G.I. Joe ROC: User reviews!

[DOG LIPS]

I noticed people are seeing advanced screenings already. I'll be seeing it Thursday night. This thread is for YOUR reviews. t:

 

[zeptron]

I think you should close the poll until Friday. Because people will most likely vote 1 without even seeing the movie first.

 

[Timstuff]

I think you should close the poll until Friday. Because people will most likely vote 1 without even seeing the movie first.

This. And I agree, I think it's prudent to wait till the "street date" before letting people rate it.

 

[LightningFlash]

Exactly. Because people will complain on every single basis of this movie until they actually watch it.

 

[DOG LIPS]

No problem.

 

[MiniBond]

I'm probably gonna watch it tomorrow evening, I'll let you all know if I can make it to the theater

 

[MiniBond]

Saw it

Pretty good flick ! Definitely more enjoyable than the other BIG BANG blockbusters of this summer (who said ROTF and T4 ??), in fact, in this category, I'd rank it second behind Star trek )

It's entertaining, with CGIs from a video game but nothing terrible, the two hours fly by easily, the plot is simple but well paced and coherent, contrary to others (who said ROTF ???) and filled with action scenes (the Paris one is the greatest but the attack on the Joe's headquarter is quite good too) ! There's even a twist (two in fact) but I won't spoil it here......leaves the door open for a sequel ! Too bad the flash backs on the characters' links and past seem so artificial, so to speak, because they're important for the story....

Bland music but good cast (let's play "who prefers Scarlett rather than The baroness and vice versat, Quaid is sometimes over the top but anyway Snake eyes is utterly bada$$ too ! Nice cameo by Brendan Fraser [BLACKOUT]and even a full part for Arnold vosloo, I was expecting Rachel weisz to show upt:t:[/BLACKOUT]

In brief, I had fun.....lookin' forward to number 2 now that Cobra is awake



PS: No stupid jokes btw, that was a fine suprise, Marlon wayans is pretty bearable !

 

[terry78]

Yeah, not a bad overall synopsis. I'll be hitting it on fri.

 

[Theweepeople]

Saw it

Pretty good flick ! Definitely more enjoyable than the other BIG BANG blockbusters of this summer (who said ROTF and T4 ??), in fact, in this category, I'd rank it second behind Star trek )

It's entertaining, with CGIs from a video game but nothing terrible, the two hours fly by easily, the plot is simple but well paced and coherent, contrary to others (who said ROTF ???) and filled with action scenes (the Paris one is the greatest but the attack on the Joe's headquarter is quite good too) ! There's even a twist (two in fact) but I won't spoil it here......leaves the door open for a sequel ! Too bad the flash backs on the characters' links and past seem so artificial, so to speak, because they're important for the story....

Bland music but good cast (let's play "who prefers Scarlett rather than The baroness and vice versat, Quaid is sometimes over the top but anyway Snake eyes is utterly bada$$ too ! Nice cameo by Brendan Fraser [blackout]and even a full part for Arnold vosloo, I was expecting Rachel weisz to show upt:t:[/blackout]

In brief, I had fun.....lookin' forward to number 2 now that Cobra is awake



PS: No stupid jokes btw, that was a fine suprise, Marlon wayans is pretty bearable !

I have some questions for you. Was the theater packed? How was the audience response? Are Cobra Commander and Destro too over the top?
Is the classic GI Joe theme song in the film? What is the run time? What is the intro of the film? What role does Dr. Mindbender play?

 

[zeptron]

What trailers were played in front of the film? Was there a scene after the credits?

Oh and Theweepeople the running time is said to be 117 minutes.

 

[Kargo Warrior]

How would you describe Snake Eyes?Was he done justice,not in the comic book or cartoons sense,but in general.

Was he a character who would appeal/be described cool,intriguing to someone who doesn't follow the G.I.Joe cannon or is not a fan?

 

[Theweepeople]

What trailers were played in front of the film? Was there a scene after the credits?

Oh and Theweepeople the running time is said to be 117 minutes.

I saw that information on IMBD but, they aren't always accurate with this type of information. I have more faith in the reviewers on this website to give me feedback about movies I haven't seen.

 

[FCEEVIPER]

Saw it

Pretty good flick ! Definitely more enjoyable than the other BIG BANG blockbusters of this summer (who said ROTF and T4 ??), in fact, in this category, I'd rank it second behind Star trek )

It's entertaining, with CGIs from a video game but nothing terrible, the two hours fly by easily, the plot is simple but well paced and coherent, contrary to others (who said ROTF ???) and filled with action scenes (the Paris one is the greatest but the attack on the Joe's headquarter is quite good too) ! There's even a twist (two in fact) but I won't spoil it here......leaves the door open for a sequel ! Too bad the flash backs on the characters' links and past seem so artificial, so to speak, because they're important for the story....

Bland music but good cast (let's play "who prefers Scarlett rather than The baroness and vice versat, Quaid is sometimes over the top but anyway Snake eyes is utterly bada$$ too ! Nice cameo by Brendan Fraser [BLACKOUT]and even a full part for Arnold vosloo, I was expecting Rachel weisz to show upt:t:[/BLACKOUT]

In brief, I had fun.....lookin' forward to number 2 now that Cobra is awake



PS: No stupid jokes btw, that was a fine suprise, Marlon wayans is pretty bearable !

