G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra--Knowing is Half the Battle

This is the year of the toy movie comebacks with Transformers 2and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra hitting the big screen for the summer movie blockbuster season. And fortunately for those who grew up with these toys both films were good. G.I. Joe is an action packed film that never lets you get a breath. There is action, action and yes more action, as well as a decent storyline that sets up a nice sequel. There are a few campy lines such as "knowing is half the battle," but overall this movie is the summer thrill ride you have been looking for, it has awesome effects, decent acting and a good plot.

While fans of the comic books or tv show may find some fault with the plot of this film, it was a solid plot. We have a nice take over the world scheme set up by an arms dealer, McCullen, which presents us with the beginnings of the Cobra organization. Its begins with the invention of a new weapons that uses nanobot technology. The nanobots can eat anything destroying a whole city in minutes. The US Army orders a few which, of course, are stolen by an evil organization intent on taking over the world. Two of the soldiers that survive the attack, Duke and Ripcord, are recruited by an elite military organization called G.I. Joe. This organization is the only organization that has the training and the technology to get the weapons back from the McCullen's organization. The only problem is that Duke's old girlfriend is working for the bad guys, can he harm her in order to save the world? And can the Joe's get the weapon's back before the organization destroys a major city? You will have to watch the movie to find out. Intermixed in the major plot of get the bombs back from the bad guys is a series of flashbacks that each character has that gives you the background and beginnings of each character. I am told by my brother that some of the back stories are not the official back stories so that is where some die hard fans may find themselves a little upset. I liked how they did the flashbacks, they were in appropriate places that gave us the background we wanted without slowing down the movie.

The effects were great. Nothing looked too CG--eske. The vehicles has a futuristic yet realistic quality. They had some nice futuristic weapons as well. They had plenty of explosions, battles, hand to hand combat, car chases and everything seemed well-scripted and coordinated for the most part. The script was fairly well-done. They did have a few lines I could live without most of which were taken from the cartoon series, like "Yo Joe and Knowing is half the battle." They could have left them out but I understand them wanting to connect the movie to the cartoon series.

The acting was well done. I liked Dennis Quaid as General Hawk. He was the right combination of serious and not so serious. He had a good presence. Channing Tatum was great as Duke. He was the perfect soldier with a heart. I really liked the way they developed his character so that you got to know him and he friend Ripcord which was played by Marlon Wayans. Wayans was the right amount of serious yet comic relief. He kept the movie from being too serious. These two characters were developed enough so that they gave us someone to connect with in the film which is sometimes lacking in this action summer movies. Sienna Miller did a good job as baroness, she was very sheik looking and played the smooth baroness very well. Ray Park played a great Snake Eyes, which was a difficult role as he had to do all his acting with body language as Snake Eyes is masked and silent. Christopher Eccleston was great as the bad guy business man, McCullen. And you might recognize Arnold Vosloo (The Mummy from the Mummy Movies) as Zartan, the man with the ability to blend in. And Brendan Frasier has a cameo role.

Overall, I found this movie to be a fun, entertaining summer film. Sporting plenty of action and a decent amount of plot. If were a fan of GI Joe as a child or if you just like a good action film then you should enjoy this movie. Give it a shot and get yourself out of the heat of summer for a couple of hours.