The biggest disappointment with G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is that it is a Stephen Sommers movie. You just cannot believe the man who gave us the incredibly awesome adventure series in The Mummy could deliver something so incredibly unimaginative. This is not to say G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is a bad movie. It has loads of lightning fast action, tons of hi-tech gadgets and weaponry, great looking actors in terms of looks and bodies, amazing special effects, huge explosions, and what not, but at the end of it all the sum of all parts does not add up to deliver a gourmet meal. It’s very much akin to a beautiful body and face but bereft of a soul.
Hasbro has had massive box office success with The Transformers movies, but G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra fails to deliver. The story (or whatever little there is) is about a weapons manufacturer out to conquer the world using nanotechnology in the latest generation of weapons. The governments of the world are obviously unable to stop him and it is up to the G.I. Joe’s from all over the world, in other words the best of the best to get together and stop him. Into this story are woven other elements like friendship, love, loyalty, revenge and unforgiveness. It is however the nonstop and fast paced action that defines and drives the movie from the beginning to the end. There are way too many stars strewn about and most of them are lost somewhere in the nonstop action.
Simply put standard action fare that should excite adolescents and pretty much no one else. If you are looking for great comic action heroes then go with The Transformers, Iron Man or the latest Batman movies.