An elite military unit of special operatives known as
G.I. ​Joe ​​takes on an evil organization led by an arms dealer. 

ACTION/SCI-FI

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra ​(2009)

Directed by Stephen Sommers 

Written by Stuart Beattie, David Elliot, Paul Lovett 

​Starring Channing Tatum, Marlon Wayans, Dennis Quaid,
Sienna Miller, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Christopher Eccleston, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ray Park, Rachel Nichols,
​Byung-hun Lee, Arnold Vosloo, Jonathan Pryce

​Based on characters from Hasbro

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Caleb Leger

February 29, 2016

8/10

After several successful properties of beloved 80s characters coming to life on the big screen, it appeared it was the Joes turn. While this is very far from being faithful to the beloved property, The Rise of Cobra is still a lot of fun. Plus, for all the wrong the film may do, they nail down both Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow. That counts for something in my book. 

I can understand where a lot of longtime fans were pretty mad at this live action adaptation. While the film features many of the iconic characters, they are not represented the way they should be. All is not last, as the actors all do a good job with their roles. So, even though the characters may be a far cry from the original show, the actors more than make up for it. As I mentioned earlier, The Rise of Cobra does do a phenomenal job with Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow. Both look like they leaped from the cartoon, from the way they looked to their long standing rivalry. Both are the true stars of this film. For me, my main complaint was the handling of iconic villain, Cobra. Even though the film is named after him and his rise to power, he is really a secondary villain who doesn't do much until the final act. A poor handling of a fantastic villain. While the film may not adapt the property correctly, it was still a breezy film that was a whole lot of fun. There are several exciting action scenes, particular the attack in Paris. 

For fans of this long running franchise, I can understand their general hatred for the G.I. Joes live action debut. For me, on the other hand, I really enjoy this movie. It's a whole lot of fun and pretty easy to sit through. With some added tweaks, I can see future sequels hew more closely to the source material.