“TOYS FOR TEENSâ€
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Channing Tatum, Sienna Miller (Baroness), Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jonathan Pryce, Ray Park, Rachel Nichols, and Marlon Wayans
Directed by: Stephen Sommers
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for strong sequences of action violence and mayhem throughout.
Genre: Action/Adventure and War
By John Delia
It’s a whole new war and a new killing weapon in the action adventure film GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Moving along at a steady clip of violence and mayhem, the film reminded me of Iron Man but with a higher energy explosive plot. There are some drawbacks in the film however that extreme aficionados of war/comic book/superhero movies may find objectionable namely the directing and acting.
The war here takes place between an evil scientist that has discovered a
monster weapon involving nanobots that eat metal and are looking to rule the free world. (I’ve heard that one before.) Offering the weapon to the Americans, the government sends it’s best team of GI Joe warriors to escort the killing machine into proper hands. But, it is a trick by the mysterious Cobra organization so they can intercept it and get it activated by an unsuspecting third party. When the GI Joe team gets overtaken and the bombs get stolen, the battle begins between the two factions from the Egyptian desert to deep below the polar ice caps.
For young males this is a testosterone blast and here the toy company wins. They pull out all the CGI stops in order to provide a mesmerizing number of
explosions, special propulsive projectiles and frightening disintegrating nanobot bombs. It’s a teen and tween’s feast of action, fantasy and adventure. I do not know when I have seen more realistic jets, troop carriers, transport airships and weapons, let alone the crumbling of massive structures and vehicles during a nanobot feeding frenzy.
But the film does have a downside that probably won’t bother most of the
youngsters viewing the film, a weakening of the storyline by amateurish acting. Wow, now that sticks my neck out since I’m pointing the finger at the likes of Dennis Quaid, Channing Tatum, Sienna Miller and Marlon Wayans. Big names you say, well most of the time it looks like they have just dropped in on the set to recite a few lines until the CGI takes over. Giving
no feeling to their characters, the bevy of top list actors seems to have taken on the roles for a paycheck instead of a performance. For this I have to blame the director for not taking control of his cast.
Well there you have it, a blockbuster of a CGI film that will entertain those that cannot resist special effects, strong sequences of action violence and mayhem throughout on which the MPAA based their PG-13 rating. It will make huge money at the box office for no other reason than ‘there’s nothing out there that can stop it.’
FINAL ANALYSIS: An explosive party for teen and tween males that really don’t care about storyline delivery. (3 of 5 Palm Trees)