G.I. Joe: Retaliation

I saw Writer/Director Stephen Sommers’ G.I Joe: The Rise of Cobra by accident in 2009 and enjoyed it, so I was looking forward to G.I. Joe: Retaliation, but, Jon Cho and the writing team of Rhett Riese and Paul Wernick were somewhat lacking in their delivery.

 

Even though I saw the initial setup, I was still confused for well over the first third of the film as to who were the good guys and who were the bad guys.  Unless you are a fan of the graphic novel or wherever this “epic” comes from, you will be, too.

Normally, the tell is that the good guys wear white and the bad guys wear dark.  Here, it’s reversed.  (I hope that helps would-be viewers.) 

 Once I had a better fix on who was who, I enjoyed the bang, bang shoot-‘em-up that followed.  I mean, who doesn’t want the President to be saved and the evil villain defeated, especially when Bruce Willis and Dwayne Johnson are involved?

 

Because they didn’t supply a sufficient program of Who’s Who, I can only give G.I. Joe: Retaliation a 2+ out of 5.  For the G.I. Joe fan base, it’s a 3+.