With a summer of letdowns almost over, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is like a breath of fresh air, a hyperactive, fast-paced, silly-as-hell motion picture that's one of this year's most fun movies (in the purest sense of the word). It ain't going to be dominating the Oscars come early next year, but is that really what this movie should be? There are serious, adult, dramatic, technically brilliant films and then there are the silly big blockbusters, and G.I. Joe is a fine example of what the latter should be.
Set in the not-too-distant future, G.I. Joe follows an elite group of operatives known as the G.I. Joe (an acronym for Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity). They must team together to try and take down an organization bent on taking over the world, headed by an evil arms dealer.
Much like the Transformers franchise, G.I. Joe is based on a toy line and cartoon shows from more than two decades ago, one that was beloved (and still is) by fans around the world. It was inevitable Hollywood would have a pop at turning it into a big budget movie for the big screen one day, and for the fun and silly movie that it aims to be in equal measure, the film succeeds at its purpose admirably.
Many G.I. Joe purists out there will be mad at some of the changes director Stephen Sommers (The Mummy trilogy) has decided to employ. And it's not just the odd hair colour there, or the odd location change there, G.I. Joe has gone from the "Real American Hero" with the red, white, and blue flag, to metallic silver armour and with patriotism far from the line of sight. Heck, they've even turned the whole name into an acronym when it was just a name before and nothing else.
But is that really a problem when it comes down to enjoying the movie? Perhaps for those who are absolute purists who don't want Duke (the "leader" of the G.I. Joe) to have a hair out of place from what they recognise as the original version it might be a problem. But for today's modern movie-going context, and for those those (your truly included) who don't know a thing about G.I. Joe to start with (which the studio has to keep in mind above everything else), what G.I. Joe used to be wouldn't fly. Things needed to be changed (as they almost always do with any adaptation), and what they've converted G.I. Joe into works absolutely fine, not least because it allows all sort of gadgets and gizmos to come out and play.
Article comments
1 - Anna Creech
I like your attitude about the movie. I've been hearing G.I. Joe geeks bemoaning the previews from the moment they hit the screen. I thought it looked like mindless fun, and it sounds like I'm right.