GI JOE movie review

Caught G.I. Joe the movie on saturday,

I must confess that this film was for me a breath of fresh air compared against the blockbusters of this year. A brief recap on that would be,

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Watchmen: A simple proof of how being completely faithful to its roots didn't quite pay off for the response it got, though i must say i loved that film. It faces the strong dilema of being incomprehensible for people new to the story, and falling short of expectations for the hardcore fans. ( hey, where's the f*ckin' GIANT SQUID we paid to see, zack? )

Terminator Salvation, possibly the biggest crush of expectations for a film which shoulders the reputation and distinction of its predecessors. IMHO the biggest flop for a blockbuster this year. Poor scripting, piss poor graphics. And yes Bale's one dimensional ''intense'' portrait all the way. Rule of thumb? ( don't take a Charlie's Angels' Director )

Transformers: Pure Robot Porn. Whilst the storyline was somewhat non-existent, or nonsensical, ( reviving Jet Fire with the broken shard when Sam COULD'VE used it on Optimus hence spanning the film for an extra hour, and that's just one out of many loopholes ) the visual aesthetics and visual graphics of the film pretty much quenched the inner child. Trnasformers seriously made the impossible possible. Bringing Robots we'd always wanted to see come alive, to life.

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however back to the point, we've not had a balance of great visual aesthetics and a decent storyline with good enough laughs to qualify for a decent blockbuster yet till now...

While i honestly did find some of the graphics to be pretty distinguisable, considering the quality of graphics and level of advancement in technology we've seen so far in the field of graphics, G.I. Joe's director really should try harder...though i will not critize this film based on its graphics for it sure does make up for itself.

Whilst the graphics may not be top notch, the storyline was interesting and coherent even for newcomers to the G.I. Joe franchise, and the director's adaptation of a Hasbro toy line, spanning from toys to comics, all in itself deserved some form of merit.

Casting was pretty suiting, i must say that Lee Byung-Hun as Storm Shadow was good, furthermore his portrayal as the Arch rival and sword brother to Snake Eyes was good, though i would've loved to see more of their brother/rival/ evolution to nemesis backstory...
on another note, storm shadow's murder of his master due to jealous was a pretty cheap shot considering Storm Shadow in the comics was falsely accused of doing so, with the assasin mistaking the master for Snake Eyes, resulting in Storm Shadow's masters' death, causing the rift and animosity towards his sword brother.

I felt too that the change of the Cobra troopers from the Klu Klax Klan hoods to metal skull masks were a nice touch to the modernization of most comic fanfare. However if i could nitpick, i wished that they hadn't changed Cobra Commander's Mask, it being rather iconic to me. Destro was pretty spot on too, and the explanation for the forming of Cobra Troopers and their unwaivering loyalty was pretty well done.

Besides that, one could never talk about G.I Joe without mentioning the Baroness, yes, yes, she sure does give the boys a run for their money. But most importantly, evil never looked so good before.

What intrigued me more than the Snake Eyes/Storm Shadow chemistry was Snake Eyes' suit. It sure does pack up a hell lot of bulk, reminiscent to that of Batman from Batman Begins. And it took me a while to realize that Snake Eyes was wearing a suit, in a sense they didn't quite say if he was wearing a suit, and i was mistaken for a while thinking that the whole rubber outfit he was in was supposedly his muscled body coated in black paint or something, and the fact that he wore a hoodie or some other form of coat over it in scenes at the base whilst his teammates were out of their gear, had me thinking it was his body instead of a suit.

Then again, it would be nice if they dropped the bulk off snake eyes and gave him a lean muscled frame something like that of ryan reynolds...

I particularly loved the introduction to the film where i was pretty much wowed by the sets, the guns, the trucks, and the grand entrance of the JOEs

All in all the film was pretty well balanced out, and for a Toy line thought up by Hasbro to be brought into silver screens with a decent storyline, action and backstory sure is on helluva achievement, and Stephen Sommers sure did deserve every bit of credit for that. Yeah the graphics weren't top notch, yep we had some cheesy lines, ''YO JOE'' every now and then from General Hawk, but hey, what's the film without its cheesy fanboy kid appealing cheer? Though what tickles me to be ridiculous is the whole scottish language to activate the weapons of the Night Raven.

The story does flow well and the humour and mild violence does make it a kid friendly and family approved action blockbuster, whilst some would rate this film down harshly or draw comparisons from The Dark Knight, a "standard bar" for comic book adaptations, videogames, or toys, i say enjoy this film for what it truly is, a well adapted film suitable for fanboy and family alike.