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172 reviews in total

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39 out of 49 people found the following review useful:
Disappointing., 29 March 2013

Author: Z ML from Philippines

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

It sucks that they had to put up a poster of this movie with Duke (Channing Tatum) and Joe (Bruce Willis) so grossly misleading when Duke showed up about what 10 mins or so then dies and Joe shows up when half of the movie is already finished, and not getting much burn at that (I should have known, how many of Willis's recent movies has been like this already). For an average movie goer like me (i'd like to think of myself like that) that doesn't normally go researching(goggling stuff) before watching a movie, I was sucked up by the poster itself expecting a whole lot of Duke and Joe in action. In my opinion, The Rock is not a bad actor himself but sadly he is not able to carry the movie by himself. I believe the movie producers/marketers or whoever is responsible for creating that misleading poster cheated people for their money. To be honest I am not sure I would be going to watch the movie in theater had I known I would be only getting this much, It's one of the movies I could have waited to be available on HBO\TV or on DVD. I did like the special effects though, especially the mountain action scenes.

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32 out of 42 people found the following review useful:
If you don't expect much, you might like it., 30 March 2013

Author: naregian from United States

As a film buff, I love seeing films alone on Saturday afternoons or Friday nights. As as result of my frequent attendance, I have come to know not to expect much from action blockbuster films. Yes, you get your usual incomprehensible hand-to-hand fights, buildings exploding and enemy gunfire as inaccurate as ever, with the inevitably minimal plot and screenplay. As the ending credits rolled, I stood up thinking "ehhh". The film definitely had some amazingly entertaining action sequences and awesome special effects, but you know, you can't really be THAT amazed with an action film. Not gonna lie, the screenplay in this film was pretty well written, and it included quite a few pleasantly surprising laughs. Dwayne Johnson has a big few months ahead of him with the release of Snitch (which I give a 7/10), the next Fast and Furious movie, and Pain & Gain. With this film, he did reinforce his true acting credentials, even though not much notable acting is observed in such a genre. All in all, if you're expecting something like Olympus Has Fallen, you might be dissatisfied. If you go in like me, with no true expectations other than hoping for some entertainment, you might like what you see.

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32 out of 51 people found the following review useful:
Stale Explosions, 30 March 2013

Author: Mek Torres from Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines

G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra feels like it belongs to a different age of blockbusters. It had a hard time fitting in to the modern generation thus most moviegoers never find it as appealing as the other films that was released on that year. Those rants can be true only in some reasons. The film is undeniably silly and dumb but it was never boring and has its own quality. Since people are now asking for darker and much serious blockbusters, this sequel reduces all the silliness that was displayed on the original. G.I. Joe: Retaliation is cooler and less cartoony. Unfortunately, it is also less exciting and terribly uninspired. The action may be better looking but the lack of fortitude and creativity made it fall short into another visual showcase stress.

"Awesome" is the main goal of this sequel. While the original was too corny to impress, this film darkens the tone and made it a bit down to earth. It abandons the silly gadgets and the ridiculous laws of physics that was shown in the original. But the film fails to be both dark and realistic. Not only because of those robotic fireflies and the mass annihilating missiles but the secret prisons and the government are unbelievably dumb to manage their job. Well, it's a blockbuster based on toys so it will never be too realistic. Deal with it while we are here for the fun. The dark aspects aren't dark at all. What they only do is to be serious. This seriousness blocks the potential joy and turns it into standard blockbuster bland.

The storytelling is quite messy. It's like an uninteresting version of Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol with uninteresting characters. The storytelling from the first movie wasn't great either since it is cluttered with cheesy flashbacks. But it's worse here because it takes some twists that are absurdly incoherent. And so, it's all pretentious. The characters are boring and even the performances can't bring them to life. Dwayne Johnson is the only good thing among them though, Bruce Willis is trying to make fun of himself again as a crazy grandaddy, and the villains ham it up which isn't suppose to be a bad thing but they can't give enough personality to them.

