Get a piece of the Rock!
The Story:
Since
the last movie, apparently all of the cool Joes are now gone, leaving
only Duke (Channing Tatum) and Snake Eyes (Ray Park) as the only
members still around. They lead a new crew featuring Lady Jaye
(Adrianne Palicki), Flint (D.J. Cotrona) and Roadblock (Dwayne "The
Rock" Johnson). When
all of the Joes are assembled to keep a nuclear warhead from falling
into enemy hands, the President (Johnathan Pryce) orders them killed.
Remember, he's actually Zartan in disguise! All of the Joes are killed
except our new trio (and Snake Eyes...) and together they must discover
who brought them down and why... before it's too late!
First,
the lingering question of "Where did all the other Joes go?"... lingers. I don't believe it was ever explained to satisfaction. I
think there was a throwaway line about after the nanomite incident...
but that doesn't explain how your entire team disappears. I was pretty sure everyone was still around when the last film ended. If it was
mentioned other than that, I missed it.
Second,
the rumors of the movie being reshot to include more Channing Tatum
(because every movie needs more Channing Tatum!!) proved false. Yay!
If I spoiled that little factoid that Duke doesn't survive the film... well, sorry. I gathered that piece of information from the trailer without even seeing the movie. :)
Sure, I was sad to see Duke killed, but it's a plot device, and if Scarlett, Duke and the rest are fodder, hasta la vista Duke. When you think about it, every Joe is expendable at the end of the day, except Snake Eyes.
And apparently
now, Roadblock.
Once
again it is Dwayne Johnson to the rescue of a franchise. He brought
respectability to the Mysterious Island, and he proved to be an equal as
the new guy in Fast Five, and helped propel Fast Six to even bigger box office heights.
Throw the guy into the G.I. Joe mix, and the guy owns the franchise from the minute you see him onscreen.
There is also the glorified cameo from Bruce Willis as the original G.I. Joe from which the unit was named.
A lot of fun, and as expected, even better than the original.
And
yes, I suppose the easiest explanation for the smaller cast, is you can tell a
better story when you are only concentrating on a trio of heroes vs.
over a dozen.
Plus, it's probably a lot cheaper. ;)
Final Grade: B+
Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I don't own it yet, but I'm hoping that situation works itself out in the future. : )
