G.I. Joe: Retaliation

G.I. Joe: Retaliation

Starring Dwayne Johnson, Ray Park, Bruce Willis, Adrianne Palicki

Directed by Jon Chu

The Joes, led by Duke (Channing Tatum) are framed for stealing nuclear warheads from Pakistan by the President of the United States (Jonathan Pryce), who is in reality Zartan (Arnold Vosloo), a Cobra operative, who's used nanotechnology to take the form of the President, who is really being held captive.

He orders a strike on the Joes, and they're all eliminated, except for Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson), Flint (D.J. Cotrona) and Lady Jaye (Adrianne Palicki).  They manage to escape and begin uncovering the real purpose of their supposed elimination.

Meanwhile, in Germany, Storm Shadow (Byung-hun Lee), disguised as Snake Eyes, is taken to a high-level security prison where Cobra Commander (Luke Bracey) and Destro are also being held.  Storm Shadow escapes with Cobra Commander, and unknown to them, the real Snake Eyes (Ray Park) witnesses everything. 

Snake Eyes follows Storm Shadow to the Himalayas and, with Storm Shadow's cousin Jinx (Elodie Yung), manage to capture him.  Meanwhile the remaining Joes discover the real purpose of Cobra's plan, and enlist the first Joe (Bruce Willis) to save the President and save the world from an upcoming nuclear holocaust.

I must say, this film was 100% better than the original (probably because it had a lot less Channing Tatum in it).  It was also better without the Wayan brother from the first one (although I was annoyed it didn't discuss at all what happened to him, Scarlett or the Baroness, but I digress).  That being said, there was absolutely no depth to the film.  The plot is something that I'm sure has been done before, because I can somewhat remember a similar scenario with the enemy wanting to disarm the worlds' nuclear weapons so the enemy is the only one with them, but I can't think of the movie at the moment.

The characters are completely wooden and one-dimensional, with no depth or development whatsoever.  You don't even know the point of Flint being around, let alone remember he's even there.  The only things we know about Roadblock is that he has two kids and lived in the ghetto.  Lady Jaye is out to prove to her father that women can be in the military.  That's about it.  And I think that they told Bruce Willis this was going to be the actual sequel to "RED," because that's how he acted - right down to his house having tons of secret weapons.  Even his humor seems recycled.

Another aspect of the film I didn't enjoy was that the enemy wasn't made out to be a real enemy.  They threw in all the comedy on their end, giving them stupid puns and unfunny one-liners (heck, there's even a scene where they're playing Angry Birds - seriously).  It really left their devilish ways to be somewhat humorous and not so serious.

The only good part of the film was the story between Storm Shadow/Jinx/Snake Eyes.  It could've been its own film, and it would've been amazing.  The dazzling action sequences in the Himalayas and the shocking reveal made the film good.  Without it, it would just be another typical action film.

My Rating: B