With a pre-release buzz that has been nothing short of lethal (fanned into bigger flames by Paramount's decision to withhold press screenings), "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" has its work cut out for it arriving to theaters amidst the insinuations that the prospective summer blockbuster would be a crippling blow off to director Stephen Sommers, perhaps not unlike what "The Island" was to Michael Bay or "Stealth" to Rob Cohen. Sommers' action figures-turned-action movie, however, neither attains the extreme maladroitness its defamers assume it to be courtesy of sporadically engaging moments and a zestful turn by Joseph Gordon-Levitt -- though it's not to say it lives to early high expectations via surprisingly high aggregated ratings -- frustratingly leaving the film in a somewhat oddball state of mediocrity.
This exhausting blend of CGI and contrived one-liners focuses on the genesis of the Cobra Organization, charting Duke (Channing Tatum) and Ripcord's (Marlon Wayans) entry into the G.I. Joe Team where they are to fight mysterious villains intent on torpedoing the world into a bedlam through nanotechnology-based weapons. Sommers' hooey patchwork of blockbuster cacophony resembles a futuristic "The Mummy" -- an analogy maintained by Arnold Vosloo playing a villain and Brendan Fraser's cameo -- and "Van Helsing," where flamboyant chaos take over competent acting, all the more highlighted when the self-deprecating charisma of Fraser and the gruff appeal of Hugh Jackman is replaced by the graceless Tatum.
Paying lip reverence to human drama via flashbacks of its dull characters, "G.I. Joe" unfolds all too predictably with unconvincing fight scenes and, save for a marginally engaging chase scene in Paris, ho-hum action set pieces that never match up to Sommers' early works. The outcome isn't an awful experience, but neither is it a gloriously engaging one. Early scuttlebutt speculating it as the worst film of the year may be a bit overstated, though it's unlikely the film itself will stick to memories long enough.
This exhausting blend of CGI and contrived one-liners focuses on the genesis of the Cobra Organization, charting Duke (Channing Tatum) and Ripcord's (Marlon Wayans) entry into the G.I. Joe Team where they are to fight mysterious villains intent on torpedoing the world into a bedlam through nanotechnology-based weapons. Sommers' hooey patchwork of blockbuster cacophony resembles a futuristic "The Mummy" -- an analogy maintained by Arnold Vosloo playing a villain and Brendan Fraser's cameo -- and "Van Helsing," where flamboyant chaos take over competent acting, all the more highlighted when the self-deprecating charisma of Fraser and the gruff appeal of Hugh Jackman is replaced by the graceless Tatum.
Paying lip reverence to human drama via flashbacks of its dull characters, "G.I. Joe" unfolds all too predictably with unconvincing fight scenes and, save for a marginally engaging chase scene in Paris, ho-hum action set pieces that never match up to Sommers' early works. The outcome isn't an awful experience, but neither is it a gloriously engaging one. Early scuttlebutt speculating it as the worst film of the year may be a bit overstated, though it's unlikely the film itself will stick to memories long enough.