AMB Reviews

*Written by Guest Reviewer, Anna Bankes*

G. I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra: 4.5/10 Stars

Release Date: August 7, 2009

Content Advisory: Rated PG-13 for strong sequences of action violence and mayhem throughout. Constant action violence includes explosions, hand-to-hand combat, and lots of gunfire. Several disturbing images include deformed faces. Cars crash and flip through the air. A mild scattering of swear words throughout. Some revealing outfits and passionate kissing.

Review:

"G.I. Joe" was over the top and ended up being nothing more than an adult version of "Spy Kids..."

In Short:

In this film, the G.I. Joes are trying to stop a corrupt arms dealer named Destro bent on destroying the world, as well as the rise of the eerie organization called Cobra. It's your typical "save the world" type film with nothing new or surprisingly original in it. It gave the makers a perfect excuse for near constant action violence and nothing else. The acting was corny and the dialogue stiff. The visuals were at times decent, and at other times over the top and annoying. In the end, "G. I. Joe" was neither great nor horrible... it simply stood in the middle ground.

In Full:

"G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra" tells the unoriginal and overused story of an army of fighters named G. I. Joes. Together, they must take on an evil arms leader named Destro, bent on destroying Earth with his weapons. There is also reference of the rise of the sinister organization, Cobra (hence the title). Sound familiar? That's probably because it is. From fake and corny action violence and to a plodding pace and an overlong running time, "G.I. Joe" contains really nothing memorable or worth seeing.

The acting was pretty bad, even though it contained some pretty good actors. Dennis Quaid is the best example of this. Though he is usually decent in all of his films, here, he was boring, corny, and obnoxious. Channing Tatum, who is best known for his role in "Step Up," shows us once again that he excels at showing absolutely no emotion. Sienna Miller was decent as Ana, as well as Marlon Wayans as Ripcord. Other than that, however, all of the actors was just bland and void of anything worth grasping.

The visuals were a great example of how over the top CGI does not always make a good movie. Take "Transformers 2" for example... it was an overlong ride full of near constant CGI... and I guess that's what this movie was like as well.

Though some of the visuals were exciting, mainly their weapons and their suits... most of it just felt unoriginal, like we had all seen it before... which we had. The film just didn't give us much to take home with after the end credits.

The backdrop of this film mainly took place in Washington DC and London. They were pretty good locations for this kind of movie, but it still couldn't help the film feel like an overall mess. It wasn't a horrible movie, as there were some memorable parts (including their spectacular looking suits), but overall, don't expect to see anything new or worthwhile in "G. I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra."