Scarlet Steals the Show

I confess: I went to see G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra last Saturday, a mere day after it opened. I thought it was going to be unspeakably bad, and it turned out to be… quite entertaining. And that's good.

Of course, neither the story, the characters, or the plot developments are exactly fresh or original, and yet the movie is, unlike Transformers 2 or Terminator 4, fun to watch, especially when the gorgeous, gorgeous Rachel Nichols is onscreen playing Scarlet. Or when Sienna Miller is making you love her Baroness, that bad, bad girl.

The visuals were neat, and the chase scene in Paris I found particularly inspired. It was audacious and absurdly over the top (like the infamous wheel swordfighting scene in Dead Man's Chest), and for that I loved it. However, the effects looked fake in more than one occasion all throughout the film, especially when you could tell the actors had been replaced by a CGI clone. And that happened a lot. In a movie with such a big budget, those amateurish-looking frames here and there looked even worse than they would have had this been a B movie.

At least, and unlike Transformers 2, I found most of the characters interesting or at least likeable, and I found myself rooting for Scarlet on several different scenes. The acting in general was serviceable, and, looks aside, I thought Rachel Nichols did a great job playing Scarlet. Channing Tatum as Duke, though, was more uneven, and in some scenes he definitely looked like he was just delivering his lines without being invested in the story at all. The costumes were cool for the most part, but the two characters people were most likely dying to see (Snake Eyes and Stormshadow) struck me precisely as the two with the lamest suits. This is just a matter of personal preference, and I understand it, but Snake Eyes' mask-with-fake-lips and foamy chest costume was quite bad, and Stormshadow's white ensemble looked more like he was on his way to his daily judo lessons.

The story didn't boast an exactly intricate plot, but it was mostly coherent (hello, Transformers 2), so instead of scratching my head wondering what was going on (cough, cough Transformers 2 cough, cough), I could just sit back and enjoy the ride. Also, there are a couple of elements left unresolved to build a franchise, which will depend on how well this movie performs at the box office. I thought it was okay, but I wouldn't rush to recommend it to anybody. I enjoyed (500) Days of Summer, which I saw the night before (and which, incidentally, also starred Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who completely threw me out of the story the first time he showed up in G.I. Joe and made me wonder what movie I was watching), a lot more than I did G.I. Joe, but I don't regret going to see it. So, if you decide to give the Joes a chance, let me know what you think!