The action scenes are acceptable enough to call awesome at least. With all the explosions and the none CGI-ed machines, it seems to be really exciting, but it's not. It does a fine job to be pretty but there's a difference between good looking and exciting. There's only a little suspense. If there is actually suspense and joy then it would be found at the mountain ninja fight but it's just mild and still glosses some slow motions in it. For the rest of the action, the heroes are always superior. Plus more explosions and slow-mos. The action is stylishly directed anyway. The fight between Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow remains to be the only action that excites and one part of the climax has a nutty scene with The Rock riding huge vehicles and shooting like a badass. The production designs, special effects, and costumes gets better. What else to talk about it?

The absence of the Joes' ridiculous transportation and weapons, holograms, and other snazzy gadgets may please our modern viewers but it also forgets why this material is interesting anyway. Now we only get typical military stuff. It still has some crazy devices but it's limited compare to the first film. Rise of Cobra wasn't a classic. It's nothing more than a simple guilty pleasure. Same with Retaliation except this one can't even be completely pleasurable unless you want some endless visual coolness. Cool is not a bad thing but it could have been creative and much more exciting instead of showing off slow-mos on screen. To be fair, it's mildly entertaining and good to look at. If the film wasn't this visually awesome, it would have been an empty cinema. The series still fails to justify its source material.

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19 out of 26 people found the following review useful:
A bit of A Disappointment Storywise, 27 March 2013

Author: alucard_castlevania86 from Malaysia

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I had 50/50 hopes for this movie and felt a bit bummed out when it was told that it will be delayed to March 2013 but I thought maybe it was for the best so I decided to give it chance. Now after nearly a year of waiting, I have to say I was a bit disappointed. First off, they promised to explain what happened to the characters in the previous film that didn't show up (ripcord, Scarlett etc.) but no explanation was given whatsoever as well as wanting to strengthen Duke and Baroness character but nothing was ever explained. 2nd storywise, it was not that very interesting in my opinion and there some parts which I find a bit illogic and not explained like how did Storm Shadow survive. The guy just like appeared out of no where. Character wise, Cobra rules compared to the Joes. Lady Jaye and Flint were not really that interesting to watch and the romance between them didn't really look that convincing. Killing off Duke Hauser (Channing Tatum)and letting Roadblock (The Rock) take over as team leader for me was the biggest letdown in my opinion since he never really looked that great playing the lead role. Bruce Willis was OK a Joe but nothing exciting but for me the best Joe out there would have to be Snake Eyes (Ray Park). His performances were great as usual and really made the movie looked exciting. As for the villains, I really wanted to see Zartan fight with somebody but that didn't happen. Destro was the biggest disappointment for me since they killed his character off just like that. Cobra Commander looked better in this outfit that the previous one but there was really nothing from him but in my opinion, the best villain and character of the entire movie has got to go to Firefly (Ray Stevenson) His character was so wicked cool and I really loved how those nano flys were used as his explosion device. Though a villain, he stood out the most in the film for me I can't say much for the rest of the cast like Storm Shadow and Jinx since there wasn't really anything much from them. Also I find it kind of hard to believe that this is a G.I Joe movie since apart from Snake Eyes, there wasn't really anything that made me feel that these guys were the G.I Joes since it felt like there were very little connection between this team to the previous G.I Joe team in the first movie. Overall a bit of a letdown compared to the first movie and it didn't seemed like it was a sequel to the first G.I Joe movie and it wasn't really worth watching it in 3D either

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23 out of 35 people found the following review useful:
Predictable storyline with great visuals!, 28 March 2013
Author: stevenrodz from Kuwait

With Channing, Dwayne,Lee, Bruce and most importantly Palicki in this one, you'd expect real fast-paced action with great visuals. On the latter, it delivers as the visuals are great and one of the best of the recent. On the prior, not so much as the storyline drags unnecessarily around the US Prez. Palicki brings in the much needed eye-candy for the hardcore action fans though only in glimpses while Channing, being the chick-magnet gets one big anxious sigh from the ladies in the first half of the movie. Dwayne does what Dwayne does - kicks ass! Cotrona, however looks like he's done this one for free as he hardly has much to do and beats me why he's even there. Snake eyes, Jinx, Zartan & Firefly entertain as characters with purpose. RZA is a big LOL.

