Visual trick and treat

You don’t expect the story of G.I. Joe to start in France under the rule of Louis the XIII in 1641. But it does — and rather effectively too, with the Scottish arms dealer James McCullen being tortured for selling arms to both sides of a war.

GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Big Home Video, Rs 599
Rating: ***

HT Image

You don’t expect the story of G.I. Joe to start in France under the rule of Louis the XIII in 1641. But it does — and rather effectively too, with the Scottish arms dealer James McCullen being tortured for selling arms to both sides of a war. The story jumps centuries and we find the CEO of the weapons corporation, Mars Industries, making a sales pitch before a Nato panel for nanomites or nano-sized weapons that can eat into metal, destroying whole cities in the process. What follows is a blitzkrieg of stunning special effects and, oh, a storyline about a case packed with six nanomite-armed missiles being robbed by the ‘bad guys’. In the movie, as well as in the comic books, and unlike in the original action hero figure toyline, G.I. Joe is not one individual but a special unit comprising groovily-armed and specially powered men and women. Directed by Stephen Sommers and covering some 135 specially-built sets, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is a hyper-kinetic visual feast with eye-popping designs. Keep your eyes peeled especially for a scene where two heroes from the G.I. Joe unit chase a car wearing ‘accelerator suits’.

This grandiose vision, lasting for eight seconds and coming across as a super-FX version of a Ronin-cum-Bullit car chase sequence in Paris (culminating in the toppling of the Eiffel Tower) took one year from conception to completion. And it’s totally worth it. Just don’t look for a storyline and you’ll be thrilled.