The sequel to G.I. JOE: RISE OF COBRA is a more grounded action film with a few good action set pieces.  It is nice to see Cobra Commander like he looked in the comics, but the plot is pretty thin and the actors mostly make up for the weak plot.    The weak link in the casting is Rza as Blind Master, but Rza is a better actor in his own movie (THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS) where he is a horrible actor in the G.I. JOE film (sorry, Rza).   Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow are still very cool characters even though I feel both characters had just a little more to do in the first G.I. JOE film and their storyline is the best one in the sequel.  The story mostly focuses on a new trio of characters led by Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson) with the others being Lady Jaye (Adrianne Palicki who is better than she was in the never seen WONDER WOMAN TV pilot) and Flint.   Roadblock and Duke (Channing Tatum in an extended cameo) have male bonding before everything goes wrong as Cobra has set out to eliminate G.I. Joe.

 

Picking up from the events of G.I. JOE: RISE OF COBRA, Zartan is posing as the President of the United States as he sets in motion a plan to free Cobra Commander and fulfill Cobra’s plan to rule the world.  The Joes are out for revenge and expose Cobra’s plan.  They enlist the original Joe (Bruce Willis) in their plan to stop Cobra and rescue the President.   Snake Eyes and Jinx go to a mountain retreat to kidnap Storm Shadow. 

G.I. JOE: RETALIATION has some great action sequences and much less dependence on CGI like the first G.I. JOE film.  However, the sequel has holes wide enough to fill a desert as you wonder where are the other Joes from the first film are at.  They did explain why Destro isn’t in the sequel, but I just can’t believe other Joes like Scarlet and Hawk wouldn’t be springing to action.  Then the nuclear disbarment meeting between nations is so over-the-top that you wonder if they thought the scene through or they just couldn’t have come up with anything better.  Then there aren’t many new Cobra characters other than Firefly which is a character that makes me wish they had Destro back instead.  Cobra Commander and Zartan are the only Cobra characters that stand out as Cobra doesn’t really stand out as a villain other than the ones that Roadblock and the other Joes must stop to keep the world free from Cobra.  If you liked the first film, you’ll probably like this one.  If you thought the first one was crap, you will like this one more and still might come away as disappointed to some degree.

The Extended Action Cut is currently a Bets Buy exclusive in the USA where other countries have it readily available (but the Extended Action Cut may be a Future Shop exclusive in Canada).  It is twelve minutes longer than the theatrical cut (which is only available on the DVD in this combo pack) and features a few extra scenes, some extended scenes, alternate footage, and some rearranging of the scenes.  I wish they included both cuts on the blu-ray, but it might have been impossible to seamlessly branch them due to the number of little differences between the theatrical cut and the extended cut.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

G.I. JOE DECLASSIFIED:

MISSION BRIEFING- The pre-production of the movie including the hiring of John Chu  (and some people’s doubt Chu could direct this movie until they met him).

TWO NINJAS- this featurette focuses on the the character of Snake Eyes and Lady Jaye

COBRA STRIKES-

THE LONE SOLDIER- a focus on Bruce Willis playing the original G.I. Joe, General Joe Colton, and a brief history of the original G.I. Joe action figue.

THE MONASTERY- a behind-the-scenes look at the filming on the monastery sequence including filming some high up stunt sequences in the mountains in British Columbia and filming most of the sequence on a sound stage against pieces of sets and lots of green screen.

FORT SUMTER- behind-the-scenes look at the filming of the climax and the challenges of shooting at the fort location (which flooded during part of each day)

Three deleted scenes are included and two could have been left in the film to bring more clarity to the plot.

Also in the set is the theatrical cut on the DVD (and it isn’t included on the Blu-ray) and a code for the Ultraviolet digital copy of the movie.

The Theatrical Cut Blu-ray has an audio commentary with the director and one fo the producers in addition to two additional G.I. JOE DECLASSIFIED featurettes oddly missing from the Extended Action Cut Blu-ray.  To make matters even worse, Target has a version of the Theatrical Cut Blu-ray that includes a bonus disc that includes an additional 35 minutes of special features.   I just wish everything was released in one release instead of having to pick and choose what Blu-ray release you will get and from which retailer.

FINAL ANALYSIS:  The extended cut of G.I. JOE RETALIATION makes the movie breath a little more, but the high point is still the ninja battle on the side of the mountains and in the monastery.  I find it disappointing that the Extended Action Cut is missing out on some extras, but I think I prefer the extended version over the theatrical version.

This review is (c)3-30-2013 and 8-2-2013 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

 

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