G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Plot synopsis:
In the near future, weapons master James McCullen (Christopher Eccleston) has created a nanotech-based weapon - nanomites designed to devour metal and other materials, capable of destroying anything from tanks to cities. The nanobots can only be stopped by activating the kill switch. His company M.A.R.S. sells four warheads to NATO, and NATO troops led by American soldiers Duke (Channing Tatum) and Ripcord (Marlon Wayans) are asked to deliver the warheads. Their convoy is ambushed by the Baroness (Sienna Miller), whom Duke recognizes to be his ex-fiancee Ana Lewis. Duke and Ripcord are rescued by Scarlett (Rachel Nichols), Snake Eyes (Ray Park), Breaker (Saïd Taghmaoui), and Heavy Duty (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje). They take the warheads to The Pit, G.I. Joe's command center in Egypt, and upon arriving, rendezvous with the head of the G.I. Joe Team, General Hawk (Dennis Quaid). Hawk takes command of the warheads and excuses Duke and Ripcord, only to be convinced to let them join his group, after Duke reveals that he knows the Baroness.
McCullen is revealed to be using the same nanotechnology to build an army of soldiers with the aid of the Doctor (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), planning on using the warheads to cause worldwide panic and bring about a new world order. Using a tracking device, McCullen locates the G.I. Joe base and sends Storm Shadow (Byung-Hun Lee) and the Baroness to retrieve the warheads, with assistance from Zartan (Arnold Vosloo).
After a fight, Storm Shadow and the Baroness retrieve the warheads and take them to Baron DeCobray, the Baroness's husband, for him to weaponize. Making their way to Paris, the Joes pursue the Baroness and Storm Shadow, but are unsuccessful in stopping them from launching one of the missiles. The missile hits the Eiffel Tower and releases the nanomites in it, destroying the tower and some of the surrounding area before Duke manages to hit the kill switch, but in so doing, he is captured and taken to McCullen's base under the Arctic.
The Joes locate the secret base and fly there, as McCullen loads three missiles with nanowarheads, which are aimed for Beijing, Moscow, and Washington, DC, the world's three most important cities. He intends to do this to strike fear into the hearts of every man, woman, and child on the planet, after which they will turn to the person with the most power in the world, the President of the United States. After Snake Eyes takes out one missile, Ripcord destroys the remaining two using a stolen M.A.R.S. prototype Night Raven jet, while Scarlett, Breaker, and Snake Eyes infiltrate the base. Snake Eyes duels and prevails over Storm Shadow. Duke learns that the Doctor is Rex Lewis, Ana's brother, believed to have been killed by a mistimed airstrike during a mission led by Duke (also the origin of the alienation between Duke and Ana). Rex had encountered Doctor Mindbender (Kevin J. O'Connor) in the bunker and was seduced by the nanomite technology, taking too long to retrieve the data and getting caught in the bombing, which disfigured him. After freeing Duke, the Baroness is subdued, as the Doctor reveals he has implanted her with nanomites, which has put her under his control for the past four years. Attempting to kill Duke, McCullen ends up being burned, so the Doctor and he flee to an escape vessel. Duke and the Baroness pursue him while the Joes fall back; when the Doctor activates the base's self-destruct sequence, which involves 'blowing the ice cap' to create blocks of ice which then nearly crush the Joes.
The Doctor assumes the identity of the Commander, having healed McCullen's burned face with nanomites, encasing it in silver and naming him "Destro", which places McCullen under the Commander's control. They are captured by G.I. Joe soon after. On the supercarrier USS Flagg, the Baroness is placed in protective custody until they can remove the nanomites from her body. Meanwhile, Zartan, having had his physical appearance altered by nanomites, infiltrates the White House during the missile crisis and assumes the identity of the President of the United States of America (Jonathan Pryce), thus completing a part of McCullen's plan to rule the world.

Tags: murder, violence, flashback, good versus evil, action, revenge, entertaining

Review:
The practical effects are believable, but the computer graphics are mostly cartoonish and detract from the visual impact of the film, so its hard to say go see it even if your standard for a good movie is if they blow stuff up in new and interesting ways.I did enjoy the sheer audacity of its failure.
This is a popcorn/ summer action movie/ and a way to relive some childhood memories for those of us who grew up watching the cartoon, or playing with the toys.For those of you complaining about plot holes, and/or unbelievable science.........
Sommers can direct good action sequences (the pursuit on the streets of Paris is stunning!) and although the film is obviously overblown with ridiculous gadgets and over the top plot lines, it doesn't matter because Joe succeeds in it's ONLY primary mission: to be entertaining.
This movie may have a questionable script, some sub-par actors (Some were surprisingly good for a popcorn movie which is applaudable) and some Team America style action (They seemed to cause a lot more damage to Paris then the terrorists plan to) but the film can not help but be entertaining.
