to me, I think of the action toy GI Joe with his circa WWII Jeep and uniform. I seem to have slept thru all of the various modernizations of GI Joe including the comic book, cartoon movies and newer toys. So, going into this movie, I had no expectatoins of what it would be. So, I’ve learned that the action toy has morphed into an elite military unit with sci-fi special weapons and tools. Only the elite become GI Joe’s (men and women) who work out of “The Pit”. This movie was very well made. Action from the first minutes to introduce the team during a firefight to protect a truck convoy. Next we find the hero of protecting that convoy is taken to the Pit and introduced to the team; after traning he becomes a GI Joe. The bulk of the movie was focused on the recovery of the item taken from that truck convoy and learning who was behnd the plot. Some good twists and unexpected things. Great action, wow sets and special effects that were seamless, the characters were a bit flat and 2-D hence the 4 stars. Oh, did I mention great action (yes, I did). This is a fun movie to watch and is worth a couple of bags of popcorn to enjoy. I do recommnd it. The blu-ray had sufficient behind-the-scenes contents on a second disk in the set, however, that disk and materials were on SD on a DVD; too bad, no HD extra contents. I do recommend this movie.

5 Stars Good Entertainment
Hollywood is turning out decent movies this year, hollywood blockbuster films are filled with fun, action, entertaining pictures. I like how the storyline went, and especially the two main characters. Good stuff.

4 Stars Daddy’s little girl
My dad wanted the bluray version of G.I. Joe to view on his HD , large projection screen tv. He is the ultimate movie lover. So he loved the dvd.

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