Let me just say this upfront, I am a fan of action movies, not the complicated kind where you need to pause every ten minutes to understand what is happening, I mean the kind where things are blowing up, people are fighting, the good guys are in trouble, and you are sitting there wondering how they are going to get out of it, so G.I. Joe :Retaliation is that kind of movie and I enjoyed every bit of it.
The movie came out in 2013, It is the second one in the G.I Joe series, If you saw the first one, Rise of Cobra you already know the world around it, The Joes are Americas special forces unit, the ones that handle the missions too dangerous or too sensitive for anyone else, They go where they are sent, they do the job, They don't ask too many questions, At the start of this movie everything seems fine, Duke is leading the team, and Roadblock is there with him Lady Jaye and Flint are in the mix and they are operating the way they always have.
Then everything falls apart.
I mean that., It falls apart very fast, and It falls apart hard, Zartan, who has been disguised as the President of the United States since the movie uses his position to frame the entire G.I. Joe team as traitors to the country, Before the Joes even know what is happening a military strike wipes out the entire team and just like that, gone, Duke doesn't survive , that moment genuinely hits you because you are not expecting it to go there so early, Only Roadblock, Flint and Lady Jaye make it out alive.
Now think about that situation for a second, Three people, no backup, no support, the whole government thinks they are criminals, the man sitting in the White House is not the real President.. Cobra, the organization they have been fighting all along is now closer to world domination than they have ever been, That is a hard situation to be in and the film does a good job of making you feel how heavy it is.
The surviving Joes go underground, Start working from nothing, they set up in a rundown gym, they try to figure out their next move, Lady Jaye is the one who notices that something is off about the President, she goes back through footage and sees that his behavior has changed in small but important ways, that detail alone is smart and It gives her character real purpose in the story instead of just being there to fill a role.
Roadblock leads them to General Joseph Colton, the G.I. Joe played by Bruce Willis, He doesn't have a big role but his presence adds weight to the story, he gives them weapons helps them get access and the connection between him and the team feels genuine in the short time they share the screen.
Now let me talk about the scene that made this film unforgettable for me, the ninja fight on the mountain,Snake Eyes and Jinx are going after Storm Shadow and they end up fighting on the side of a cliff all of them hanging from ropes moving through the air taking on an entire army of Red Ninjas in the middle of this cold snowy mountain, It is one of the visually impressive action sequences I have seen in this kind of film, the choreography is clean the camera work is steady. It just works completely, that scene alone was worth the watch.
Dwayne Johnson as Roadblock is the heart of this film, he is strong without being untouchable funny without trying hard and he leads from the front in a way that makes you want to follow him and he carries every scene he is in and there is never a moment where you doubt him as the main character.
Is the story perfect? Not completely, Some things are not fully explained, Storm Shadow coming back, from what looked like death in the movie gets glossed over and if you sit and think too carefully about the plot some parts don't fully hold up.. .. This is not that kind of movie, you are not watching G.I. Joe: Retaliation to study the writing, you are watching it because you want action that is well put together characters you can root for and a story that keeps moving without wasting your time.
On all of those things it delivers, It is fun it is fast, and the stakes feel real and the ending is satisfying in the way a good action movie should be, If you haven't seen it, just clear your evening and watch it.... And when that mountain scene comes on pay close attention because it is something else entirely.
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Rating: 75/100