G.I. Joe : The Rise Of Cobra

Review by Anthony Morris

The reason why big budget American movies are often so bland and generic isn't because of any basic flaw in American culture.

It is because Hollywood wants to sell their movies all over the world, and pretty much everywhere in the world understands explosions, special effects, and dialogue that doesn't require more than primary school-level English to translate. 

Which is why (even though G.I. Joe "the toy" is as all-American as apple pie and PG-rated pornography) G.I. Joe : The Rise Of Cobra "the movie" features an international team of good guys.

A team lead by an American (of course), based in the Saraha Desert, fighting a Scottish bad guy working out of an underwater base under the North Pole and features two arch enemy martial arts brothers - one Asian, and one of No Fixed Origin.

Not that any of that is all actually important...

Let's face it, you have forked out your hard earned for the action, and for the most, part G.I. Joe : The Rise Of Cobra delivers in a slightly less big-budget but oddly more fun way than the recent Transformers 2. 

Why this is has very little to do with the action itself, which is competent but never really spectacular - no matter how many underwater explosions, jet packs, action heroes in super-suits and collapsing Effiel Towers appear on screen. 

It all comes down to the characters themselves; they might be barely two dimensional, but at least there is some actual character there:

• The leader has an angsty past full of heartbreak but he still fights on.

• The sidekick is sort of funny

• Dennis Quaid (as the general in charge of the Joe's) chew up the scenery like it was made out of chocolate.

• The women look sexy as they blow stuff up.

• The evil scientist is hideously disfigured (and, as played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, astonishingly hammy).

Christopher Eccleston also does a solid job of slumming it as a villain, who is supposedly secretly running a terror organisation, but sticks his company logo on all the terrorists gear. 

A mysteriously pointless Brendan Fraser cameo aside (in fact, Stephen Sommers slips in quite a few references to The Mummy if you keep an eye out), there is not a whole lot to think about with G.I. Joe : The Rise Of Cobra.

If you are seeing a movie called G.I. Joe, chances are that's exactly how you like it.

3.5 out of 5

G.I. Joe : The Rise Of Cobra
Australian release: 6th August, 2009
Official Site: G.I. Joe : The Rise Of Cobra
Cast: Dennis Quaid, Channing Tatum, Sienna Miller
Director: Stephen Sommers