Iffy for 13+
Too violent for kids, too childish for grown-ups.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that this relentless action adventure inspired by the '80s cartoon/toy line is filled with extreme (albeit minimally bloody/gory) violence. Kids will want to see it because they're the ones who play with the toys, but there's no end to the parade of characters who are slashed, stabbed, shot, or dispatched invarious other ways (it's important to note that, unlike in the similarly inspired Transformers movies, most of the victims here are people, not machines). There's also a lot of potentially scary medical imagery -- needles, scalpels, painful-looking procedures, and more -- and some intermittent strong language (including "s--t"). And Hasbro, the company that makes G.I. Joe toys, co-produced the movie -- meaning that the story doesn't contain product placement so much as the product placement contains a story.
- Families can talk about the movie's violence. Despite dozens of on-screen deaths, the movie earned a PG-13 rating -- do you think that's accurate? Do bloodless deaths have less impact than gorier ones?
- It's also worth talking about the consumerism side of things. What do kids make of the fact that this is a moviebased on a line of toys? Is the movie's goal to sell more toys? If not, what is it?
- Why do you think the movie takes a fantasy-oriented approach to bothviolence and terrorism? Does it make those issues any less scary?
The good stuff
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Messages: Although the movie theoretically promotes the concept of international cooperation to defeat threats, any true positive takeaway is neutralized by the movie's total divorce from reality and non-stop violent mayhem.
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Role models: Duke and the other G.I. Joes are depicted as hard-fighting-yet-sensitive warriors who are focused on their mission and protecting each other. Their Cobra enemies are painted as wholly villainous (no complex bad guys here!).
What to watch for
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Violence: Constant extreme -- though generally bloodless -- action violence. A man has a white-hot metal mask affixed to his face. Characters are shot, decapitated, and stabbed and slashed with swords and throwing stars. Characters fight both hand-to-hand and with firearms, and there are intense martial arts sequences. People fall from great heights. Planes, ships, and other vehicles fire on each other with a plethora of weapons and missiles. Lots of general mayhem and destruction. In flashback, children engage in brutal violence involving frying pans, flames, martial arts weapons, and more. A child murders a teacher -- it's off-screen, but the body is seen. Surgical imagery.
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Sex: Some kissing, cleavage, and discussion of "touching."
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Language: Some moderate strong language, including "s--t," "bastards," "piss," "a--holes," "damn," "hell," "bitch," "crap," "goddamn," "oh my God," and more.
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Consumerism: The film is based on a cartoon series that itself was based on a toy line (and the movie was actually co-produced by Hasbro, which makes those toys), so you could argue that the whole thing is an exercise in product placement. Other brands visible or mentioned include Hummer, Mercedes-Benz, Double Bubble, and Cisco.
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Drinking, drugs and smoking: A super-soldier serum lets people "feel no pain" and has implied adddictive and narcotic effects.
Fan Reviews provided by
4
G.I. JOE is a GO!!! Rating: 85 out of 100. (Based on advance VIP press preview) by MOVIES REVIEWER
THURS. Aug. 6th. - This 1hr 58min movie has a thin-plot and very little character development - basically, all the characters are kindof plastic and one-dimensional. The average CGI/special effects were somewhat of a let-down. At times, I feel like I'm watching a computer/video-game.
However, the NON-STOP action more than makes up for this $170 million-dollar movie's defects.
Plenty of flashbacks as plot devices to tell the various characters' background stories/histories.
Irony, the JOEs destroyed Paris while trying to save Paris.
Director Stephen Sommers' August BLOCKBUSTER movie should do well this opening weekend.
You will either like this movie or you will hate it. Make your choice. But you cannot deny the fact that G.I. JOE is PURE action.
The ending specifically and blatantly trumpeted a sequel. Guaranteed!
VERDICT:
Turn off your brains.
Let out your inner kid.
Sit back - strap on - and enjoy the ride!
Actual GRADE: Solid B - for LOTS of BA-DA-BOOM!!!
5
G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra by joeyk803c
When I first saw the previews I wasn't really drawn to the movie. I remember the series as a kid, and I loved it and that was the only reason that I wanted to see the movie. I went in after paying hoping for one hell of a good movie worth my hard-earned money and it was well worth it. The cast was great, the action scenes were awesome, and the fight scenes between snake eyes, and storm shadow was as always, stunning. There was humor that made you laugh, and action that made you sit on the end of the chair starring like a mindless drone.
Don't take it to heart, or even better, read the negative reviews on this site. They need to hire a team of people to review these reviews and weed out the ignorant, and exponentially stupid ones. Seriously, how can you rate a movie when you haven't even seen it? Keep you biased opinions to yourself.
