Review: G.I.Joe

The director seeks to dazzle our senses with one high-octane set piece after another. The highlights include a chase through the streets of Paris culminating in the toppling of the Eiffel Tower, no less, says Rashid Irani.

G.I.Joe: The Rise Of Cobra
Cast: Channing Tatum, Sienna Miller
Direction: Stephen Sommers
Rating: **

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Hot on the heels of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, comes yet another bang-’em-up actioner based on a popular 1960s toy line series. In the spirit of the Michael Bay blockbuster, fellow mayhem-meister Stephen Sommers (The Mummy, Van Hesling) subjects the viewers to an unrelenting barrage of future-tech effects.

Of course, the story or whatever there is of it is not to be taken seriously at all. An elite international commando unit led by a wise-cracking general (Dennis Quaid) must help save the world. The nemesis is a sinister Scottish arms dealer (Christopher Eccleston) who has developed warheads capable of destroying anything in its path. So, what’s new?
The narrative gets weighed down with several extraneous characters such as a blonde baroness (Miller) an evil brainiac and a couple of brooding ninja warriors. Practically every scene appears to be contrived in an effort for the next explosive confrontation between the gung-ho soldiers and their adversaries.

Moreover, the viewer is likely to be flummoxed by the frequent use of flashbacks. Throughout the nearly two hours of watching the rival forces smashing each other into oblivion it feels much like playing a video game we are not even interested in.

The director seeks to dazzle our senses with one high-octane set piece after another. The highlights include a chase through the streets of Paris culminating in the toppling of the Eiffel Tower, no less.

Not surprisingly, the preposterous ending sets up the possibility of a sequel. What we actually need again, however, is some peace and quiet at the movies.