Fascinating as it was to
play with these action figures as a child, and to watch the animated
series about them, G I Joe Retaliation, not unlike its prequel, is an
underwhelming experience. Everytime you picked up one your action
figures and screamed ‘Go Joe!’ before plunging into battle with
the Cobras, you probably acted out a better narrative than this Jon M
Chu film.
In this sequel, which has
a severely unconnected time lapse with the previous film, the G I
Joes are not only fighting the Cobras, but are also fighting the
forces within their own system and the Government. A clinical strike
at one of the outstation bases wipes out most of their soldiers and
with a handful of them left, they find themselves facing a nemesis
that has threatened their very existence. Led by Roadblock (Dwayne
‘The Rock’ Johnson), the Joes re-assemble the survivors to
re-build and retaliate. With Flint, Lady Jaye and Snake Eyes on his
flank, Roadblock reaches out to General Joe (Bruce Willis) to come
out of retirement and help them restore order.
An ill-constructed series
of explosions and megalomaniac threats that lack dramatic juice, the
screenwriters seem to have adopted the screenplay by observing a
pretty dull kid for two hours with his action figures. With high-end
graphics at their disposal, the finished product seems to lack the
awe that makes action films a little more spectacular. The dialogues,
which usually help the caricatures create a place in the heart of the
viewers, aren’t up to the mark either. Furthermore, in a sequence
where Snake Eyes captures Storm Shadow from a hilly terrain in the
Himalayas, the filmmaker has pulled off something that wasn’t
considered possible. He has made Ninjas look lame.
The Rock (Dwayne
Johnson), who plays the protagonist Roadblock (a word that truly
describes what the writers of this film hit), just isn’t dynamic
enough to be a child’s hero. Bruce Willis, whose character is asked
to come out of retirement, is a vague reminder of an action hero that
once was; and one that shouldn’t be asked to come out of
retirement, at that. Lady Jaye, played by Adrianne Palicki looks
nothing like her action figure and hampers the character’s image
with her feminine overtone.
In conclusion, after all
the fans of this franchise, who will go into cinema hall humming
‘Real American Hero, It’s G I Joe!’ have been thoroughly bored;
and after you have given up on even trying to pretend to like it; you
can go home, pull out the box of your old toys and enact a better
sequence than the unimaginative disappointment that is G I Joe
Retaliation.
Rating - 2 out of 5
