No, I'm not kidding. Our set up for the computer has the video output through out big screen TV, and I have NOT been able to use it due to the Husband being addicted to Spiderman Web of Shadows for the XBox 360. Now that the game has been beaten, and foes vanquished, I have use of the computer once more.
Construction is pretty much done with the house, and all is well. Still minor work to be done which I shall be doing along side my other half, but at this point it seems to be mostly patching and painting.
So here's my review of G.I.Joe : The Rise of Cobra.
Short version: Not bad, Over all as an action movie, I would give it a B. It was good for what it was, but it lacked some things, and had some errors.
Long version:
Now mind you, I am not a huge fan of the series. I was as a kid, since my Step-dad was a naval officer, I was showered with the little buggers. I guess he took it as a good sign that I wanted to have something to do with the military. Go figure.
So story wise, as Scott Sigler put it: "15 minutes of Story, 105 of over-the-top action and toy setup." And that pretty much fits. I was fairly excited about this, and was kind of hurt with what I was left with. On that end, and the fact that I'm a simple man, and love the explosions, I was happy. there was some story, and it was great to see some of my favorite charactes on the big screen from when I was a kid. But they were different. Now I know that there are changes to movies on the big screen. It's not a new thing. I expected it ever since we saw X-Men, Transformers, and more.. You have to change some aspects of characters to better sell to a general audience. But when the general audience actually asks where the blue mask is on the Cobra Commander, there might be an issue.
One of the main characters that everyone remembers, the Baroness, who had a terribly bad accent in all of the prior TV series was missing it. It threw me, to say the least. Nevermind what else they did with the character, and her relationships with the other characters in the movie. I would say more, but that's spoiler territory. I want her glasses though. Those were pretty bad ass, like Transitions Lenses on speed.
Scarlet. Dear GODS, I thought I was looking at a different character than what I had seen as a child. Not who I was expecting. Half the time she was the hard nosed counter-intelligent agent I was expecting, the other half she was this hurt woman that needs her bear her constrained heart to someone. And not to the people I was expecting. I will say that they did pull off the slight grudge match with the Baroness well. Rocket Crossbow for the win as well. Always loved that weapon.
So I will give it some props. It worked on me. I was just about ready to hit the store after wards to pick up the Night Raven, Molepods, Baroness and Duke. Duke was my favorite for some reason, and not just for the fact that of the actor playing him. He seemed pretty reasonable and likable of a guy, someone I would definitely go and get drunk with.
I say it worked well on two fronts then.
Now on top of all the urging to buy toys, this motion picture also made me wish I had gone through with joining the Marines just to go and do half of this stuff. This could definitely be one heck of a recruitment tool if things were a bit different in the current political climate.
Now there were a few times that forced out of the movie. There were a few shots that the CGI looked a bit unfinished. Not often, but they were there. The only thing else that I really dispised, was the inclusion of thew Wayans Brother. This might be the only movie that I can stand him in, but his presence was still very jarring. Not Dungeons and Dragons annoying, but still up there. I think he could have been swapped for another actor and bumped this up.
I did spot one easter egg, the Sigma 6 logo, which was nice. I have to wonder if there is more that I might have missed.
Now I know not to expect this to be High Art, not by any means. I do have to wonder if we could get the director from this film to do Transformers 3 instead of Michael Bay. Might improve that series as well. Over all, it did what it was supposed to do, and did it fairly well. With the way that the returns on this movie looks, we will more than likely see another in the series, and that should be fairly good with me. Hopefully it will have the Ninja Force in there next time.
Now on to some Eye Candy for everyone.
Channing Tatum as Duke.
Sienna Miller as The Baroness
