G.I. Joe: The rise of the Cobra, despite its $300 milion worldwide gross, was savaged by critics and audiences alike.
Paramount took a huge step in making G.I. Joe Retaliation viewers forget the original by casing Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Bruce Willis, Adrianne Palicki and Channing Tatum.
Directed by the increasingly interesting Jon M. Chu, ‘G.I. Joe: Retaliation’ plays like a more masculine version of ‘Mission: Impossible.’ The ‘Joe’ team is wrongfully accused of being a threat to national security and all are killed, except for Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson), Duke (Channing Tatum) and Lady Jaye (Adrianne Palicki; TYRA!). Together they team with original G.I. Joe, Joe Colton (Bruce Willis), to stop Cobra from taking over the White House.
If anyone can save the world, it’s The Rock, who himself seems to have accepted the mission of saving agingg movie franchises. (In addition to adding life back into The Fast and the Furious and starring in Retaliation, he’s set to take over Journey to the Center of the Earth.) Here, he still has plenty of help from holdover Channing Tatum, almost Wonder Woman Adrianne Palicki, and a new squad of sexy and/or sweaty martial-arts acrobats. He’ll need all the help he can get, as Cobra has infested the White House and terminated the elite fighting force, Ghost Protocol style. So it’s good to see Rock and Co. can count on a real American hero. Yippie kay-yay!
Coming summer 2012
