Posted by Sedruce at 11:23pm Aug 23 '09I just posted this on my blog, thought I'd copy-paste it here. No significant spoilers, I don't think anything worse than you'd see in the trailers, so here goes:
If, when you were a kid (or now even!), you played with G.I. Joes and did these amazing huge intricate plots of world domination and ridiculous last-minute saving and the storyline was SO RIDICULOUS that you never could have come up with it if you had been self conscious, thinking of other people viewing your plot...if that sounds like you, go see the movie. If not, take a pass; rent it or borrow it from a friend.
I played with G.I. Joes that way when I was a kid (...I was the girl whose barbie dolls would be held prisoner by Cobra Commander and the G.I. Joes had to go rescue them). And I fuckin loved the movie.
The plot could have been one my brother and I played out as kids (plus a HUGE budget for boom-booms and locations). That is why I loved it. It was ridiculous, bore a lot of similarities to other movies, full of cliches...but that's the way it is when you're a kid! So, I think it stayed very true to itself. To make a better movie would have been to break away from G.I. Joe and just make one more army movie. Meh.
The characters coulda used some work. I did like the chicks for the most part (but wtf, no chick is gonna go into battle with mid-back-length hair hanging loose...it's gonna get in the way!), though the badguy chick was...they tried to make her too much of the plot (maybe in an effort to appeal to the female audience?). She was boring. The male characters were cliches...I really didn't care for the two main male characters (Rip Cord and whatever the other dude's name was). The others were bearable at worst. I really liked the story they had set up for [private] Storm and Snake Eyes, but they didn't bring that story OUT very well at all.
And I gotta say, it was FUN to see Christopher Eccleston (Dr. Who from the first season of the newest incarnation of the series) in a different roll, as Destro. I think that was brilliant casting. The rest of the casting was reasonably well done too. There was a nice mix of fresh faces and vaguely familiar faces. No one stood out as an awful actor or horribly miscast. It was pretty nice.
All this being said...R rather disliked the movie...quite a bit. Upon questioning him, I think I know why...to him, this wasn't the childhood tribute/flashback it was for me. He never played with G.I. Joes, and he never played the ridiculously elaborate plots like I did. This movie was, to him, just another big special effects war movie. And as that, it is a pretty mediocre movie.
One other thing...I was surprised at how gory it was. I mean...it's based on [private]s. I think it's safe to say they were aiming more towards people like me, who played with the [private]s as kids and grew up to where they were ready to see the [private]s be played out as a really cool movie with lots of gore and very definitely adult elements, not so much any kids who might be playing with G.I. Joes nowadays...so if your kids are playing with your hand-me-downs, maybe leave them at home, but take yourself to go see this. :P
If, when you were a kid (or now even!), you played with G.I. Joes and did these amazing huge intricate plots of world domination and ridiculous last-minute saving and the storyline was SO RIDICULOUS that you never could have come up with it if you had been self conscious, thinking of other people viewing your plot...if that sounds like you, go see the movie. If not, take a pass; rent it or borrow it from a friend.
I played with G.I. Joes that way when I was a kid (...I was the girl whose barbie dolls would be held prisoner by Cobra Commander and the G.I. Joes had to go rescue them). And I fuckin loved the movie.
The plot could have been one my brother and I played out as kids (plus a HUGE budget for boom-booms and locations). That is why I loved it. It was ridiculous, bore a lot of similarities to other movies, full of cliches...but that's the way it is when you're a kid! So, I think it stayed very true to itself. To make a better movie would have been to break away from G.I. Joe and just make one more army movie. Meh.
The characters coulda used some work. I did like the chicks for the most part (but wtf, no chick is gonna go into battle with mid-back-length hair hanging loose...it's gonna get in the way!), though the badguy chick was...they tried to make her too much of the plot (maybe in an effort to appeal to the female audience?). She was boring. The male characters were cliches...I really didn't care for the two main male characters (Rip Cord and whatever the other dude's name was). The others were bearable at worst. I really liked the story they had set up for [private] Storm and Snake Eyes, but they didn't bring that story OUT very well at all.
And I gotta say, it was FUN to see Christopher Eccleston (Dr. Who from the first season of the newest incarnation of the series) in a different roll, as Destro. I think that was brilliant casting. The rest of the casting was reasonably well done too. There was a nice mix of fresh faces and vaguely familiar faces. No one stood out as an awful actor or horribly miscast. It was pretty nice.
All this being said...R rather disliked the movie...quite a bit. Upon questioning him, I think I know why...to him, this wasn't the childhood tribute/flashback it was for me. He never played with G.I. Joes, and he never played the ridiculously elaborate plots like I did. This movie was, to him, just another big special effects war movie. And as that, it is a pretty mediocre movie.
One other thing...I was surprised at how gory it was. I mean...it's based on [private]s. I think it's safe to say they were aiming more towards people like me, who played with the [private]s as kids and grew up to where they were ready to see the [private]s be played out as a really cool movie with lots of gore and very definitely adult elements, not so much any kids who might be playing with G.I. Joes nowadays...so if your kids are playing with your hand-me-downs, maybe leave them at home, but take yourself to go see this. :P
G.I. Joe - Sedruce