Sometimes I 'get' Stephen Sommers movies and sometimes I don't. Mainly I don't. I like the dumb, trashy monster movie Deep Rising. I don't like The Mummy at all...it's well made but I find it boring, with no incentive to continue watching once started. The Mummy Returns is so busy and action packed that there's no time to be bored; this one I like. Van Helsing however is a major misfire, crapping on the Univeral icons of Dracula and The Wolfman. The dark horror look jars with the daft tone and cartoony effects. Apart from one good sequence the whole movie's a write-off.
I wasn't going to see G.I.Joe - The Rise Of Cobra because of that last disasterous encounter with director Sommers work. However, my need to get a fix of big budget action overwhelmed logic and watch it, I did. And I'm very glad too because GI Joe's huge fun.
It's a guilty pleasure movie; a movie that is very clearly flawed, even to the point of being undefendable, but is undeniably enjoyable anyway. It feels like a live action version of an 80's cartoon; there's very little character stuff, the baddies plans are continuously spewed forth in a rather arch way and the whole thing has a larger-than-life, pantomime feel. It kind of reminded me of The Humanoid or Battle Beyond The Stars in the late 70's where the inadequecies of the production were inconsequential compared with the sheer fun of the story and action. And that is GI Joe; a $175 million B-movie.
Channing Tatum inherits the title of "The Plank" from a redeemed Josh Hartnett, as the most souless leading man since Keanu in Dracula. The mouth flaps, the eyes are open, but there's nothing behind those lifeless peepers. Marlon Wayons teeters on the right side of annoying & Dennis Quaid is the new John Vernon, spouting all-American corniness, bordering on parody. Christopher Eccleston has a surprisingly dodgy Scots accent but is out-hammed, off the screen by Joseph Gordon-Levett's Cobra Commander. A silent Ray Park is ace as Snake Eyes, GI Joe's unequivable icon.
Rachel Nichols redefines the meaning of cute, while the stupendously hot, full-bodied woman award goes to Sienna Miller as The Baroness. Miller is surprisingly good, not only in a rare turn as a brunette (it suits her) but stretching her acting chops for the most rounded character of the movie. (I love the way she struts like a model, despite the snow, gunfire, explosions, etc).
As always with a Sommers movie the effects come in for scrutiny (and critisism). The CGI is a mixed bag with some being particularly awful (why was Destro's mouth really large and moving round his face?) or really good (the 'Iron-Man' suits in Paris...mostly). But, as always, the environments looked like something generated out of a video game and the characters moved with the occasional disregard to physics, despite their enhanced abilities. Fortunately, the fun B-movie tone ultimately makes the sub-standard effects redundent.
The movie's well paced for a 2 hour flick and the action sequence's well handled. The action is well structured and the characters geography is communicated clearly and their objectives obvious (which is essential, but often lacking in blockbuster actioners these days). The Team America inspired, terrorist attack on Paris is the movie's stand-out set-piece with genuine excitment being created by the threat, and the tension produced by the endevour to stop the attack. The action's inter-spaced by a handfull of alarmingly grounded character moments as we learn about Snake Eyes youth and Duke and The Baroness' previous relationship.
As expected, the film is epic and completely off it's boobies. The GI Joe's base, The Pit, is massive beyond belief, having their airport (with all the heavy vehicles on the runway) being built on the floor above the water staging area...looks good but makes no sense. When Destro's base is crushed it's done so by the sinking, crumbling ice-pack (that was floating rather well in its combined form!) Also, for so many 100's of GI Joe's working at this complex, they always seem to send the same 5 man team out on missions. The performance's are barking too; everytime Quaid refers to his team as 'Joe's', I had to snigger. Also, when Gordon-Levitt takes over as main villain, hissing manically "Call me Commander!", the film almost begins to crumble under the weight of it's own lunacy.
Fortunately the movie takes a step away from the edge and recovers. The climax is straight out of Return of the Jedi having an assualt on the villains base, a simultanious swordfight, escaping an explosion through a tunnel and the goodies fleet backing of when the evil lair is destroyed. It makes you think this is where the Pierce Brosnan Bond films might have ended up if they'd escalated the CGI wackiness of Die Another Day into subsequent adventures.
If your willing to overlook poor effects and common sense to experience a fun bit of escapism, I'd recommend GI Joe. But it might leave you scarred.
1 comment:
Go Joe!
I almost didn't see this film as the trailers were frankly horrible. It seemed they'd tried to make a 'serious' version of Team America. What the fuck? Plus Stephen Sommers lost any goodwill I might have had for him with the abortion that was Van Helsing.
Luckily GI Joe is pretty entertaining, watchable guff. It falls on The Mummy Returns/Deep Rising side of Sommers work as opposed to the Van Helsing side. It's crap but fun rather than just eye gougingly awful.
The plot is surprisingly well conceived and structured. It takes some (brief) time out for backstory and character beats of which most are actually pretty good. The action is full-on and bonkers, but is well directed and genuinely exciting in places with structured goals for the goodies and baddies to achieve - i.e. it's not just a loud flashy rambling mess like Transformers 2. The Paris chase is actually really cool and full of incident, obstacles and some increasing tension.
The performances range from the wooden (Channing Tatum) to the ham (Eccleston) to the cool (Ray Park) to the pretty darn good (Sienna Miller) to the outright insane (Joseph Gordon Levitt).
The FX are a mixed bag as always in Sommers films with his signature cartoony look stamped on everything CG. But actually, for this film, it kinda suits it.
The best thing you can say about GI Joe is that it is fun. Nothing more nothing less. It could never be classed as a 'good' film as Sommers doesn't make 'good' films. He makes trashy, silly, mega-budget B movies. But as far as trashy, silly, mega-budget B movies go, GI Joe is one of the better ones. For me it is everything Transformers 2 should have been but wasn't.
Oh yeah, and as The Baroness, Sienna Miller is ONE SMOKIN' HOT FOX!
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