Enjoyed G. I. Joe: Retaliation very much and here's my review. But beware of SPOILERS!
First of all I’ll talk about the plot, in other words “the
story” of the movie. While G. I. Joe: Retaliation is no Matrix, this isn’t
Expendables 2 either. I always believed the script of The Expendables 2 was
written with just 2 lines. The Matrix series was rich when it comes to its
story. However, I love the way how Retaliation is written. Special mention should
go to scenes such as revealing Storm Shadow as Snake Eyes and how Zartan
eliminated Nuclear Weapons of other G8 Countries. Those kinds of scenes were
cleverly written and were honestly good surprises for me though I’ve seen every
Retaliation trailer ever existed. Some of the dialog written were very well
done. Roadblock commenting “Damn Ninjas” was a clever allude to the popular
internet quote “Damn Ninjas Cutting Onions”. There’s humor thrown in but the script didn’t went
overboard with it.
Creativity, is one of the strong points of G. I. Joe:
Retaliation. The opening sequence felt like ARAH with its opening narration
similar to the usual “G. I. Joe is a code name for… Cobra; a ruthless terrorist
organization…” etc. Speaking of which, Joe collectors love Diorama and the set
pieces felt as though gigantic Dioramas and the credit should go out to the Set
Designer. It is very clear that Jon Chu must have been like an adult kid playing
with life sized G. I. Joes. All throughout the film we feel that with all the
action, weapons and vehicles. The movie is open for future development. Hints
of new characters were hidden in the opening narration (“Is that Major Bludd I
just saw?”) and Joe Colton handing over his pistol to Roadblock indicated ‘this
is just the beginning’. Flint’s beret was a nice touch too. Speaking of
creativity, having Channing Tatum on promotional materials must be one of the
biggest Marketing Ploys ever done in the entertainment industry (I say it as a
good thing rather than a bad thing). Duke was handled much much better than ROC,
which brings me to…
Characterization. When we first heard the movie was little
over 90 minutes many expressed their concern regarding there may not be enough time
to flesh out the characters. But we have forgotten the fact that this movie was
directed by Jon Chu who previously directed Justin Bieber’s Never Say Never. If
he can make a character out of JB*, he is certainly up to the task for the
second Joe movie. Anyway, where was I? Oh yes! Character Development was very
strong in this movie. In fact Storm Shadow storyarc was one of the strong
points of the movie. Arishikage Clan felt like how it suppose to be. A special
mention is the Father-Daughter relationship between Joe Colton and Lady Jaye.
The general felt very real like how a retired war veteran should be; he was
strong, proud and above all else teased Lady Jaye a.k.a Brenda but deep down
cared like it was his own daughter. The kind of character we expect from any
retired war veteran. Speaking of Jaye, the character of Flint was strong too.
He was stubborn at first but after the event of Duke’s death became more
responsible fellow. There was a certain G. I. Joe: Renegades vibe to him. Which
reminds me… the Cobra Commander. He felt as though from Renegades. The look and
the way he keeps a low profile behind Zartan is exactly how the personality of
Renegades Commander who operated behind Baroness.
G. I. Joe: Retaliation is action packed. In fact it felt too
Michael Bay-ish. Some of the times I had a hard time keeping up with all the
explosions, punches, kicks and shooting. Honestly, there were times I went "What
the flying f*** is going on here?!?". But the trailers made the action so
clean and polished. The confusion is a minor complain. Overall, it is a good
popcorn movie like The Avengers.
There were other negative aspects but the movie was overall
so good, I have honestly forgotten them all by the time I got home. But the
massive disappointment was to learn how much they have edited out from the main
movie. In fact, entire TV Spots were missing (ex "Fist",
"Gentlemen"). While watching the scenes during the credits, I
actually shouted "Why did they leave that out?!? What were they
thinking".
I need to talk a bit about Special Effects. This is no
Transformers, but special effects were much better than ROC; where everything
felt fake. Despite the movie is a Post Converted 3D, it felt as though it was
shot in 3D from the start. CGI was good and realistic.
Finally, I’ll put every minor complain aside. To me G. I.
Joe: Retaliation was completely positive. The movie was enjoyable for both Joe fans
and the general public. Last time, they could have renamed ROC as Action Man
and still call it not a Joe movie despite the character names. Retaliation felt
like a movie based on the G. I. Joe Franchise right from the start till the
end. This is how it should have been done the first time around. Mr. Jon Chu,
you have my respect.
*No disrespect meant for Justin Bieber fans.
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