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G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) More at IMDbPro »

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342 comments in total

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257 out of 410 people found the following comment useful :-
The Critics should remove the Stick!, 9 elokuu 2009

Author: serennishiyama from United States

I just saw G.I. Joe, and I must say that I actually enjoyed it. This is NOT a masterpiece. This is a fun, Summer action flick. The so-called professional critics who obviously miss that point do not deserve their cushy jobs. The action is unbelievable, non-stop, breathless, and requires a total suspension of disbelief. The critics that have a problem with that should remember one thing. This is a movie based on a cartoon that's sole purpose was to sell a set of toys to 5-12 year old boys. Nothing more. Expecting "War and Peace" from this source material shows a lack of insight and intelligence from most of the reviews that I have read. If you like action films, you will enjoy this one. If you want angst-ridden characters stopping every five minutes to discuss their feelings... pull the stick out and move along to a sappy low-budget romance; this isn't your kind of film.

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187 out of 306 people found the following comment useful :-
$170 budget and not one writer, 10 elokuu 2009

Author: Matt Schafer from United States

I came in with low expectations and got even less. I'm kind of offended that someone got paid to write this because its essentially a big-budget movie made with a fan-fiction caliber script. The plot riddled with holes, characters speak in clichés and the laws of physics are completely ignored. The female characters are treated with the action-movie standard sexism, and there are some subtle racist undertones as well. Seriously, 12-year-old boys write text messages that are more coherent than this script. The screen writers should use their payday to refund the tickets of everyone who went to see this movie.

I'm okay with going a movie just for the special effects, but even that is sub-par. The martial arts choreography is good, and stunning in one scene. The practical effects are believable, but the computer graphics are mostly cartoonish and detract from the visual impact of the film, so its hard to say go see it even if your standard for a good movie is if they blow stuff up in new and interesting ways.

I did enjoy the sheer audacity of its failure. Surely the filmmakers had watched even one movie before and knew they had a piece of Star Wars/James Bond ripoff fan fiction on their hands and just tried to be as bad as possible. This movie has a lot of laughs in it, although probably not where the filmmakers intended.

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181 out of 295 people found the following comment useful :-
Good for what it is, 6 elokuu 2009

Author: Filmaholic78 from United Kingdom

I watched this film last night and luckily I had no high expectations. As a fan of the G.I Joe toys when I was a kid (back then they where called Action Force) I had a good idea of the characters and story before hand. I am glad to say this film stayed true to most of the original concepts with a few tweaks for the better here and there.

Go see this film if you want to see a fun action film full of special effects and doesn't take itself too seriously.

Don't go and see this film if you are an uptight, unhappy film critic that spends too much time highlighting plot holes and acting because that's not what this film is about. It's more of a roller-coaster ride. Fast, furious and just fun.

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56 out of 82 people found the following comment useful :-
A worthy candidate for the worst film of 2009, 14 elokuu 2009

Author: curren-waters from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

If you thought Transformers ROTF was bad, you ain't seen nothing! The new G.I. Joke is one of the worst films I've ever seen in my life! First of all, the characters are totally miscasted, and the acting is horrible! Baroness seems way too innocent to play the villain, and there's a twist involving her towards the end that you see coming from a mile away.... no, TEN miles away! And Channing Tatum is like a mix between Hayden Christensen and Christian Bale (how ironic), and that's pretty bad. And don't even get me started on Cobra Commander! His head looks like a dried raisin if it was dipped in silver paint! The only character that wasn't miscasted was Destro; he's a dark villain, and he even gets his metal mask at the end. Unfortunately, Christopher Eccleston is an annoying actor with his tone of voice.

Secondly, the action scenes are horrendous! The close combat scenes are choppy and often times nonsensical, and the cameras are shaky as hell! It actually feels better to watch the talking scenes, but not by a lot. The larger action scenes aren't as choppy, but they're often times repetitive; if you see the film, you'll know what I'm talking about. But to be honest, there was one action scene that caught my eye; it's where they're running through the streets with the accelerator suits; granted, the accelerator suits look like crap, but the scene itself is well-constructed and kind of intense. But trust me, it's not worth it to sit through all this just for one action scene.

And don't even get me started on the ending! I don't even want to talk about it; it's that bad.

I can sit through both Transformers films without any problems, but G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra was just a giant mess for me. I hope to never see it again; not even on TV; not even on an airplane; it's just that bad! Is it possible to give a 0/10? No? OK, 1/10!

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119 out of 208 people found the following comment useful :-
Ordinary popcorn movie, 5 elokuu 2009

Author: dobbin-4 from Australia

This movie may have a questionable script, some sub-par actors (Some were surprisingly good for a popcorn movie which is applaudable) and some Team America style action (They seemed to cause a lot more damage to Paris then the terrorists plan to) but the film can not help but be entertaining. It has what Transformers 2 had which was good special effects, but what Transformers 2 lacked was entertainment which this movie definitely has, even if it is n't a very good movie from a movie point of view.

