Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins (2021)

[dwmarch]

Did anyone else see this movie? It has been released on demand now.

I have been a G.I. Joe fan since I was a kid so of course I was excited for this one. I see from RT that it is not getting good reviews and on reflection I can kind of see why but I still enjoyed it.

Overall, I thought it had great action sequences. The movie takes itself way more seriously than the previous G.I. Joe films. There are some laughs and I thought Samara Weaving's dry humor was a highlight.

For old school G.I. Joe fans, this movie does not follow any established continuity that I am aware of. For one thing, Snake Eyes talks. He also does not suffer the massive trauma that burnt his face off in the comics. He is actually of Asian descent in this (Japanese-American to be specific) but he was a white dude in the comics. I think this is an improvement because we have enough stories already where a white dude shows up and outdoes the locals in any number of cultures. G.I. Joe and Cobra are both established as active although we don't see much of the organizations on either side. Snake's story seems to be a mix of Storm Shadow and Zartan's origin stories from the comics. In the movie, Storm Shadow is punished by the Arashikage clan whereas in the comics he just left to pursue Zartan.

I think Snake Eyes could have used a little more in the way of training montages. The movie is already long and only shows Snake Eyes having to pass the tests of the Arashikage clan. So somehow he was already a ninja. I thought this movie was called "Origins".

The humor is definitely a little more adult than the Comics Code Authority would have ever allowed for. Snake Eyes calls the Hard Master "Hard-on Master" at one point.

The movie suffers from a PG rating. We have two hours of ninjas with swords fighting Yakuza mooks with sub-machine guns and I don't think there is a single drop of blood spilled (except for when Snake Eyes cuts himself on purpose).

Missed opportunity for a twist: the special Macguffin crystal of doom was in a safe with a DNA lock on it. I would have liked it if Snake Eyes opened it without having to steal Tommy's blood, revealing that he's actually a lost son of the clan. That would have worked better for the ending where they could have said Snake Eyes was going to lead the clan which would have been a better reason for Tommy to get mad and Storm Shadow out. Scarlett also said "Yo Joe" to Snake Eyes and I thought that meant we were going to find out that Snake Eyes had been an undercover Joe all along but no, Scarlett was just being nice.

Line of the movie had to be courtesy of the Baroness who in the midst of the big battle at the end simply declares "fuck this!" and leaves.

[arc]

The Eastern traditions and mysticism shit (most noticeably in all the talk of "honor") is piled on a bit too high. Big weeb energy from the script.

It was a little silly that Akiko could lose Snake Eyes in the forest after he dipped out with the jewel. Who's the new ninja and who's the lifelong one?

The highway fight being cross-cut with the fights back at the village were a little confusing. I guess the two were roughly concurrent, but even so it seems messy.

For a non-martial artist, I think Golding acquitted himself quite well in the action scenes. Andrew Koji too, but I'd certainly expect that of him after Warrior.

Scarlett's combat success with the crossbow and guns suggests to me that the Arashikage clan would not have lasted long in the 21st century without some serious adaptation. I mean, I guess she was mostly fighting yakuza, not ninja, but still.

[TigerLily20]

I was also wondering if anyone saw this...my husband and I did and while I'm not a GI Joe expert I was a little confused by some of the differences, I kept asking if Snake Eyes was suppose to be talking, and I thought part of the riff between him and Storm Shadow came from the death of their teacher (I think I remember that from the one movie?)  I did feel like it was a little long but it was nice to actually be in a movie theater so oh well....

[BetterButter]