Snake Eyes: GI Joe Origins is the third live-action GI Joe movie and it was supposed to be the start of a new franchise. The movie though has been one of the bigger busts at the box office since things opened up and a new franchise is now looking very unlikely. This is a real shame as the movie is a lot of fun and it is a pretty solid action movie that gets more things right than it does wrong.
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The Movie Review
Despite what other people think I really enjoyed GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra and GI Joe: Retaliation. I thought that the first two GI Joe movies were fun action movies and I was all for Paramount having another go and bringing the classic toy line and animated series to the big screen. I am not going to say that this is an amazing movie, but it is one that is still a fun “popcorn” kind of movie to watch.
This time around the movie is based on the origin story of Snake Eyes. Snake Eyes is played by British actor, Henry Golding and he does a solid job. My only criticism of Henry Golding is that his American accent breaks quite a few times during the movie, but I am perhaps being a bit harsh there.
I liked how we got to see Snake Eyes as a kid and why he ultimately becomes the way he is. After seeing his father get brutally murdered, Snake Eyes vows revenge at any cost and this puts him into contact with a man called, Kenta who is a boss for the Yakuza! Kenta tells Snake Eyes that he can help him find his father’s killer!
The thing is, Kenta is not exactly an honest guy and he wants Snake Eyes to infiltrate a clan in Japan that is led by a young man called Tommy. Tommy, the clan, and Kenta have a very interesting past and that was probably one of my favorite aspects of the movie. The Japanese setting of the movie is very cool and gives it a ton of style.
While Snake Eyes agrees to help Kenta in order to get his revenge, he does have second thoughts. Due to his friendship with Tommy as well as one of his main guards, Akiko, Snake Eyes starts to question his life choices. Henry Golding does a great job of making you see that while Snake Eyes wants to be all about his revenge, you can tell he has a good heart.
There is more GI Joe in the movie than just Snake Eyes! The movie also gives us Scarlett (played by the awesome Samara Weaving) and the Baroness (played by Úrsula Corberó) who are a lot of fun. Fans of the classic world of GI Joe may get a kick out of an uneasy alliance that these two ladies have to commit to in the movie!
I will say that Snake Eyes: GI Joe Origins is a pretty predictable movie, but it is still a lot of fun. It has some amazing action scenes with one taking place on a car transport truck that had me on the edge of my seat! I also think that they did some great world-building here too to set up a new GI Joe movie universe. A universe which sadly due to the performance of this, we will probably never see.