Thanks for your review!

 

[Mauser9910]

It was a fun film, pretty violent by today standards of entertainment movies, it had a few flaws (bad CG, Bay montage) but it's very enjoyable and cartoony.
The Paris scene was the highlight, the cameos were cool and if you're around 9 or 10 years old, it could become your favorite film ever.

And Rachel Nichols / Sienna Miller : WOW !

Oh about the plot being "coherent", I strongly disagree :

Spoiler

Christopher Eccleston's character conceived the nanobots weapon, had them stolen from himself because of his big plans, and yet HAD TO activate them weapons through some independant installation in Paris

It made little sense and could have easily been fixed in the script, ah well...

 

[Darthkush]

Other than Brendan Frasier(who we all know about at this point), what other cameos were there? So hyped for this flick. All the good reviews are helping too.

 

[Mauser9910]

Another Sommers regular : Kevin J. O'Connor .

Oh and only for the French audiences, in the beginning one of the guards is Jacques Frantz, the official French voice for Robert De Niro.

 

[MiniBond]

I have some questions for you. Was the theater packed? How was the audience response?

I saw it in alittle theater so I cannot expect a big atmosphere in the audience

Are Cobra Commander and Destro too over the top?

the only over the top guy was Dennis quaid sometimes.....but I must say, I saw it in french so maybe I was misleading !

I have no idea, I know very little things abut the GI joe in general !

What is the run time?

a classic 2 hours if I'm correct...

What is the intro of the film?

the maccullen ancestor arrest and when the french put his mask on him !

What role does Dr. Mindbender play?

if you're talkin' about the guy with half the darth vader's mask on the poster I can't answer that, I'd spoil the twist of the movie! t:t:

 

[MiniBond]

What trailers were played in front of the film? Was there a scene after the credits?

Oh and Theweepeople the running time is said to be 117 minutes.

there was the last airbender but again, I saw it in france and trailer showings do not work like in the US !

And sadly I couldn't wait for the credits to end

How would you describe Snake Eyes?Was he done justice,not in the comic book or cartoons sense,but in general.

He's the man t:t: his first apperance is badass (that's a ninja for sure).....I can't make judgment compared to the cartoons because I wasn't a fan of the gi joe ! But his story is perfectly understandable (his rivalry with storm shadow and so on...)

 

[MiniBond]

Oh about the plot being "coherent", I strongly disagree :

Spoiler

Christopher Eccleston's character conceived the nanobots weapon, had them stolen from himself because of his big plans, and yet HAD TO activate them weapons through some independant installation in Paris

It made little sense and could have easily been fixed in the script, ah well...

good one, I neglected that t:

 

[Mauser9910]

I also missed a point during the "origins" of Snake Eyes :

Spoiler

We see a homeless Caucasian kid in an Asian city (can't remember where it was), going through a garbage can for some food, then he looks up to some temple above the city, cut to him stealing food from that place ! Did he smell the food from that far way ? Why did he go there ?

Weird...

There was a lot of people in the audience, mostly very quiet and attentive to what happened on screen ; I think a few jokes didn't make it to the French adaptation (I couldn't tell when the "kung-fu grip" joke happened for instance)...

 

[MiniBond]

I also missed a point during the "origins" of Snake Eyes :

Spoiler

We see a homeless Caucasian kid in an Asian city (can't remember where it was), going through a garbage can for some food, then he looks up to some temple above the city, cut to him stealing food from that place ! Did he smell the food from that far way ? Why did he go there ?

Weird...

There was a lot of people in the audience, mostly very quiet and attentive to what happened on screen ; I think a few jokes didn't make it to the French adaptation (I couldn't tell when the "kung-fu grip" joke happened for instance)...

my guess is that he felt it was a rich place !

 

[Mauser9910]

I have some questions for you. Was the theater packed? How was the audience response? Are Cobra Commander and Destro too over the top?
Is the classic GI Joe theme song in the film? What is the run time? What is the intro of the film? What role does Dr. Mindbender play?

Hehe, allow me another take on these questions.

I don't recall a GI Joe theme in the film, not familiar with it ; I do recall the Black Eyed Peas Boom Boom Pow booming at the end of the film though !

The running time is 2h but it doesn't feel like 2h : it doesn't feel long or rushed.

The intro takes place in France in the late 1600s, it plays on the man in the iron mask behing Chris Eccleston's ancestor.

Dr Mindbender played by Kevin J O'Connor is the reason why a particular character becomes a mad scientist

Spoiler

and then becomes Cobra Commander

at the end of the film.

 

[Mauser9910]

my guess is that he felt it was a rich place !

It just made me laugh, I thought it was very Gokuh-like... t:

 

[MiniBond]

Hehe, allow me another take on these questions.

I don't recall a GI Joe theme in the film, not familiar with it ; I do recall the Black Eyed Peas Boom Boom Pow booming at the end of the film though !

