Download Snake Eyes - G.I. Joe Origins; movie review

 

 

SNAKE EYES - G.I.JOE ORIGINS

Cert 12

122 mins

BBFC advice: Contains moderate violence, threat, infrequent strong language

Another day, another post-lockdown all-guns-blazing action movie.

The body count of Robert Schwentke's Snake Eyes is substantial - unfortunately, its storyline and character exploration are not.

This is another in the saga of the team which is up against Cobra, the international terrorists who continue their plot to take over the world.

It begins with the murder of a man in his secluded safehouse by raiders whose leader rolls a dice, revealing two ones, before shooting him in the head.

The murder is witnessed by the victim's son who grows up bent on revenge.

Henry Golding plays the son who, 20 years after his father's death, is mixing with some very dubious characters, presumably thinking they can lead him to the killer.

Anyway, the action begins with him in a UFC ring and then progresses to the workplace where he saves the life of his immediate boss (Andrew Koji).

It then switches, for no obvious reason, to Japan where culture and honour are added to the mix.

I have to say that I found Snake Eyes' plot superficial, at best, and, at worst utterly, confusing.

I presume that Golding's character is meant to be an anti-hero but I couldn't work out his opponents and allies.

The bafflement is not confined to him - there is one scene in which mortal enemies even switch sides in the midst of battle.

I presume that fans are not bothered because they just want to see people running across rooftops, produce some handy swordplay and cast a bit of magic.

They will be delighted that Snake Eyes' ending lends to a follow-up film.

I am not among them.

Reasons to watch: Action all the way

Reasons to avoid: Its baffling storyline

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 4/10

Did you know? The original concept for Snake Eyes was that he was a Vietnam Special Forces veteran who was severely disfigured in a helicopter explosion during one of his first G.I. Joe missions. Since the Vietnam War was 50 years ago, modern reboots of Snake Eyes have changed his story.

The final word. Henry Golding: "To be honest, I didn’t want to do too much research into the Snake Eyes that we knew from Larry’s pantheon of amazing comic books. I needed to obviously understand the relationships between who I’m meeting in this particular movie. And of course, the motivations. But what I’ve really needed to delve into was the hardships of what our character is going through at the beginning of this film. He’s a broken man, he’s been led on this trail of destruction and vengeance in search of this, this sort of this comeuppance in people who have done him sort of wrong in the past. " Nerd Reactor

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