Go Joe!
The fam & I just got back from seeing G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Now, I was never into G.I. Joe as a kid, so I went in with low expectations, mediocre at best. And the fact the movie started over 30 mins late (with no acknowledge of technical difficulties from the staff, by the way), certainly didn’t help my expectations any. Then to top it off, the film stopped about 30 mins in for at least 5 mins (again, with no word from the staff as to what was going on), only to start back up and run close to 4 mins with no sound…
I was not a happy camper by this time.
But in spite of all that, the movie, while not great, was much better than I thought it would be. I didn’t like Channing Tatum’s acting here, he came across as 2D the majority of the movie, I never really developed any real empathy for his character Hawk. But I guess it’s not entirely his fault, he wasn’t given the best lines in the world… However, surprising, Marlon Wayans did a good job in his role. I was bit leery of him being cast in an action/adventure role initially, but he pulls it off well considering he’s bringing a bit of comic relief also– but not in the over the top way as he usually does (thank goodness).
Snake Eyes, played by Ray Park (of Darth Maul and Toad fame) made this movie for me, he stole the show. Even without uttering a single word throughout the entire movie, he commanded attention every time he was on screen. I enjoyed the subplot between him and his nemesis Storm Shadow (who was no slouch himself).
The more I think about it, the more I’ve beginning to think his performance was easily the best of all the actors due to the fact that he didn’t speak (did I mention the writing was not the best…) :-)
All in all, I’ll give G.I. Joe: the Rise of Cobra a 3. The acting was not the greatest by any stretch, and the dialogue left a lot to be desired in some cases; but the visuals and special effects were good, the action was good, and the story at least made sense. If not for Snake Eyes, it would have been a 2.
Nina Simone