The running time is 2h but it doesn't feel like 2h : it doesn't feel long or rushed.

The intro takes place in France in the late 1600s, it plays on the man in the iron mask behing Chris Eccleston's ancestor.

Dr Mindbender played by Kevin J O'Connor is the reason why a particular character becomes a mad scientist

Spoiler

and then becomes Cobra Commander

at the end of the film.

oh mindbender is the strange guy in the [BLACKOUT]east africa blowing house[/BLACKOUT] didn't caught his name !

 

[laudanum09]

Here are some thoughts I posted on another forum. What I said regarding attitudes still holds for here though even though I haven't been contributing as of late I've been lurking.


Just watched it. I went in with an open mind, willing to see this as I watched mummy, a lot of fun, good time popcorn action. I have to say even for this I was kind of disappointed. Don't get me wrong there are some exciting moments, lots of really unexpected violence like neo-vipers getting their heads blown off, people getting shot, storm shadow and snake eyes slitting throats, arrows in eyes, etc. but this is for the general public, not for Joe fans.

If you're one of those fans that have been bashing this since the initial trailers without even bothering to keep an open mind about it, I still think that's a silly, snotty attitude that a lot of you have had, especially poking fun at people that wanted to see this with an open mind, but still for your sake and the sake of humanity don't bother paying to see this, you'll be cursing and gnashing teeth, possibly ripping out theatre chairs and causing a scene. Having an open mind got me through this, just BARELY.

With that said here's a summation of positives and negatives:

*Music is by far the WORST thing in the movie. It's utterly awful and completely phoned in. No joke, it really could use a redo, it would alter the tone of some of the scenes for the better.

*Dennis Quaid was really pretty groan inducing. The second worst thing in the movie. When we see him for the second time it's utterly laughable. You'll see what I mean. But considering two phoned in elements, the music and Quaid, are the worst things it's really not that bad for the film in the end. There are redeeming elements.

* Baronness is quite sexy and badass. She has maybe 10-15 lines in the movie, no joke, but they're delivered somewhat decently. When she's bad she's bad, firing her ridiculous pulse guns blowing tanks up and smashing joes to smithereens. Also there's a great cat fight between her and Scarlett. When she's not so bad and ambiguous it's really hammed up and harped on. Really quite terrible. Baronness is an ex-radical turned evil badass terrorist. She's not

Spoiler

a nanomite slave to the 'doctor'

she's just plain evil. Really disappointing and badly done.

* The jokes and overall comic relief is actually not that bad. 90 % of it is a hit and some of it is actually kind of clever. Marlon Wayans was not that bad. Not good by any means but not terrible.

*Duke was actually the best, maybe not brimming with intensity but a believable soldier with well delivered lines. I liked Duke the best actually, maybe not so much as a character but acting-wise it's actually done well. I enjoyed him on screen much more than Wayans.

*Destro. When he's just McCullen he oozes an evil bond villain vibe that I really enjoyed. On top of that Eccleston is a top notch actor and he does a great job as a pre-Destro villain. I actually liked his scottish accent there was something charismatic and sinister about it at the same time. But when he dons his mask...well

Spoiler

the CGI here could have learned a thing or two from TDK whose Two-Face work was simply amazing. There's this weird uneven texture to the mask that just doesn't look right imo. The early leaked photos which are actually from the movie looked better than this final version. Not really all that impressive but not terrible either.

*The Doctor. Interesting to say the most. It would have been really cool if he was just mindbender and Cobra was revealed as a completely separate character at the end, pulling the strings behind everything. Otherwise it was kind of disappointing.

The look I've always been totally fine with, and he did in a way capture the feel of Cobra Commander as a hammy, somewhat cowardly villain, but the voice....there was something really unsatisfying about it. It was wayyyy too deep. I'm not even sure if its actually Gordon Levitt or if it's another actor like Darth Vader or they just manipulated it beyond recognition. I don't understand any of the Chris Latta references.

There is only a trace of that in terms of the megalomania and ridiculous villainy that comes through in the voice. Towards the end the voice actually grew on me, especially considering that the voice acting (not the tone or sound but emotive aspect) was actually pretty decent....but when he puts on that clear mask...well he doesn't look terrible it's kind of an interesting take on CC's classic battle suit, but his voice changes into something resembling the deep guy that narrates movie trailers. Terrible. I wish they just let Levitt use his own voice as is, it would have probably been more appropriate. Maybe I need to watch it again to warm up to it, but overall CC was a disappointment whereas the Doctor grew more and more fun and interesting to watch.

I feel like that's enough for now. Here are some final thoughts:

If you're curious check it out, it's a C-grade action movie with some decent fights and some decent action, nothing too spectacular though. I'd just wait to watch it on Blu-Ray in the comfort of your home if I were you. It was still stupid action fun though and I'd probably rent it when it comes out and enjoy it over some beers with buddies. Makes me wish I still played with action figures though because I could do a better job with my imationation.

It had less idiotic humor, a better plot (hah) than ROTF but in no way was it more entertaining or epic. Terminator Salvation in my opinion beats them both in terms of story, action and acting. A sad summer.