GI JOE: RETALIATION

US, 2013, 97 minutes, Colour.
Dwayne Johnson, Channing Tatum, Bruce Willis, Jonathan Pryce, D.J. Cotrona, Ray Stevenson, Adrienne Palicki.
Directed by Jon M. Chu.

While the first GI Joe film, despite the explosions, shootouts and mayhem, was something of a guilty pleasure, this one is not so pleasurable and may make you feel guilty!

And, there are only a few of the cast from the original, mainly Channing Tatum. When it was rumoured that he was going to be killed off and fans protested, the company added some extra scenes – and then he is killed off.

The star of this show is Dwayne Johnson who has made quite a movie career after his wrestling life. He is a reliable screen presence, looks tough (his code name is Roadblock) but he can do family and nice (after all, he was in Tooth Fairy with Julie Andrews).

While we see the GI Joes in action in Korea, we see them as the victims of a conspiracy and attacked in Pakistan and being blamed for the death of the Pakistani president. What has happened is that an arch-villain has the technology to disguise himself as the President of the United States and so take over, call a summit for a nuclear-free world and then threaten all the world powers with his own more immediate and devastating weapons (with a destruction of central London to prove it).

But, most of the film is getting the GI Joes back together to take out the false president. Much of a muchness with other such adventures, except a lot more CGI – and explosions. Gung-ho would only be a mild description of the action.

Oh, and they recruit the founder of the GI Joes, Joe himself, something of a cameo for Bruce Willis in Die Hard mode. And they have distinguished British actor, Jonathan Pryce as the good president and the bad president.

It’s more or less like The Expendables but with some James Bond megalomaniac type of villains who want to conquer the world.

1. An action film, based on Hasbro Toys and computer games? A big screen computer game experience? Conspiracy, conflict, battle, military skills, search and destroy, victory?

2. The popularity of the original film? Its cast? Characters, situations? Gung-ho? The different cast here? But no less gung-ho? American superiority?

3. Action, effects, stunts? Explosions, weapons? Mayhem?

4. The GI Joe world: Korea and rescues, Pakistan and diplomatic missions, in Washington, DC, action at Fort Sumter? The German prison? International
tone, targets, weapons and world destruction, the scene of Central London being destroyed?

5. The Joes and action, friendship, Duke and his leadership, the Korean mission, getting home, with Roadblock? Roadblock’s daughters? Playing, his being a target, bad at playing computer games? The next mission, the impact of his death?

6. Mayhem in Pakistan, the plan to discredit the GI Joe’s? The survivors, in the well? Roadblock realizing that the decision was made by the president? Walking through the desert? Flint, brash? Lady Jaye and support?

7. The American president, his being imprisoned? Zartan and his changing into the president? The technology? The study of the different phrases used, the position of hands? The realization that the president was false? Zartan and his blaming the GI Joes for Pakistan? The press conference, and outlawing them?

8. The German prison, Snake Eyes imprisoned, the reality that he was Storm Shadow? The warden and his steering? The guards? The impregnable prison? The other prisoners? Storm Shadow and his pulse, the recording, smashing of the glass, water flooding out, fighting and escape?

9. Roadblock and his personality, the home scenes, the friendship with Duke, in the desert, in charge? The airfield? Back in the US, the plans, work with Flint, with Lady Jaye? The bonds?

10. Searching out Joe, Bruce Willis and his style? Retired, re-enlisting? Going along with the plans, the training? His participation, freeing the president?

11. Storm Shadow in Japan, the healing, the mountains, the rescuers, the guards, the stunt work on the mountainside, Storm Shadows body, returning to the United States? His participation in the rescue?

12. The president’s setting up the meeting, the world leaders, at Fort Sumter and the overtones of the Civil War, the international group? Strategy, the canceling whole nuclear weapons? The president and his defiance, his Zeus weapons and the elaborate scenes of setting them up, the satellites? The threats, the destruction of London, the other world leaders backing down? The intrusion of the GI Joes, the pursuit of the villains, road block and his confrontation of, the case, the countdown getting close, the fight, roadblock and his destroying the satellites?

13. Cobra Leader, his plans, presence, mask, escape?

14. The restoration of peace? Popular gung-ho entertainment?