G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra Review

Several months ago I saw the previews for G.I. Joe: Rise Of the Cobra.  I was immediately drawn to it and knew that when it came to the theaters I wanted to see it.  Now this is not my usual idea of movie entertainment because I'm the prissy girl who loves to be entertained with romance or comedies not action-packed movies.  But the thing that caught my attention was two of the leading ladies Rachel Nichols and Sienna Miller were part of the action and not the usual damsels in distress.  I believed that this movie could empower young girls to believe in the power within themselves and it does!

So, opening night I am trying to figure out how I can see this movie.   This is a few weeks before I dared attend a movie by myself.  I call my oldest brother who is in the military and ask him what he and my nephew are doing on Saturday because I wanted them to go to the movies with me.  My brother and his wife are needing a sitter for Friday night so I ask if they want to send Elijah to my house and then we will go to the movies!

Elijah is almost 11 and from the time the movie began we were enraptured.  Hasbro brings the G.I. Joe action figures to life and it's a spellbinding movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

The main list of characters are as follows.  I have listed them as team G.I. Joe and team Cobra for sake of discussing them at later points.

The G.I. Joes:

• Channing Tatum as Conrad Hauser/Duke
• Dennis Quaid as General Clayton Abernathy/Hawk
• Marlon Wayons as Wallace Weems/Ripcord
• Rachel Nichols as Shana M. O'Hara/Scarlett
• Ray Park as Snake Eyes
• Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Hershel Dalton/Heavy Duty
• Said Taghmoaoui as Abel Shaz/Breaker
• Karolina Kurkova as Courtney A. Kreiger/Cover Girl
• Brendan Fraser as Sgt. Stone

The Cobras:

• Christopher Eccleston as James McCullen/Destro
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Rex Lewis/The Doctor/Cobra Commander
• Sienna Miller as Ana Lewis/Anastacia DeCobray/The Baroness
• Lee Byung-hun as Thomas Arashikage/Storm Shadow
• Arnold Vosloo as Zartan

One interesting thing for me was realizing that G.I. Joe wasn't a man but a team.  I grew up with brothers that played with the G.I. Joe action figures and I always thought it was one man like the Barbie doll was one lady.  But once the movie progressed and I heard reference to "the Joes" I realized it was the whole unit and not just one guy.  And I had my heart on falling in love with G.I. Joe.

The movie begins in France in 1961.  Klan McCullen betrays his government but instead of being sentenced to death he is branded with a flaming hot white mask that is burned onto his face.  He warns the people that the Cobra will rise again and then it fastforwards to present day.

James McCullen is owner of a company, Military Armament Research Syndicate (MARS), and he has created some nanotechnology based weapons that have the power to destroy anything and everything they come in contact with.  A nuclear chemical is contained within the warheads and it is up to the Joes to deliver them safely.  However, the leader of the Cobras has different intentions.  He desires to use 4 nano-mites to destroy the world.

On the way to their base, The Pit, Duke and Ripcord are ambushed by the Baroness.  Duke recognizes her to be his fiance from four years earlier.  You'll have to watch the movie to see what happens to split them up and why she feels as if he betrayed her and she crossed over to the other side.  Duke's dream is to be the best Joe he can be while Ripcord has dreams to be a pilot in the airforce.

Someone who appears to be a good person at the beginning is actually a bad person.  He has the Joes captured so that his team can take over the nano-mites.  One part that I really loved was the chase thru the streets of France.  Storm Shadow and the Baroness are headed toward the Eiffel Tower and the Joes are in hot pursuit.  The action is out of this world.  Cars crashing, men running like the speed of light and Scarlett driving a motorcycle with attitude.

When some of the Joes are captured they are taken to the Cobra's headquarters in the Arctic and more adventure takes place there.

Watch the movie to find out the following:

• Which famous city gets hit with a warhead?
• Who was believed to be dead but is really working for the Cobras?
• Who falls in love.
• Why doesn't Heavy Duty talk and what does Storm Shadow have to do with this?
• Which of the Joes graduated from college at age 12 and what is the significance of this in the movie.
• Want to see some awesome catfights?  Watch Scarlett and the Baroness go head to head.

G.I. Joe: Rise Of the Cobra did have some language in it but I think the movie was so fast-paced with action that the children probably didn't recognize the language as much as the adults.  I loved this movie so much that a week later I called my sister and took her and my niece and nephews to see it.  My niece will be 12 in November and she, like me, is the budding dancer and all that girlie girl stuff but she also liked the drama because it showed the strength of women without making them lose their feminine side.

Some memorable moments in the movie:

• The race thru France when Duke and Ripcord hit a bus.  "What happened to you? I went under the bus.  And you?  Oh, I went thru it.  We can do that?  Yeah, didn't you read the manual?  There's a manual?"
• When Scarlett and the Baroness are fighting and at one point the Baroness says, "By the way, nice shoes."

I am definitely going to add this movie to my collection when it comes out!

P.S. On October 16th I went to the movies and saw it for a third time!  Yes, this movie is that good!