(Movie Review) G.I. Joe Retaliation (2013)

G.I. Joe is made up of 20% Retaliation and 80% of ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz

There was a time when I was a big fan of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. From the years that I watched him on WWE Wrestling to the first few movies that he put out (The Rundown being my favorite), he had what appeared to be a promising transition into the acting world. Then he started to pepper in some really horrible movie choices. DOOM (2005), The Game Plan (2007), Tooth Fairy (2010) and Journey 2 (2011) are just a few off of the top of my head. But his return in Fast Five (2011) gave me hope that he was starting to move back into the right direction….and then G.I. Joe Retaliation crushed that hope. Not so much that he was bad in it, just that the movie was so boring and one dimensional that I kind of disapprove  him for ever getting involved in that franchise. 

Storyline: The Joes, just off of a successful mission, find themselves coming under attack by their own backup units. Realizing that this was a “hit” put out on the Joes, coming under the order of the President of the United States, the remaining Joes head out to find answers. Under the leadership of Roadblock (Johnson) the remaining members of the team must put a stop to whatever evil is controlling the President.

When you read the above synopsis it almost tricks you into thinking that this is actually going to be a pretty interesting movie, doesn’t it? The problem is that there is absolutely NO consistency in the movie. There is a little action in the beginning, then a little in the middle, and then a little at the end. If the whole movie would have been paced the way that the final 20 minutes was paced, this review would be much more positive. But as a result of the “herky-jerky” pacing of the film, I can’t very well recommend it to the readers of the review. 

Worth the admission? Nope. I wish that it was, but it isn’t. I would recommend that fans of the G.I. Joe franchise RedBox/Netflix it when it comes out, because as someone who loved the toy line as a kid it is always fun to see those characters come to life on screen. But the movie is not worth the price of admission to go to the local theater. 

One complaint that I had was the inclusion of RZA (a founding member of rap group Wu-Tang Clan and noted kung fu fan) made some brownie points with action/kung fu fans when he made The Man with the Iron Fists (2012), but casting him as the Blind Master in this movie was a really bad decision. The guy can’t act and should stick to rapping. 

 So do yourself a big favor and skip this one.