Review of G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013) by Stevenf — 26 Sep 2013

It won't go down history or win awards any time soon, but the second outing for the revitalised GI Joes certainly roars onto the screen in explosive fashion, it's ridiculous, full of big dumb ideas and indestructible characters, but it's dumb in an entertaining way, it has big ideas and doesn't try too hard to be overly serious, what more could be asked for? The film kicks off on kind of familiar territory but with a few strange faces, we still have Duke (Channing Tatum), but he has a new team, the most notable being Roadblock, played by the ever bulking Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, but their flawless missions and impeccable record doesn't last long as something unforeseen is about to tear the Joes apart.

The most notable return besides Duke is that of Snake Eyes (Ray Park), who is involved in some of the most impressive sequences of the film, particularly of course with his arch-rival Storm Shadow Byung-Hun Lee), and a particular mountainside battle comes to mind, heavy on CGI, but even better on shameless fun, which is really what the film consists of entirely.

We have a President (Jonathan Pryce) who isn't actually the President, he's got an imposter on his hands, but the film loses its entertainment when it tries to hype up some sort of depth, it doesn't work when it has booming and intense music playing behind it.

Johnson does a solid job carrying the film, while Adrianne Palicki is really here as eye candy, a few decent scenes of interest, but little else. Simply put, this is a film with excess amounts of action, explosions but also a nice touch of humour, with the Zombieland team behind the script.

It's easy on the eyes and thoughts of course, but it definitely fits better than the first outing, nobody was expecting a masterpiece, and those who were will be disappointed, but a sturdy film that knows its place and is just out to enjoy itself is on the right path, it's got plenty of action, barely even stopping for a breath, but it has excellent scope for its set pieces and executes these with ease, it may find familiar in a Transformer universe, but Joe doesn't try to be something it isn't.

With an ensemble cast, including Joe himself, Bruce Willis, it's hard to hate the film, it's not bad, it's not good, it's just inconsistent, overblown but sheer fun. Director Jon M. Chu does a fine job combining sequences that are poetry in fast and slow-paced motion.

Predictable but entertaining with an easy smile on the face.