While lots of people and critics alike are going to bag the hell out of this film, I think as long as you go in with an open mind a low expectancy of the movie to hold any sort of realism you will have a pretty good time, which is really the reason the film was made (After the money of course).

Overall, this film is a good watch for non fans of the series at least but, not having seen the cartoon I cant speak for existing fans of G.I. Joe but I had a good time, and I think a lot of other people will 2 as long as they can maintain an open mind.

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144 out of 259 people found the following comment useful :-
A Nutshell Review: G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, 5 elokuu 2009

Author: DICK STEEL from Singapore

I have to confess I'm not much of a G.I. Joe fan when I was a kid, partly because the other Hasbro product in transforming robots had more appeal to a boy than a bunch of plastic figures in military garb. The cartoon series too didn't convert me either, as it was up against a whole host of classic series from MASK to Silverhawks, Centurion to Starcomm. Ahh, the wonderful 80s to be growing up...

So while I do not hold G.I Joe in as high a regard as Transformers, between the two films this summer based on the Hasbro toys, I will unabashedly proclaim that G.I. Joe triumphs over the other by a long mile. Michael Bay in his second robot outing has proved to be a two-trick pony, relying on countless of larger than large explosions - hardly a frame passes by without being engulfed in an inferno - and of course, Ms Fox's bouncing assets in slow motion. While one can afford to leave one's brains at the door for popcorn flicks such as these, Bay had forgotten than they have to be basically fun to watch, and magically he had dumbed Transformers down to a mind-numbing bore.

Enter Stephen Sommers, who had a couple of box office successes with the action-adventure genre in The Mummy movies, so this guy obviously knows what he's doing, and it shows. Forget the excuse of a story just to link up the big set action pieces, and it is precisely in the action that Sommers understood when to show restraint, add in a dash of humour, pepper it with proper camera angles, though of course still unable to buckle the trend of slowing things down just before any impact. Slow motion unfortunately is here to stay I guess.

There are obviously some updates to this big budgeted flick, that while it's still a military- type based movie per se, some common sensibilities have crept in. No more are the soldiers "Real American" heroes (though that iconic phrase still managed a mention), and a more inclusive (but still token in a way) United Nations type best-of-the-best elite troopers get invited to this highly classified unit blessed with unlimited budget for high tech weapons and toys. Unlike Bay's invasion-and-conquer type of US troopers, these guys do get arrested after they unleash their weapons of mass destruction, diplomatic immunity not withstanding afterwards. And of course having futuristic toys help to lift this into fantasy-land, than an all out US Military commercial selling the virtues of why Uncle Sam needs you.

Sommers also managed to blend in the myriad of characters from the beloved toy lines and series, akin to what Bryan Singer managed to pull off with X-Men, but of course without the cerebral material to go along. Everything here is plain and simple, with black being black and white being white. It doesn't get bogged down with trying to tell the origin stories of everyone, but does so at precise intervals. I suspect if there was going to be more movies, then the case dossiers of the Joes would get their respective air time.

Otherwise, like the subtitle mentioned, it's more of a bad guys take all film, where surprisingly the Joes always a step behind, from the first action sequence until the last. It was smart too that the film had action over land, sea and air, covering a wide range of military operations to mop up a growing conspiracy involving arms dealers and nano- technology that doesn't seem to far fetched (in fact also seen before in other science fiction films). The best part of course is echoing some sentiments whenever opportunity allows in lambasting a superpower's policies, including a subtle jibe that most of the world's terrorist type problems, stem from ineptness and how the monster came to grow from within.

G.I. Joe was much better than expected as pure entertainment, and you really shouldn't give this a miss as it might just restore your faith in big-action summer popcorn flicks that takes a huge leaf out of their cartoon counterparts. A bevy of good looking, established stars in its casting also helped in making this watchable, even though some, like Ray Park, had to spend all his time behind a mask. See if you can spot an uncredited Brandan Fraser as well!

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90 out of 152 people found the following comment useful :-
Had Low Expectations. Loved The Movie!, 11 elokuu 2009

Author: RAGE_uv_Fire_79 (RAGEuvFire79@cox.net) from Oklahoma, USA

OK, I had almost every GI Joe toy growing up. I also watched the cartoon. Being a young kid during the 80's was awesome. As far as I am concerned, the toys and the cartoons from that era are the best. However, after first seeing the preview for GI Joe, and seeing that they now wore mech suits...... I had very low expectations for the movie. Just figured they were trying yet another way to milk money off of the remainder of 80's cartoons/ re-imaging.

