The original screening for this movie was for June last year [as stated in the old poster above] but due to a whole lot of things [making it 3D, initial preview screenings flunked, needed moar Duke, etc] the movie went back to semi-production and made fans wait a year till it came out.
Of course everyone was disappointed, maybe even angry but they did what they had to do. Once the movie did come out locally, I managed to catch it at the first showing on the first day. I was pretty excited the night before that I couldn't sleep.
The movie picks up where it left off at the end of Rise of Cobra but it does leave a whole mess of plot holes. Here are a few:
~ What happened to the other Joes [Scarlett, Ripcord, Heavy Duty, Breaker, Stone, Hawk]?
~ What was the "Nano-mite Wars"?
~ If Cobra Commander was in jail in Destro, who were the Joes fighting in said Nano-mite Wars [it couldn't be just Firefly]?
~ How did Storm Shadow survive?
~ Baroness?
Those were a few things running through my head during the first part of the movie. Moving on...
The storyline is split with what happens to the Joes to what Snake Eyes was doing with his free time. It was a nice back and forth thing and I think it meshed well.
The main story basically is that Pres. Zartan decimated the Joes and gets info in order to release Cobra Commander and then rule the world. Simple enough and it stays true to the Joe theme going back to the animated shows which was Cobra tries to take over the world and the Joes stop it. They did add a few more things and easter eggs to spice the movie up. The easter eggs however can only be seen and recognized by the purest of Joe fans or at least those who have watched alot of cartoons.
Anyhoo, so Pres. Zartan decimates the whole Joe team along with their bases and such but a few survive and now has to work underneath the radar in order to clear their names [Renegades plot line much?]. Meanwhile Snake Eyes is paired up with Jinx and goes to collect Storm Shadow under the orders of the Blind Master. Then the whole gang meets up and teams up to defeat the plans of Cobra.
With that said, the whole movie is pretty much a great and fun watch. They did a great job with going further than what they did in ROC. Although there are still rooms for improvement.
Character time!
~ I kinda liked The Rock's portrayal of Roadblock, he didn't go rhyme much but he was big and menacing. ~ Adrianne Palicki was a good choice for Lady Jaye. Sure there were scenes of uber fan service which was out of character for Lady Jaye but it was still a nice portrayal.
~ Speaking of portrayals, I think they messed up on how they should've portrayed Flint. D.J. Cotrona was great but the character he was doing almost felt like it was more of Falcon than Flint. Falcon was more of a young and brash soldier and that what how I saw D.J. I mean Flint a free-runner? And another thing, Lady Jaye gets to have a small backstory talk and we don't get one for Flint [or even Fireflly]?
~ As for Firefly, Ray Stevenson did an excellent job. I didn't expect the accent though, I don't remember Firefly talking like that on the animated cartoon.
~ Speaking of accents, Jinx seemingly looks asian but doesn't...and she sounds a bit british. Oh well.
~ Rza as the Blind Master, well sure he looks and speaks the part but was he really necessary? Some say he isn't, some say he does. For me it's a bit 50/50, I think he's there mainly to act as Snake Eyes' voice when they were conversing with Storm Shadow.
~ Byung Hun Lee was the 2nd best guy out there. His portrayal of Storm Shadow was spot on and you could see that he worked out to get his body buff.
~ It was interesting to see Bruce Willis casted as Joe Colton. But being the aging action hero that he is, being cast as Colton seemed like a fit.
~ Ray park as Snake Eyes. Still awesome, nuff said.
~ Cobra Commander...looked and sounded more like the Cobra Commander we know. I liked his look in this one, part warlord part well-dressed boss.
~ I think the best actor for me in this movie is Jonathan Pryce aka the President aka also Pres. Zartan. You could tell he had to make two separate individual traits for the two characters he was portraying even though it was the same one.
~ There were ALOT of other characters that have been named on the cast list but didn't have any significant effect on the movie. I was surprised to see a few notable characters on the cast but didn't see them at all, will wait for the Blu Ray I guess.
When the movie ended, we get treated to a song saying/asking "How do you like me now?". It made me feel like it was a deliberate thing Jon Chu added. My response to that is "I like you a little bit now but make the next one without any glaring plot holes".
There's action, guns, explosions, ninjas, a little but of fan service, some comedic moments, a few more ninjas and The Rock and Channing Tatum talking about panties. What's not to like about this movie? Sure it still felt a bit lacking and that the one year wait didn't produce enough but it still has its moments.
Whether you're a fan of the franchise or not, it's still a nice movie to go and watch. It's still way better than Rise of Cobra and with a 3rd movie being greenlit, hopefully it'll get way more better.
I loved it, it was a great movie for me. There are only two words left to say, Yo Joe!
