G.I. Joe Retaliation fits the mould of big, stupid blockbusters where the only thing more ridiculous than the plot is the amount of explosions happening within it.
A sequel to G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra from a few years ago, Retaliation takes on a rather self-serious tone that the first film didn’t have. Although it was no masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, the first one at least didn’t have any pretentions of being serious. Retaliation attempts to be so even as it hits us over the head with absurdity and is all the worse for it.
Whilst on a mission fighting for their country, the Joes are betrayed and left for dead on the orders of an impostor pretending to be the U.S. President. The surviving team members, led by Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson), must face off against Cobra Commander’s loyalists and stop the impostor from using his newfound power to destroy the world’s most powerful countries.
Retaliation serves as both a sequel and a reboot in some ways, not least because they have injected new/old blood into the proceedings in the form of Bruce Willis (looking like he’s sleepwalked off the set of A Good Day to Die Hard) as “the reason we call ourselves Joes” and particularly Dwayne Johnson who continues his Fast Five-and-beyond action career by putting every other muscled man in the film to shame. He takes centre stage although South Korean star Byung-hun Lee is a supporting highlight as the deadly Storm Shadow, while the likes of Ray Stevenson and Walton Goggins are wasted in limited roles.
While Johnson is a big part of the reason that the action has improved from the first one, he’s ill-served by a plot that gives new meaning to the phrase overly convoluted. It’s disjointed and chaotic beyond belief in a way that would be infuriating if it weren’t so utterly preposterous – there’s suspension of disbelief and then there’s this.
Thrust upon us in gimmicky 3D that’s only there to boost ticket sales, the film lumbers from one set-piece to the next, each pit-stop made almost insufferable due to some head-smacking dialogue and forced emotion. It finds its feet when in the middle of its outrageous action sequences and even manages to be inventive on occasion. A sequence involving red and yellow-clad ninjas running and fighting on wires along the side of a mountain is genuinely dazzling and easily steals the show. It’s just a shame that kind of ingenuity isn’t maintained throughout.
G.I. Joe Retaliation is not without its sense of fun. Director John M. Chu (known up until now for a couple of the Step Up sequels and Justin Bieber concert film Never Say Never) knows how to provide the requisite explosions and bullet-spraying. However, despite occasional attempts at doing something a little different it can’t escape the fact that it’s ultimately a dumb blockbuster with nothing between the ears. And it’s not enjoyable enough for it to get away with being just that.
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