Movie Review: G.I. Joe film takes weaponry and science to another level

When the G.I. Joe team is around, desert sands swirl, cars crash, polar bears run, people walk through each other and sword fights leave lasting memories. Women fight like men, tempers flare, and science and spy gear defy all odds.

“G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” stars frontrunner actors like Channing Tatum (popular for the film “Stand Up”), Marlon Wayans (of the Wayans brothers), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Majestic from “Get Rich or Die Tryin’” and Mr. Eko in “Lost”).

I saw this movie partially because of childhood memories of playing with G.I. Joe and the rest because I wanted to see if Marlon Wayans could realistically play the role of a no-nonsense soldier with a specialty in weapons. And Wayans (who played partner-in-crime Ripcord) surprised me in his role. Of course he threw in a comedic line or two with lines like, “Dead guys don’t break dance” and chased after Scarlett (played by Rachel Nichols) on a treadmill and everywhere else they were both in close proximity to each other, but he held his own in this action flick. And in Channing Tatum’s role as Duke, the two had excellent chemistry as a tag team.

The summary of the film is about the G.I. Joe team fighting a corrupt arms dealer called Destro, in addition to the criminal crew, the Cobras, who have every intention of destroying the world. From Paris to Egypt to polar ice caps, the G.I. Joe Team, which consists of the best worldwide army, are not impressed by the Cobras and vice versa. Both want access to weaponry that is forceful enough to eat the Eiffel Tower and make steel bulletproof jets disintegrate. But the confusion in trying to annihilate each other and gain access to these four weapons resembling lava lamps comes in when Duke finds out that his fiancée Ana (played by Sienna Miller) is on the Cobra team. This couple hasn’t seen each other in four years. Feelings are there—and not necessarily good ones either.

The weaponry tricks were a highlight of the film because they didn’t just kill people; they did stranger things to make them suffer. In the first two minutes of the film, there was a scene that made “Saw” movies look like a comedy—gory would be the only word to use.

The united camaraderie between all the actors made their actions more believable, although the Cobras were just a little too clean for their own good. No matter how many cars flew over heads, people murdered and attacks made, Anna’s temperamental partner Storm Shadow’s (played by Byung-Hun Lee) white outfit looked like it’d just left the cleaners. But his borderline sociopathic actions made “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” that much more entertaining. However, it was the strength of the women in this film, both Scarlett and Anna, going at each other that made the film a little better than past action flicks. These ladies really didn’t need the men to fight their battles—they could hold their own in pretty much any situation.

The plot was clever, the action scenes kept my attention and the dialogue was entertaining. This film is an easy 5 out of 5 stars.

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