G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra B-
Like plowing through a triple deck ice cream dessert, the film captures you with intensity while it is being "consumed," but slips easily into memory once it has passed.
Once again, the world is threatened by evil beings out to destroy it - or most of it - this time with the use of a newly invented weapon that almost instantly literally chews into oblivion whatever its target, large or small. A group of G.I. Joe's must battle their deadly adversaries through a series of devastatingly loud, rapidly moving sequences before the - well, all I can say about the ending is that they do save the world - but only for the present. Obviously, there's more to follow. And why not? Sequels of this sort could go on - and on - and on - ad nauseam.
Based on comic books, an animated TV series and a popular collection of toy figures, this hyper, wildly presented action thriller puts its emphasis, less on its 2-dimensional characters and more on the action and noise, which conceals the fact that, underneath it all, it's just another, silly plot about ultimate annihilation and the good forces out to prevent it. There's no time allowed to think about the silliness, borrowed in lesser manner from "Dune," "2001," and Franz Kafka, to name a few precedents.
And yet it is not entirely a waste of time. The animating team have raised the ante in computer generated effects (comprising about 90% of the movie's two hours) to the point where one wonders how any similar future film could possible top it. Actors and original plots are becoming less & less important as the special effects take over. Famous Parisian monuments vanish almost instantly in astoundingly rapid ways, people in fantastically created costumes employ fantastically created weaponry, and - with the exception of Dennis Quaid (who looks terribly out of place in his tough commander role), the cast of Channing Tatum, Sienna Miller, Marlong Wayans (as the ubiquitous Black side-kick) and others are adequate in their cardboard character roles.
The prize goes to the hundreds - perhaps thousands - of behind-the scenes crews who built this elaborate, super-energetic pop-corn flick.