2
G.I. Joe: the Rise of Cobra by csreeves
Wow, how many more things from my childhood can they turn into crap? In the first ten minutes they tried to fit in as many nods to the cartoon as possible but not in a good or natural way. Everything felt forced and the story was garbage. Cobra Commander is the baroness' brother? WTF??? The baroness only turned evil because of a bad relationship between her and Duke? Again, WTF???? She turns back at the end of the movie and fights Cobra? I was waiting for a mass explosion and Optimus Prime to enter the screen and say " Roll out, Yo Joe" !!!! Now i realize the cartoon was no masterpiece but the movie makes it look like Shakespeare. Anyone going to relieve their childhood, just buy the cartoon collection just released.They even set it up for a sequel but hopefully it will never see the light of day. Now you know...........
4
Lots of action! by chastity00
I really liked this movie. It has wonderful special effects. I would recommend seeing this at the theaters. The story line jumps around alot and can be hard to follow at times. But other than that I think this was a well made movie. The actors did a great job.
5
Action, Action, and more action!!!! by Deebie1975
I went to a midnight screening of this movie. The place was PACKED!!! I was hesitant to go based on the fact that no critics were allowed at pre-screenings....thought that maybe it was gonna really stink-NOT THE CASE!!!
G.I. Joe was an icon for all the 80's kids. This could be a comeback- seriously. The action kept me and my kids on the edge of our seats while the plot continued to unwind until the very end. An odd thing that caught me by surprise was the humor that was depicted in the movie as well....but with one of the Wayons in it...probably should come as no shock to some.
I will get this movie when it comes out on DVD...not for the kids but for myself :)
5
TAKE IT WITH A GRAIN OF SALT by 1971mercedes
OK THIS MOVIE WAS SOOOO CORNY, BUT IT KEPT TRUE TO ITS TV SHOW AND COMIC BOOK ROOTS. hahaha my friend and i went and saw gijoe tonight at 1215am. if i was 12 id say it was the best movie ever made, and this year best actor should go to stormshadow, why? well not only does he kill people by hitting them in the head with throwingstars but he destroys the eiffel tower by shooting it with a chemical weapon mounted on the end of a rocket launcher and he also wears a white ninja suit the entire time. ohhhhh dont be decieved by the stupid trailers this movie is more exciting than putting a squirrel in your pants. you just have to sit back and imagine you are a kid watching cartoons. if you can get by that youll enjoy it the baroness and scarlett are both hot and snake eys walks across an alarmed room on his finger tips! look out for zartan you will laugh your___off but also be entertained by the action, the cgi sucks but so did the drawing in the cartoon. whats next a he-man movie i cant wait
5
GO JOE!!! by STRIVE
I was a big fan growing up. (27) I am still a big fan. This is the best cartoon to live ation movie ever made. The action will impress any viewer and the story respects the old Joe. It delivered everything I expected and more.
Snake Eyes could have his own movie. IMO
Also, as a father of a 7 year old boy I would not reccomend it for children under 10 due to the monster looking bad guys. And really I don't think the violence was too bad. I don't remember anyone screaming and bleeding while they died.
I think on DVD it will be fine with a few edits for my son to watch. I loved it.
Will see it again and bring friends.
GO JOE!!!
4
Entertaining by Spartacus2000
One high-octane, heavily CGI-laden and loud action set piece after another, to ultimately deadening effect the rest of the bad acting and some mild cheesy dialogue, "The French are pretty upset."
If you?re a fan of the cartoon franchises, you will no doubt like this modern day story.
Personally I would reconsider twice the comments from others with scant reviews for this film. The film is without a doubt entertaining, isn't that the point. If one have an overwhelming need to have brain stimulation while watching a film, then one have already placed yourself in the same category as the "bad movie". If "smart" is what one wants, pick up a book.
4
G.I.Joe by BubblePopper
I'm not gonna lie. I'm a huge fan of G.I.Joe when I was a little kid. I couldn't believe that they were doing a movie out of it! The movie had a lot, and I mean a lot of action. "COOL!"Their was a lot of noise, but we were just sitting near the speakers. The actors were "awful!" Channing Tatum, plz save that speech that you wanted to become an actor while you were a model. Marlan Wayans did an ok job. Sienan Miller was smoking "hot" in the movie. Snake Eye's ka-ra-te moves were also cool.There were even times that you feel like you want to get up and stretch, or feel like sleeping while there were fighting bad guys. It's best to watch the movie in theaters, but never rent, unless you didn't have the time to see it there. Personally, I'll give it a 6.5/10!
4
If there's nothing else to see.... by fireworx325
This movie was OK. I've seen better than this, much like everyone else, but it was amusing for the most part. It was at heart just an action movie and there was a lot of "action figure" comments, or whatever you'd call them, like "it will be you who .. blah blah... next". The story line surrounding the main character was interesting, but I think fell flat just by the type of movie I saw it as (action not really a thinking movie). The action was really good though, if you like that sort of thing, with good special effects and whatnot. So, somewhat generic, but not completely awful. If you don't mind spending the money (yeh....) go, just don't expect the ultimate movie of a lifetime.