Enjoying GI Joe: Retaliation is in the same vein as enjoying an all you can eat buffet. It's a bunch of things being thrown at you that you know you don't need and you may even regret having indulged in come morning but it's all there for a good price so why not? This is an action film without any real story or character development. It does not possess these qualities due to the fact that it knows what it is---an action film. In the wake of many action films pretending to be deeper than they are...I enjoyed seeing a film that knows it's dumb and would like to keep it that way. This is, however, not to say that the film isn't preposterous and well---not really a good film in any way, shape or form.
The film follows a group of crime fighters AKA Joes. Among them are Jaye (Adrianne Palicki) and Duke (Channing Tatum.) Their semi-leader is Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson) and when the President (Jonathon Pryce) ends up kidnapped and a mortal enemy disguises himself as the president...it's time for the Joes to arm up and go into battle.
While I enjoyed the action scenes in both spectacle and non-spectacle form...the film is dumb to a fault. I mentioned previously that I enjoyed the fact that the film knew it was dumb. However, I feel as if writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick and director Jon M. Chu indulged a bit too much in the ludicrousness of it all. There are far too many scenes in which a character pops out of nowhere and starts shooting up a place without any reason for being there except to crush some baddies. With this being said---I prefer this significantly when compared to an action films such as Parker or Hansel And Gretel: Witch Hunters that pretend to be way deeper than they are.
The film also has enjoyable if not sometimes phoned in performances. Johnson brings his usual charisma to the screen. Palicki is good eye candy and can even kick some butt well. Pryce makes an effective villain and Bruce Willis and Walton Goggins both have fun cameos. As well---the direction by Chu (who previously did Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, Step Up 2: The Streets and Step Up 3D) is surprisingly decent even if he still needs some advice on how to use 3D properly.
All in all....I had a good time with GI Joe: Retaliation. However, due to the flawed 3D and dumbness surrounding it all...I would not recommend it to anyone looking for a night out at the cinema. This is truly a film asking to not be seen until it comes out on Netflix. Also..as with a buffet...it's more satisfying if you only indulge every once in a while and do it with some friends.
(2 and 1/2 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of combat violence and martial arts action throughout and for brief sensuality and language)
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