It has what Transformers 2 had which was good special effects, but what Transformers 2 lacked was entertainment which this movie definitely has, even if it is n't a very good movie from a movie point of view.While lots of people and critics alike are going to bag the hell out of this film, I think as long as you go in with an open mind a low expectancy of the movie to hold any sort of realism you will have a pretty good time, which is really the reason the film was made (After the money of course).Overall, this film is a good watch for non fans of the series at least but, not having seen the cartoon I cant speak for existing fans of G.I. Joe but I had a good time, and I think a lot of other people will 2 as long as they can maintain an open mind..
While one can afford to leave one's brains at the door for popcorn flicks such as these, Bay had forgotten than they have to be basically fun to watch, and magically he had dumbed Transformers down to a mind-numbing bore.Enter Stephen Sommers, who had a couple of box office successes with the action-adventure genre in The Mummy movies, so this guy obviously knows what he's doing, and it shows.
I suspect if there was going to be more movies, then the case dossiers of the Joes would get their respective air time.Otherwise, like the subtitle mentioned, it's more of a bad guys take all film, where surprisingly the Joes always a step behind, from the first action sequence until the last.
The best part of course is echoing some sentiments whenever opportunity allows in lambasting a superpower's policies, including a subtle jibe that most of the world's terrorist type problems, stem from ineptness and how the monster came to grow from within.G.I. Joe was much better than expected as pure entertainment, and you really shouldn't give this a miss as it might just restore your faith in big-action summer popcorn flicks that takes a huge leaf out of their cartoon counterparts.
I was very looking forward to the G.I. Joe film, not because I'm a fan of the toys or the animated series, but because I knew what to expect: tons of cool special effects and some really exciting action.
Yes, there is a lot of action in this movie, but it is of the comprehensible sort, meaning the viewer actually knows if his favorite characters are in danger and also has the opportunity of enjoying and being marveled by the special effects instead of watching balls of fire and tons of CGI that doesn't make sense.
He looks good during the action sequences, but that's about it.The main reason, though, of why G.I. Joe is so much superior to Revenge of the Fallen (I know I'm comparing both movies a little too much, but it's almost unavoidable) is that the former actually has memorable and fun characters worth rooting for, while the latter has virtually no characters, and instead provides with a gazzilion CGI robots who look virtually all the same during the confusing action sequences.
The screenplay might not be particularly smart (although it's a million times wittier and organized than the one for Michael Bay's picture), but it accomplishes what it sets to do: provide with nice and entertaining characters, a plot that actually makes sense, and action sequences that don't feel repetitive or dull.So has Stephen Sommers and his creative team managed to fulfill expectations?
They are later joined by US Special Forces members, Duke (Channing Tatum) and Ripcord (Marlon Wayans) who provide the movie with its love story, romantic interests and comic relief, not to mention fast-paced action and thrills.
Still, he takes time to provide the 'backgrounds' of the major characters, albeit in flashbacks so that they do not 'clash' with the main action and storyflow.In the Transformers movies, the battle sequences are often blurred and confusing when we have trouble differentiating the good and bad robots.
This especially applies to the Paris street chase sequence which has the Joes in accelerator suits hot on the heels of the Baroness in a reinforced Hummer.Usually in action movies like this, performances take a back seat.
I could say that I hated every scene in the movie, with the exception of the Paris scene which was the most fun I has with GI Joe and people seem to agree with me on that.And of course it ends with characters holding guns and walking towards the camera because it's a stereotypical brainless action movie.To conclude this review, I'm going to give GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra a 4/10.
Still if you are a fan of brainless action movies, you might actually like GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra, but I still was very bad in my opinion..
Not because he was given as MIA (Missing In Action) as the film lies to tell, as a result of a bomb run on a facility target.10) The original Pit was secretly based under Stanten Island not under the desert, that was way much later and happened first in Utah and then moved to Arizona.11) It was the Cobra Commander and Destro who originally attacked the Pit for the first time.12) Cobra Commander and the Baroness where never brother and sister.13) The Baroness was from the start in love with Destro, not Duke.14) It was Destro who created the Iron Grenadier Soldiers, not the Cobra Commander.15) Cobra Headquarters, where based in an island somewhere secretly hidden in the Gulf of Mexico."So when everything else fails, the movie also fails in": Bad voice dialogues, really crappy CGI effects as a matter of fact It looks like if you are watching a demo, corny romance story, bad plot and Sigma 6 emphasis not the classic G.I. Joe every fan expected.The only good thing and true to series is the Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow rivalry and the hot, very hot Baroness outfit, without leaving apart the smokin Scarlett gal outfit also.
