Wassup, y’all! Who remembers doing this as a kid in the 80’s: Coming home after school, throwing your backpack either on the floor or your bed, turning on the tv and hearing that theme song, “G.I. Jooooooe, a real American hero…G.I. Joe is theeeeere!!!”
Eating your pizza rolls while watching this cartoon was the best. What sinister plan did Cobra Commander and Destro have this time? Would Scarlett and Duke ever stop playing and become a couple? Those were important G.I. Joe questions, but none of it mattered if that one character wasn’t featured…Snake Eyes!
Snake was EVERYONE’S favorite character. He was dressed in all black like The Omen, and had villains singing “This is for my Homies”.
S.E always deserved his own animated series, and in the new movie, Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins, he gets to flex more than Mad Cobra.
Does this film pack the power of an anaconda, or the little hiss of a garter snake? Let’s go!
Snake Eyes, Snake Eyes, he’s our man. If he can’t do it, no one can! Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins stars Henry Golding, Andrew Koji, Takehiro Hira, and Kakura Abe.
So, after the lackluster box-office performances of G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and G.I. Joe: Retaliation, the good people at Hasbro and Di Bonaventura Pictures decided that the third time was a charm and released Snake Eyes because, hey, why not?
Golding plays Snake Eyes and what’s interesting about this movie is the spin on the main character’s development.
It’s very compelling if I do say so myself. Snake befriends Tommy Arashikage (Koji), the head of an ancient clan devoted to preserving order.
Tommy takes Snake home to meet the fam, but they have reservations about Snake and his loyalty. From an action standpoint, it’s fun to watch Snake Eyes finally get loose on his own and see his full skillset.
Abe as Akiko, head of security, is just as entertaining with equal combat techniques.
The fight scenes are well-choreographed complete with weaponry galore. It’s one helluva ride! When the action subsides, a clever storyline takes over, which involves vengeance and trust as the main theme.
It makes you ponder what you’d do if put in that position.
Snake Eyes even gets some Cobra and G.I. Joe members involved in the action. I’ll keep that a secret for now. The cast does a great job with performances and special effects don’t overshadow the movie. However, there are missteps.
As G.I. Joe cartoon fans, we all want to know how Snake Eyes learned his fierce techniques. Well, it doesn’t go deep into detail. We know he’s tutored by the Arashikage clan, but some scenes only touch briefly on it.
Also, the action scenes start off very believable, but by the time Snake becomes “Snake”, some of his and other characters’ antics become impossible to fathom. Had this been taken care of in the beginning, it would be more plausible to the audience throughout.
There is some talk about the unnecessary usage of shaky-cam utilization. Yeah, there’s some of it, but it doesn’t hamper the film too much.
I don’t know why, but the G.I. Joe franchise is snake-bit for some reason.
The previous films aren’t the greatest action flicks made, but they are far from horrid. The same goes for this movie.
It’s exciting to watch, but you only get one chance to make an origin film impression. It will be hard to fill voids in the next one, if there is a next one.
I’m giving Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins a Morning/Midday Co-sign. I won’t be mad atcha if you see it in the evening. I saw it in IMAX so you know I spent some bread! Stay for the mid-credit scene.
Like the cartoon said, “Now you know, and knowing is half the battle”. Yoooooo Joe!
Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins made a $13.4 million debut at the box office on its opening weekend.
Did you check out the film?
