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"G.I. JOE: RETALIATION"
(2013) (Dwayne Johnson, Channing Tatum) (PG-13)

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QUICK TAKE:
Action: An elite military group becomes splintered when it does battle with a terrorist organization that has infiltrated the highest levels of the U.S. government.
PLOT:
Led by Duke (CHANNING TATUM) and Roadblock (DWAYNE JOHNSON), the elite military unit known as the G.I. Joes is successful in retrieving an atomic bomb in Pakistan. Soon after their mission is completed, though, the U.S. President (JONATHAN PRYCE) orders all of the Joes to be eliminated and spreads a false story about how the unit betrayed the country in attempting to seize nuclear power for itself.

Unfortunately, the President has been replaced by a master of disguise named Zartan (ARNOLD VOSLOO), whose allegiance is to the terrorist organization known as Cobra. Its members include the recent prison escapee Cobra Commander (LUKE BRACEY), the demolitions expert Firefly (RAY STEVENSTON), and the elite ninja Storm Shadow (BYUNG-HUN LEE). They dream of nothing short of total world domination.

Roadblock takes command of what's left of the Joes, including the enigmatic Snake Eyes (RAY PARK), his ninja companion Jinx (ELODIE YUNG), and elite soldiers Lady Jaye (ADRIANNE PALICKI) and Flint (D.J. CONTRONA). Together, they enlist the aid of retired General Joe Colton (BRUCE WILLIS) to stop Cobra from spreading his tyranny on a global scale.

OUR TAKE: 4.5 out of 10
Today, I'm a touch sad because I think the 11-year-old boy in me may be fading away. When I was 11, I would have flat-out loved a movie like "G.I. Joe: Retaliation." It's got big action; some cool stunts and special effects; awesome vehicles and weaponry; upright, heroic good guys, and downright evil bad guys. And, truthfully, the forty-something me DID enjoy all of that. But that guy also needs some decent dialogue, some good acting, and at least a plot twist or two to qualify something like this as worth seeing. "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" has none of that.

The sequel picks up a while after the original. The evil Cobra Commander (Luke Bracey) and Destro are imprisoned. Their Cobra terrorist organization has been seemingly neutralized. Duke (Channing Tatum) still leads the G.I. Joe forces, and Jonathan Pryce is still hiding his British accent as the U.S. President. Only now the character is hiding another big secret.

He's been replaced by Zartan (Arnold Vosloo), Cobra's master of disguises. After a successful opening mission to retrieve a stolen nuke, Zartan thanks the Joes and then goes all Order 66 on them. He declares them enemies of the state and eliminates pretty much all of the elite fighting force except for Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson), Jaye (Adrianne Palicki), Flint (D.J. Cotrona), and Snake Eyes (Ray Park).

Once the Joes are effectively neutralized, Cobra Commander is freed from prison by Storm Shadow (Byung-Hun Lee), an ultimate weapon code-named Zeus is deployed into satellite orbit, the American flag is removed from the White House and replaced with the Cobra flag, and … and … Olympus has fallen! Olympus has fallen! Olym-

Er, sorry. Wrong movie.

At any rate, "Retaliation" is a touch confused about what it wants to be. At times, it does play like a big-screen Hasbro toy commercial with characters that are more like action figures than flesh-and-blood human beings. At other times, it's a red-blooded, jingoistic, American war movie. Then, at other times, it's like one of those martial-arts, wire-fu flicks with loads of ninjas flying all over the place.

In addition to an absolutely stunning action sequence involving ninjas fighting on the side of a mountain, the moments where the movie works best for me is when it's attempting to be a sort of "Expendables 2 ½" with Bruce Willis as a trigger-happy general, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson body-slamming guys and firing the kind of guns usually mounted on the side of helicopters, and other minor action heroes like Tatum and Park and Vosloo duking it out for screen time.

There is a ton of death and not-so-accidental dismemberment on display, but the PG-13 rating keeps it noticeably bloodless throughout. That's good and bad for the young boys who will make up this film's core audience. Good in that they won't be subjected to all kinds of gore, but bad in that they'll be given a completely unrealistic portrait of warfare.

But that's kind of what the "G.I. Joe" franchise has always been about … i.e. the building up of the U.S. fighting soldier. Honestly, "Retaliation" is a better ninja movie than American war flick. But at 94 minutes, it's pretty darn lean and certainly never boring. Like I said, if I were 11 (or a severely stunted adult), I would really get into this. Because I am not, I can't rate it any higher than a 4.5 out of 10. (T. Durgin)




Reviewed March 26, 2013 / Posted March 28, 2013


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