SNAKE EYES (2021)

SNAKE EYES (2021)

Tagline: Discover What Hides Behind The Mask.

(Action, Adventure, Everyone Has A Sword ) [PG-13]

Note: This movie’s original title was SNAKE EYES: G.I. JOE ORIGINS. 

Every warrior has a weakness your enemy can exploit. 

In this one after a boy’s father is murdered, he becomes a loner fighter named Snake Eyes. He ends up becoming part of a Japanese clan called the Arashikage where he begins training to become a ninja. It doesn’t take long before we are told that Cobra is gathering resources to wipe out the Aranshikage and they are forced to reach out to G.I. JOE for help. Meanwhile, Snake Eyes has secrets that will test his allegiance to the forces of good, or the forces of evil. 

First off, this movie is meant to re-launch not just the G.I. JOE cinematic movie series, but a Hasbro-based cinematic universe that also includes VISIONARIES, M.A.S.K., Spaceknight, and Micronauts. I am not sure this is going to pan out though. I guess time will tell. This particular movie bombed hard making less than half what it cost to make at the Box Office. It's possible streaming service money can make up for some of the budget, but for Hasbro, this was a rough start. The kid in me really wishes this thing was a lot better received. 

Some of the strong points of this movie include the design work and action sequences. This thing is phenomenal when it comes to the stunts and fighting choreography, I mean, people are flipping around and jumping into outer space with the quadruple super flux backflip kick to the nuts, and all that stuff. The lighting is also pretty strong as well as the soundtrack. I also liked the cast for the most part. The movie also has a few surprises which include objects with mystical powers and other things like that. It’s a bit of a different take from the more science-based live-action G.I. JOE films. 

Where this movie kind of misses the mark is in the casting of both Samara Weaving (from BILL & TED FACE THE MUSIC) as Scarlett and Úrsula Corberó as The Baroness. Both are good in other things but felt out of place in these rolls. I will say they both looked more comic book and animation accurate for what it’s worth. Another miss is that there are some shots where it seems like there might be 20 more bad guys to kill, but the scene gets cut off before it should have actually ended.

On the other hand, pretty much everyone else was awesome. Andrew Koji especially kills it as Tommy/Storm Shadow. I mean this dude's performance was better than anyone else in the movie by miles. Henry Golding is a good Snake Eyes and his role is also done pretty well. He does talk a lot though which I guess angered some diehard fans of the G.I. JOE lore. Takehiro Hira was great as Kenta and Haruka Abe also really stood out as Akiko. She is kind of the only one that really embraces Snake Eyes on a personal level and this gives us enough to get to know her a bit as a character. 

Overall this thing is really quite a bit of fun in spite of its changes to the source material. I can see why some fans might have dismissed it, but I really wish they hadn’t. There could have been some better writing, but I have to give this one a 5 out of 7. Definitely worth checking out if you can handle a G.I. JOE story that strays from the usual paths. I do see myself buying this movie and hope we see more of these characters. 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF PARAMOUNT PICTURES AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

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