Wednesday, August 19, 2009

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra


I was a huge GI Joe fan as a kid. I read the comic, watched the TV show, and collected the toys. I would miss my school bus because I was watching GI Joe repeats. I loved GI Joe, I think maybe more than any other toy line. And I still love GI Joe. Just last year I bought a comic. And I have a couple of the newer action figures.

So, like Transformers, making a live action movie based on something so fond from my childhood is dangerous. You are almost guaranteed failure. The hate was quick to surface, long before the movie was released. I didn't like that they made it an international force instead of an American one. I hated the first character shots. Everyone was in those terrible black outfits that Hollywood slaps on all super heroes. Storm Shadow looked retarded in his white outfit. GI Joe was going to suck, and it was clear from day one.

But somehow, it didn't suck. I saw the movie despite my jaded attitude. And it was fun. In fact, I really liked it. In fact, I will admit that I almost, almost, loved it. Movie Bob over at The Escapist hit the nail on the head. The movie was a lot of fun. It was like all those battles you had with your GI Joe figures and vehicles came to life on screen and did all the wild shit you imagined they did. There are some character changes that purists will surely whine about. But at the heart of it is exactly what every kid loved about GI Joe: good guys and bad guys tearing it up with real and imagined military technology.

Go see it.

And Baroness is HOT.

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