G.I. Joe: Retaliation

When it comes to high-budget, big, action-packed flicks, "G.I. Joe: Retaliaton", simply by the title, says it all. As opposed to a sequel, this is actually a continuation of 2009's "G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra", which is almost like watching the same film, just four years later.

In the continuing adventures of the G.I. Joe team, Duke (Channing Tatum), second-in-command Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson), and the rest of the Joes, Flint (D.J. Cotrona), Jaye (Adrianne Palicki), and Storm Shadow (Byung hun Lee) face a two-fold threat. Not only is their mortal enemy COBRA rearing its ugly head again, but there is also a threat within the U.S. government: There might be an impostor in the White House.
Meanwhile, Snake Eyes (Ray Park) is on the search for inner peace via through the Blind Master (RZA), but learns that his nemesis, Storm Shadow, is still alive, which he thought was left for dead.

Others to round out the cast are Ray Stevenson as Firefly, Bruce Willis as General Joe Colton, Jonathan Pryce as President, Elodie Yung as Jinx, Luke Lacey as COBRA Commander, Walton Goggins as Warden Nigel James, Joseph Mazzello as Mouse, and Arnold Vosloo as Zartan.

This was adequately directed by Jon A. Chu ("Silent Beats" '01, "Step Up 2: The Streets" '08, "Step Up 3D" '10, "Justin Bieber: Never Say Never" '11). Not much for the director to do to get these actors to emit a lot of emotion here-- aggression, tenacity, a little humor, and aggression. Oh, did I say that already? It was written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick based on Hasbro's G.I. Joe action figures.

As with '09's,"G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra", what really made this palatable was the visual effects and digital animation predominantly created by ILM (Industrial, Light & Magic), and Digital Domain all done in 3D. This was originally supposed to be released last year, but with all the production problems during that time, it was finally finished to make this release. And, considering the fact that most of the making of this film had to be in post production, no wonder it took this long to finish it.

If you are a single male between the age of 18-34, you will love this, because the makers of this film were obviously targeting you. But if you're not part of the aforementioned demographic, if you just put all plausibility and credibility at the theater door before you walk in, then maybe even you will get something entertaining out of it.

Out of 4 Stars: 2.5                       Rated: PG-13                        111mins.