There's muscle,hard-hitting physical combat action, sensuality, technology, star-appeal and pretty interesting automobiles. All you need if you're an action fan. Now if only they could somehow mysteriously put in an interesting and not-so-predictable storyline, then we'd have a real blockbuster hit worth your ticket money!

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19 out of 29 people found the following review useful:
Horrible movie, 28 March 2013

Author: Jawfreenez from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Not to give too much away but the story is weak and can be summed up with this equation:

4 GI Joes - 3 ninjas = 1 movie you wish you'd never seen!!!

My wife and I sat and waited for action, and waited, them waited some more... It finally came like my brother melting my Duke action figure with a lighter and Aqua-Net. Horrible plot, good special effects, and a stereo-typical ending. The next DirecTV add will say cable is worse than... Sitting thru GI Joe 2.

If you don't believe me, waste your money, then contact me for an "I told you so!"

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5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
kinda lost the grip., 11 April 2013

Author: foru-nani from India

After a great hype on the movie it was a great disappointment at the end. Story was never a kinda of riveting. It takes of with a pace and loose it when movie progresses.

It is all the old way of presenting. It never keeps you think about the plot that comes up. You can guess the story very well if you miss it a bit in the middle (if you go out to grab a popcorn).

Over all ROCK looks building up his acting skills movie by movie and looks good in this. The fight sequence with the snake eyes in the middle is out standing. Action sequences adds a little spice to the dish. If you have no movie left to watch you can give this a try or wait for DVD.

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15 out of 25 people found the following review useful:
A solid improvement over Rise of Cobra! Thumbs up!, 31 March 2013

Author: gavin-thelordofthefu-48-460297 from United States

I'm not exactly a fan of the GI Joe franchise, but I seemed to have found myself liking "The Rise of Cobra" aside from it's predictable storyline and uneven script and called it a guilty pleasure for me. So, I went to see this sequel on the opening weekend and it exceeded my expectations thereafter and delivered what the trailers had promised. It's not an excellent film by any means, but in my honest opinion, this is a great sequel and is much better than the previous installment despite the negative reception it received. I will admit, however, that there are some parts that got dragged and the beginning was way too rushed for my liking; and while most of the action sequences are thrilling thanks to Jon M. Chu's solid effort, some of them gave me a bit of a headache in it's shaky camera form.

Flaws aside, everything else is perfect. The cast has improved a bit, but not that much. Channing Tatum's role as Duke has improved seeing as how he was beyond bland in the previous film and I liked his chemistry with Roadblock played by Dwayne Johnson who pulls off the role really well throughout the film. Bruce Willis steals the show as General Colton with his witty one-liners. The rest of the acting, however, ranges from OK to just forgettable.

The directing from Jon M. Chu isn't perfect, but it's decent and a bit more focused on the story, which isn't exactly the best, but it's not as contrived as Rise of Cobra's plot. I kind of liked the idea of a nuclear missile that can destroy an entire city in the whole planet and it sort of leaves up for another sequel if it would get made. The script is very interesting and it has some nice plot twists. The editing is slick, the scenery is nice to look at, and the cinematography is great. Henry Jackman's music score is OK with some solid action cues, but most of the music is pretty obvious.

Overall, GI Joe: Retaliation isn't an excellent, but like I said before, it's a much better installment to the franchise. To those who haven't seen it yet, I suggest that you should try. It is a good film worth recommending!

