G.I. Joe: Retaliation

Starring: Channing Tatum, Dwayne Johnson, Jonathan Pryce, Byung-hun Lee, Ray Stevenson, Adrianne Palicki, Elodie Young, Joseph Mazzello, RZA, Bruce Willis, Ray Park
Directed by: Jon M. Chu
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Adventure, Science Fiction
2013

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: The G.I. Joes are framed and disbanded. A few survivors band together to stop Cobra and clear their names.

Review:

Tim: The first G.I. Joe film was alright. It was probably better than expected, but not as good as it needed to be. With a somewhat lackluster debut, I can't say I had the highest hopes for G.I. Joe: Retaliation. Most times, the sequel is worse than the original, and this potential franchise didn't have a whole lot of breathing room before we get into awful territory. However, Jon M. Chu manages to make a film that is very close in quality to the first movie. This still isn't a good film, but it's not all that far away.

I'm both bemused and intrigued by the decision here to move away from the hero of the first film, Duke, played by Channing Tatum. Tatum once again reprises his role, but it's a significantly smaller one. The hero of this film is Roadblock, played by Dwayne Johnson. That's an odd thing for an action franchise to do, but it actually works. While I do wish we had more scenes involving Duke, Johnson is a major upgrade over Channing Tatum. If I had to choose one of these two actors to watch on screen for an hour and a half, I'd choose Johnson ten times out of ten. So, while I missed Tatum, I really didn't miss him all that much. Halfway through the film, I didn't even care about his lack of screen time. That not only speaks volumes about Johnson's performance, it's pretty clear that Tatum isn't an irreplaceable actor.

Johnson is just perfectly made for these kinds of film. While his acting is only fine, he's just the ideal action star, and it was fun seeing him fighting COBRA and engaging in all the action sequences you'd expect from a G.I. Joe movie.

While this film still felt a little too silly for me, it was significantly more serious than the first film. The original sometimes strayed too far into comic book, Saturday morning cartoon territory. While this film does that on occasion, it's to a significantly lesser degree. The story felt more rooted in reality. Now, that being said, this movie requires a massive suspension of disbelief. A perfect example is what happens with the nuclear weapons. At once, this was a brilliantly written, incredibly suspenseful sequence. However, it was also completely ridiculous- it would never work in any sort of realistic way in the actual world in which we live. You could marvel at the cool turn of events, even as you lamented how absurd the whole thing was. This happens throughout the film- it gives you something very cool, but takes a step back because it's just so hard to believe.

Outside of Johnson, the cast was mostly just average. There were a few decent performances, but nothing that really sticks in your memory. It felt mostly like a collection of B or C actors. I will say that I enjoyed seeing Bruce Willis here, even though it felt like he was slumming it a bit. The cast was okay, but nothing special.

The special effects are pretty good, and there's some interesting action sequences. There's nothing especially offensive or awful about this film. Unfortunately, there's nothing particularly memorable or exciting about it, either. As a whole, G.I. Joe: Retaliation is a very average, decent action film. It's fine, but there's nothing special here. This is a franchise that probably will continue, but it'll never matter.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Transformers, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, The Mummy, Van Helsing