In 2009, GI Joe hit the big screen with Rise of the Cobra. It would come to be loathed by both established fans and common viewers, seeing it as an overloaded, cartoony mess of a movie with absolutely no good justice done to the GI Joe franchise. I personally always knew this movie was bad, but it came to be one of my top guilty pleasures, thanks to its fantastically explosive and ambitious action sequences, its high-speed pacing, and overall lightheartedness, which makes it every bit as fun and endearing of an adventure as Stephen Sommers' other films.
Now, like any other sequel, this new GI Joe film is released with the promise of making things "better." Jon Chau sets out to make GI Joe far less cartoony, far darker, and much more like an actual action movie, rather than whatever the heck Rise of the Cobra was. Retaliation still has some cool hardware; some of the most inventive scenes include an awesome morphing motorcycle, robotic fireflies, and a boat with tank treads. Some of the funnest action scenes include a high-flying pursuit along ziplines on a mountain, complete with ninjas, plus plenty of gunfights, swordfights, and explosive vehicular mayhem.
This may all sound like great stuff for action fans. The problem is, the action is spaced out a lot more than in the first film, so the pacing suffers. Plus, most of the action is strangely drab and uninspired; the gunfights throughout the first half play out with little ambition or distinction, looking no different than any other action or war movie on the market. The real magic of GI Joe, with all the gizmos and cool fights, didn't sink in until the last half.
Even with the action spread out, the story doesn't really take the time to breathe. It's strangely choppy; plot points are slapped together without any transition or sense of passage, so the logos of the whole thing is royally screwed up. Characters continue to make stupid decisions, and stupid events continue to take place (especially in the film's finale, which despite its ambition might be one of the most ridiculous things I've seen in a while). Characterization is mostly absent, and actually felt stronger in the first film. Overall, this is not the film to see if you want a quality story, much less one that makes sense or has actual depth or feeling.
This film is made with adequate photography; there are plenty of cool-looking shots, but most fights are shot really close and with some erratic shaking, making it a little annoying to watch half of the time. Editing is good on a shot-by-shot basis, but the cutting of the scenes is too screwy to make the film work. Acting from the main cast is pretty bland, and I was especially mortified by the RZA's acting in his cameo appearance. Writing is awful, with really stupid dialogue and terrible plotting. The best that can be said is that this production uses okay-looking sets, props, costumes, and Henry Jackman's score is awesome at times.
GI Joe: Retaliation has its exciting parts, but it's brought down tremendously by its lackluster characters, its hole-ridden plot, and mediocre execution. I'd even go so far as to say that it lacks the ambition of Rise of the Cobra; I'll always go back to that first film, even with its own set of horrid issues, just to experience the awesome Paris car chase, the sub-glacial submarine battle, and every other awesome thing Stephen Sommers could come up with. By comparison, Jon Chau's film is far less fun, even when it tries so hard to be cool.
If I'd recommend this to anybody, it would probably be to younger PG-13 crowd, who would go to this for the action rather than the story anyway. Diehard franchise fans will probably dig it too. Most everybody else will probably find it disgusting.
3/5 (Entertainment: Good | Story: Marginal | Film: Marginal)
No comments:
Post a Comment