The toys were also adapted into comics and cartoons, with Sommers saying he drew mainly on the comic books for the film's story.Paramount Pictures and toymakers Hasbro are hoping for another big-screen franchise after previously collaborating to turn Transformers into a monster hit at the box office.For those unfamiliar with the G.I. Joe brand, imagine putting Top Gun, The A-Team, Thunderbirds, the earlier Bond movies and the X-Men into a blender with a hefty dose of steroids, and this is what might result.You get super-weapons, secret lairs, dastardly villains, gadgets galore and an abundance of explosive action sequences as Sommers empties his toy box and throws it all on screen with brisk and breathless editing.But it's not just about boys and their toys – there are also girls with guns and gizmos too.
The convoy is attacked by the Baroness (Miller) and her cohorts who aim to steal the payload for a terror group led by Destro and the Cobra Commander.Into the fray steps G.I. Joe, the US Government's top-secret military defence division, who include Dennis Quaid as leader General Hawk, Rachel Nichols as Scarlett, Ray Park as gimp-masked silent swordsman Snake Eyes and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Mr Eko from Lost) as Heavy Duty.Duke and Ripcord are recruited into the team and, with the help of advanced skills and technology, the good guys leap into action to stop the terrorists.
Without spoiling it all, let's just say Paris is changed forever.Amid all the carnage, flashbacks help to lift the story beyond superficial spectacle, fleshing out the back-stories of some characters in assorted subplots of romance, revenge and rivalry.The key performers deliver, including all-American stud-u-like Tatum; Miller as a gun-toting, raven-haired vixen; Wayans and his flippant wit; and Nichols as the action babe for the good guys.In contrast, the more heavyweight performers such as Eccleston, Quaid and Gordon-Levitt seem constrained by the limits of the material, in particular Eccleston (with dubious Scottish accent) who is lost in the mix and lacks a potent presence.Although the film is less cheesy than The Mummy and far better than the monster mish-mash that was Van Helsing, this is pure pulp adventure.The dialogue is either hammy or inconsequential while attempts at humour are mostly forgettable.
yup it could have been better but it could have been worse (see Transformers 2) For those of you who were long time fans of the Joes and felt betrayed I love G.I. Joe and with the exception of G.I. Joe extreme I never stopped collecting the figures or reading the comics or loving the cartoon (which was a terrible show by the way) the movie was great they did real honor to snake and storms past, so what if scarlet flirts with Rip cord who should have been stalker but that's a creepy name and easy to see why they didn't use it.
G.I. Joe is a fast paced action film, with characters that are lovable enough to make it a joy to watch.As our heroes, we notably have Scarlett (Nichols) and Ripcord (Wayans), who have a fun romance throughout.
G.I. Joe : The Rise of Cobra,the last movie in the chain of Hollywood blockbusters from 2009,resulted to be a retrograde rehash of the most hollow action cinema from the 90's (movies like Die Hard: With A Vengeance or Lethal Weapon 4 come to my mind).After the extraordinary special effects from Transformers : Revenge of the Fallen,the tenderness and warmth from Up and the brilliant back-to-start of Star Trek,we now have a pathetic movie which reminds us the worst elements from the 90's blockbusters...although it does not lack of various negative elements from some modern blockbusters.It seems that the only intention from director and co-screenwriter Stephen Sommers was making an expensive and reloaded version of the caricature from the 80's whose function was disguising a successful line of toys with insipid adventures.With all this I wanna say that,if you are expecting something interesting and exciting,look for somewhere else,because if not,you will feel greatly disappointed by this movie.G.I. Joe : The Rise of Cobra has a huge quantity of negative elements,but the most significant one is its complete lack of ambition.Sure,on the visual aspect it trips us with mediocre special effects.But the story is practically non-existent and it only works as an excuse for showing us elaborate but horribly tedious action sequences which feel completely irrelevant and unnecessary,so at the time we lead to the final battle,we do not care about who is shooting who and why they are doing it.On this movie,we also have a deeply stupid screenplay which is full of stupid characters who only say and do stupid things.From the irritant jokes said by Marlon Wayans (who had left me astonished with his performance on Requiem for a Dream) to the ridiculous plan from the villain there is not even a pinch of...I would not say "intelligence" because it would be useless to hope for so much,but something of creativity would have been welcome.In summary,this movie does not produce any emotion or suspense,and the pathetic humor causes anger instead of laughs.On the cast from this film,there are various competent actors (Jonathan Pryce,Joseph Gordon-Levitt,Christopher Eccleston,Dennis Quaid and Adewale Akinnououye-Agbaje),but Sommers' direction is so insipid that their performances lack of any energy and conviction.The hero from this movie could not have been chosen worse: Channing Tatum,who "acts" with only one facial expression.Rachel Nichols is undoubtedly attractive,but her performance is truly horrible,something which also applies for Sienna Miller.Director Stephen Sommers made two very entertaining films (Deep Rising,The Mummy),his career declined a lot with the atrocious The Mummy Returns and Van Helsing.On G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra,Sommers backs to prove that he has completely lost the talent he had shown on Deep Rising and The Mummy.This movie is a real piece of crap,and of course I do not recommend it by any means..