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15 out of 25 people found the following review useful:
Better than the original, but not really great, 30 March 2013

Author: estebangonzalez10 from Ecuador

¨Call me JOE¨

As a kid I was a huge fan of the GI Joe cartoons and had a vast collection of the action figures, but I never thought it was a very good idea to bring the franchise to the big screen. I didn't like the first film despite all the great special effects because the entire concept was just way too silly, and I didn't like this film all that much either despite the fact it had a better story and some more interesting characters. What really saved this film for me was a ten minute action scene in the mountains which was pretty amazing and made the entire movie worthwhile. It was one of the best action scenes I've seen all year. This second film was directed by Jon M. Chu (Justin Bieber Never Say Never and Step Up 2) and the screenplay co-written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (Zombieland), but very few actors are back from the original movie (only five) so this felt like a totally different movie. Retaliation is much better than Rise of Cobra but it still felt a little light due to the nonstop action. It's one of those movies you can enjoy for two hours but forget about once it's over. What it does have going for it is that is includes better action stars like The Rock and Bruce Willis. The Rock is probably one of the best contemporary action stars and he already brought the Fast and Furious franchise back alive again. He doesn't quite do the same with GI Joe, but he still makes this movie a little more enjoyable than the original one. Despite all the cheesiness of the plot I still had some fun, and the producers knew that the premise couldn't be taken seriously so they just played around with it.

The Joes continue to serve and protect the world under the leadership of Captain Duke (Channing Tatum) and his team which consists of Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock), Flint (D.J. Cotrona), and Jaye (Adrianne Palicki). They have a couple of successful missions until the team is betrayed by the US president (Jonathan Pryce) who is actually Zartan (Arnold Vosloo) infiltrated as him. Thus the Joes are forced to fight enemy forces inside their own government and are forced to receive help from the only person they can trust: retired General Joe Colton (Bruce Willis). Meanwhile Storm Shadow (Byung-hun Lee) has conceived a plan with Firefly (Ray Stevenson) to free their imprisoned Cobra Commander (Luke Bracey). Snake Eyes (Ray Park) is determined to stop him with the help of Jinx (Elodie Yung), but the Joes are running out of time with the President threatening the world with a nuclear war. Will the Joes be able to stop the Cobra team before they destroy the entire world?

Channing Tatum and The Rock shared some funny scenes together and had great chemistry, but I would have enjoyed more screen time with them. Adrianne Palicki looked great in that red dress and was a good addition to the film. Cotrona and Willis didn't do much, but the highlight of the film was the mountain action sequence between Park and Lee. The film had its extremely cheesy moments, and I couldn't believe they even didn't care about the explosion of London. They continued as if nothing ever happened and celebrated the success of the mission without considering the devastating loss. I think that was probably the worst part of the film and the entire scene was probably used to attract people through the trailers. Retaliation is big and loud, anticipation for what is to come in the blockbuster summer movies. By the time summer gets here we will probably have forgotten all about this movie, but it was still a fun and entertaining two hours. Even those people that will end up hating this film will have to agree that the ten minute action scene between Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow was pretty entertaining. As long as you don't think too much about what's going on you might enjoy this senseless film.

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6 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Why the bad reviews?, 28 April 2013

Author: niall88bhoy67 from Ireland

I'll start off by saying that I really enjoyed this movie. At times it made me laugh, at times it gave me frights, there were many times when it set my pulse racing. It's an action movie, its supposed to. Not once did it make me think of how flawed western civilization really is, or put tears in my eyes, or make me appreciate living in a 21st century, western country, with plenty to eat, drink etc. Its an action movie, it's NOT supposed to.

And thats where I find some of these reviews annoying. If you go to the cinema to see a movie called GI Joe: Retaliation, which is an action movie, you should only rate it accordingly. This movie easily fulfills all the criteria for a good action film, so if you want to go see an action movie, then yes, go see this. The acting isn't bad, the plot is fairly good and the visuals are incredible. But if you want to see a realistic film, one that will make you smile, sob, or think about life, do not go see this film. What this film is, is 2 hours entertainment. It will have you glued to the screen for that 2 hours (especially if you see it in 3D). I would recommend GI Joe: Retaliation to anyone from about the age of ten up, as long as you walk into the cinema or press play expecting to see a good action movie. If you do this, you will be thoroughly entertained for 2 hours. Enjoy!

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