However, I have to say, even though there was a little cheesiness to it, I really enjoyed this movie. This movie is based off a toy/cartoon/comic book. It isn't like other comics that could be deep, or thought provoking. It was always mainly about action, cool weapons, good guys and bad guys, getting caught and then escaping. This movie is just that. A action movie from start to finish. Has enough of a storyline to make it from beginning to end, but is mainly about the action. It doesn't give you a lot of back story to the characters. You do get a couple flashbacks, just so you know who people are, and how they are connected. But this isn't really an origins movie. I think some people were expecting some kind of epic movie experience. This movie is not that! This is a popcorn/ summer action movie/ and a way to relive some childhood memories for those of us who grew up watching the cartoon, or playing with the toys.

For those of you complaining about plot holes, and/or unbelievable science......... come on!!! What about the original cartoons was so believable??? This is fantasy!!!

I will admit though, although I did like the movie, some of the special effects were not that good. There were a few times during the movie where I saw something that just looked too fake, and I was like ... "that is just cheesy". But overall, it was a fun movie. Definitely not one I regret going to see.

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62 out of 99 people found the following comment useful :-
There's a reason for the strict release to critics by paramount..., 7 elokuu 2009

Author: Tyler G from Ann Arbor

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Oh my god.

First of all, and most importantly, I have nothing against a FUN, entertaining movie. But the only entertainment in the movie was how painful it was at times.

Acting: 2/10 Terrible. A fellow moviegoer commented that "You know it was a failure when one of the Wayans brothers was the best piece of acting" It was bad. Dennis Quaid was plain boring. He looked like he was having no fun.

Screenplay 1/10 HOW IN HOLY HELL DID THEY GET THIS APPROVED?!! All the memorable lines were the most terrible ones that everyone in the theater laughed at. It felt like a really bad TV show. The end of the movie was WAY more epic than it was supposed to be for a summer action blockbuster. Not intelligent, not funny, and not cohesive whatsoever. The setting changed about every 15 minutes, going all over the world. And brace yourself stereotypical, cheesy, predictable romance too.

Special Effects/Editing 3/10 Some of the obvious fully computer rendered scenes looked worse than the old star wars flicks. (The polar bear moment and the planes flying over the pyramids made many laugh) Other scenes, such as the Paris action looked good. Way too many explosions, even more than Michael Bay would want. The editing cut to different shots faster than any action movie I've ever seen. There were plenty of "What the hell just happened?" moments.

Its a big G.I BLOW Unfortunately.

For more info: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090804/ap_en_ot/us_film_gi_joe

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55 out of 89 people found the following comment useful :-
this has to be one of the worst films I have ever watched, 6 elokuu 2009

Author: Alan Mann from United Kingdom

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

it was far far too long, the only good part was in Paris when they wore the suits (basically from the TV trailers), an unusually silly film that I would honestly recommend anyone to wait until it appears on DVD or better to save your money and await T.V. in 3 years. I'm trying to put into words how bad this film was and it's difficult... . honestly... . I was just hoping it would end very soon and throughout thought more about writing a comment on IMDb during the presentation as opposed to trying my hardest to enjoy it, if you had to live your life in Hell, this film would only have to do a Groundhog Day and you will then know what true torture is. Sienna Miller is useless, Christopher Eccleston from Salford gives the worst Scottish accent ever (I think he must have watched Braveheart many times over and asked Mr Gibson for some help). Dennis Quaid is... . terrible! it must be the worst part he's ever played, by the looks of things on this film he came right out the back end of Martin Short and planted himself in this massive black hole of an enigma. the only thing that got me at the end was Snake Eyes did not speak, wow that totally shook me up!

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57 out of 96 people found the following comment useful :-
Delivers exactly what it promises and that's the point., 29 elokuu 2009

Author: Janne Kainulainen (ichabod81) from Finland

Please, take note that I rated this film 8 only because of it's value as an action film, but that's exactly the point I came here to get across. Everybody seems to have the same argument when they trash this film.. "it's all effects and no brains or dramatic undertones". OK, that is true, I've got to admit, but then again what kind of movie were these people actually expecting to see? Huh?!

G.I. Joe is as pure as an action film can possibly be and most importantly, it doesn't pretend to be anything else. Look at the poster. Check out the trailer. After those, were you perhaps waiting to see an Ingmar Bergman film? IT'S G.I. JOE, for Christ's sake! And I must say that in it's category, it isn't that bad. Sommers can direct good action sequences (the pursuit on the streets of Paris is stunning!) and although the film is obviously overblown with ridiculous gadgets and over the top plot lines, it doesn't matter because Joe succeeds in it's ONLY primary mission: to be entertaining. It's never boring and it's the silly fun it was always going to be.

So in a nutshell.. if you want a serious film to watch, check out There Will Be Blood or Doubt, but if you just want to forget for two hours the mess your leaders have left your nation and just have fun, check out this action film. Thank you.

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