I know that modern movies put so much effort in having great special effects and good action and sometimes forget that the actors need to act and the script to make sense.
I kind of expected it to be not very good, but there has been a small amount of buzz coming out since the day it premiered, mostly saying things like, "It's not as bad as you'd think," but some actually declaring it to be a decent big, dumb, fun action flick.
This is, in fact, the anti Iron Man; where that movie provided us with a solid story and smart script and characters to care about and real skill with the actors to apply to a 'popcorn' movie, 'GI Joe' is everything against that.It's one of those ridiculous military-industrial-complex machine-stories involving a cold one-dimensional villain (Christopher Eccleston) out to get warheads that are more like bacteria-heads and the elite group of would-be robot soldier humans (i.e. Tatum, Wayans) who are up against them.
Though there is not enough blood in scenes you have to realize that in the cartoon they never even killed people.Some scenes did look like they were quickly put in at the last minute but there is just too many characters to develop and not enough time.Overall G.I.Joe is funny, has great action scenes, and keeps to the roots of G.I.Joe enough to be considered a great movie..
Army buddies Duke (Channing Tatum) and Ripcord (Marlon Wayans) team up with an elite international fighting force to try and recover four high-tech warheads stolen by an evil organisation led by arms dealer McCullen (Christopher Eccleston).For those who don't know, G.I. Joe is a popular range of American action figure toys made by Hasbro.
Like the Transformers movies, which are also based on a Hasbro line, this movie is clearly designed to help their toys fly off the shelves; but where I found Michael Bay's giant robot movies to be almost unwatchable (thanks to crap direction, lousy editing, an often over-serious tone and Shia LaBeouf), Rise of the Cobra proved to be surprisingly good fun.Directed by Stephen Sommers, the man who gave us the mega-successful Mummy series, the film is undeniably brainless, but thanks to a great cast (which also includes Dennis Quaid, Ray 'Darth Maul' Park, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Korean star Byung-hun Lee), superb production design, countless expertly staged set-pieces, and a stunning array of special effects, boredom was not an option.
If you enjoy non-stop ballistic action from a movie then G.I Joe: Rise of Cobra is for YOU!Now i am not what you call a HUGE fan of the original cartoons and comics, but i was very familiar with many of the characters and i knew of the basic story of Joes VS Cobra.
The acting is all right (better than both Transformers combined): Every girl's dream Channing Tatum did all right but started to go downhill throughout, Dennis Quaid as General Hawk was good with his role, Rachel Nichols as Scarlett was hot as usual and good with her role, The always-sexy Sienna Miller as Baroness was pretty good, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Heavy Duty did a good job, Joesph Gordon-Levitt as Cobra Commander was awesome, Said Taghmaoui as Breaker did good and provied most of the humor in the movie and Marlon Wayans as Ripcord(probably did the best acting of the lot) showed not only his serious side but his funny side as usual, he was funny.G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra is not the best action film ever made but it is the best action flick of this summer.
Its unofficial name might be : "Shortage of original scripts and producing dumber , sillier and flashier movies based on comics , toys or PC games" I mean come on this is directed by Stephen Sommers and once you see his name you know that it is not Oscar material but after you see the movie ( finishing it might be a real ordeal for a regular average thinking person with some artistic taste ) any hope that there might be some substance in it quickly vanishes.G.I. Joe Rise of Cobra is basically a toy movie aimed for children and Hasbro fans in 1980'ies with large dose of US Army propaganda mixed.
Marlon Wayans was standard stereotype funny black sidekick...Adewale Akinnouye , Rachel Nichols , Said Taghmaoui were all one functional team members with their distinctive abilities and accents that's all....Snake Eyes played by Ray Parks only well laid out character and when your only well remembered character is a nameless ninja who does not utter a word throughout whole movie it means something is wrong in script writing...Veteran professional actors like Jonathan Pryce , Dennis Quaid , Arnold Vosloo and Christopher Eccleston should be embarrassed for their awful characterizations.
"G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" is one of those imbeciles full of action movies like "Transformers" where the viewer is forbidden to think and indicated for fans of C.G.I. and explosions only.
But when a friend offered to see go and see it on a Friday night, I said, "Sure." Now that I have seen "G.I. Joe Rise of Cobra" it proves to be like many of the big-budget, sci-fi films this year, action over plot.