Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins

Tonight, I checked out the new “Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins” movie, which came out in July, and I will let everyone know what I thought of this prequel.

The G.I. Joe franchise is back with this prequel about a side character only old school fans are familiar with or care about. For everyone else, the main interest here is a respectful actor, Henry Golding. Rich Cline said in his review, “The thinly written movie consists mainly of the usual shaky-cam action and snarling machismo.” However, Golding breathes enough life into the title role to make it worth checking out.

After his father (Steven Allerick) is killed, a young boy (Max Archibald) with no identity or family becomes Snake Eyes (Golding), a dangerous street fighter enlisted by evil Yakuza boss Kenta (Takehiro Hira). When he rescues Japanese heir Tommy (Andrew Koji), the two become friends, and Snake Eyes begins working with Tommy’s security chief Akiko (Haruka Abe) to become a member of the family force. However, other issues are looming with the dangerous Baroness (Ursula Corbero), who obviously has a despicable plan.

Director Schwentke keeps things moving, adding a dark undertone that connects a series of completely random action scenes. Cline noted, “So even if there's not much to the plot, and most of the characters have little nuance, there are nice edges here and there that hold the interest, mainly in the tensely brittle bromance Snake Eyes has with Tommy and the relentless flirtation he shares with Akiko.” It helps that the production looks nice enough to get through some strange fanciful elements.

Cline mentioned, “Golding holds the audience's attention as the conflicted hero, struggling manfully between honour and vengeance.” It’s surprising that the script lets him get it wrong sometimes, almost turning him into an anti-hero who weakens his own journey. Besides him, Koji and Abe are also more shaded than expected. While Eri Ishida (as Tommy’s grandmother) and Peter Mensah (as a blind fighter) get some amazing moments of their own, and Samara Weaving makes a dramatic entrance as tough fighter Scarlett.

For a movie with a main purpose to sell action figures, it’s unsurprising that there is so little real interest in the story. Cline mentioned, “Everything ticks along as expected, leading to enjoyably over-choreographed fight sequences as well as less interesting effects-based craziness.” Through everything, Golding amazingly manages to almost fill the film with a good climax, allowing Snake Eyes to face his fears and come out as someone who might deserve a franchise of his own, with a little more help from the writers.

As a prequel, I think everyone can expect this to be as good as the other films in the franchise. In my opinion, this is just an average film. You can check it out since this is available as an online rental. Otherwise, check it out next month when it gets released on Blu-Ray. I don’t know if this is still playing in the theaters, but I checked it out online just to play it safe. See it if you’re fan of the G.I. Joe franchise, especially since this film franchise is better than the Transformers franchise.

Thank you for joining in on my review tonight. Stay tuned Friday for the conclusion of “Special Needs Month.”