At the Movies with Fatwayne

The perennial Hasbro toy GI Joe has hit the big screen and judging from all the hoopla and fan reviews, it should be a blockbuster! One thing for sure, it offers action galore and a plethora of new weapons and gadgets and one accessory I would love to have, an accelerator suit! Wow!

The G I Joe (Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity) is a force of the World’s most elite operatives armed with futuristic weapons and intelligence gathering equipment. They are called upon to come to mankind’s rescue after a corrupt and crazed Scottish arms dealer, James McCullen, creates a nano weapon that is capable of destroying an entire city by literally eating it.

McCullen, who will later become Destro, is selling the nano technology to the military and at the same time, plotting to steal if back in order to blackmail the world and become the most powerful person alive.

He sends two of his operatives, The Baroness and Storm Shadow, to penetrate G I Joe’s command center known as The Pit and bring the nano weapon back to him. Meanwhile, McCullen and his associate (The Doctor) are creating an army of super soldiers using the same nano technology.

The G.I. Joe team tracks The Baroness and Storm to Paris where they plan to destroy the Eiffel Tower using the nano weapon. The Joe team, led by Duke and his buddy Ripcord, tear up the streets of Paris in pursuit of the weapons. They are outfitted in accelerator suits which offers them protection while at the same time “accelerates” their physical abilities thus enabling them to run as fast as a car and jump over barriers.

The movie is a back and forth battle over the weapons combined with attempts to rescue the captured Duke as well as the adversaries’  intent to eliminate each other.

There are so many new weapons displayed that one is simply awed by the films imagination. It is big time sci-fi adventure with lots of action and shootouts.

The one glaring flaw I found was in the plot. Duke and The Baroness had been lovers who were engaged to be married. The Baroness tasked Duke with protecting her brother who was in his Army unit. Through no fault of his own, Duke could not save the brother during a combat encounter. He was ashamed of his failure and could not face Ana (before she became the Baroness). So years later she is in a position that would call for her to kill him but she does not. A short time later Duke is in a similar position but elects not to kill her. All this with the salvation of the world in question! It simply didn’t make much sense.

Another annoying feature of the movie was the seemingly constant flashbacks. Although they were necessary for us to make any sense of the plot they were annoying nonetheless.

Look for Brenden Fraser in a cameo as Sgt. Stone, riding his motorcycle. Jonathan Pryce appears as the President of the U.S. There are several others who may ring a bell or two.

All in all, I would say that this is a “must see” for sci-fi fans and fans of the action genre. I loved it and will probably see it again before it leaves the theaters.

Want quotes from this movie?  http://www.tvmoviequotes.com/gijoetheriseofcobra.htm

Rated  – PG13 -

Fatwayne’s Rating  –