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G.I. Joe Retaliation

4

Incredibly campy yet insanely fun, 'G.I. Joe: Retaliation' is pure popcorn entertainment and way better than the first.

Despite its numerous flaws, I honestly thought G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra dished out a decent amount of entertainment. That said, I understand why many of you out there loathe that film with a passion, and luckily for you, you can go into this one pretending it never even happened. Yes, Channing Tatum returns as Duke and it does indeed involve a few basic elements from the previous flick (no accelerator suits this time around!), but director John M. Chu's movie feels like a fresh start for the franchise and the result is hugely entertaining.

The film has two main plots which eventually merge for one final action sequence. The first involves Zartan posing as the U.S. President as he attempts to eliminate all of the Joes and make the world bow before Cobra Commander. Roadblock (Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson) and a couple others survive the attack and attempt to figure out what's really going on. Meanwhile, the second plot is loosely based on the classic and popular 'Silent Interlude' tale which involves lots and lots of ninja awesomeness. Naturally, this focus turns to Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow (just pretend he didn't bite it in the first one) and has plenty of Red Ninjas at the receiving end of blades. This part of the story ties to a super silly aspect with the Blind Master (RZA). If you can overlook the overflowing amount of goofiness with this part, then it's a fairly interesting development for Storm Shadow -- even if it does abruptly throw us into the middle of a story.

Yes, this scene is as fun as it looks.
Yes, this scene is as fun as it looks.

One of the many complaints people had with Rise of the Cobra was Tatum's wooden acting, but ever since 21 Jump Street the dude has really won me over. He has great chemistry with Dwayne and the two have some legitimately hysterical interactions. Don't let The Rock's intimidating size fool you, he's a lovable and beyond energetic character. He manages brings the perfect mesh of charisma and badassery to Roadblock. Additionally, all of the supporting cast (Bruce Willis, D.J. Cotrona, Adrianne Palicki, Byung-hun Lee, Jonathan Pryce, Walton Goggins) do an able job with their roles as well. Ray Stevenson trying to pull off a southern accent was a little distracting and inconsistent but it's a moot point because the man is always superb. The movie as a whole is packed with tons of solid comedy, too. I found myself laughing out loud like a fool at least once every fifteen minutes or so. There's a series of especially hilarious moments during a meeting between world leaders in the final act as well.

While Retaliation is sure to keep you laughing, the real highlight is the incredible amount of over the top action. There's just about everything a Joe fan could love here: a brutal Snake Eyes vs. Storm Shadow encounter (it's longer than the previously released clip!), cool technology and vehicles at their disposal and plenty of shootouts and brawls. One fight between Roadblock and Firefly (Ray Stevenson) is ruined by quick cuts and a shaky camera, but everything else is topnotch and a total blast. As expected, the cliffside battle will likely be a favorite for many.

Cobra Commander looks good but has a campy voice.
Cobra Commander looks good but has a campy voice.

3D tends to be hit or miss. For every experience like Avatar, there's a handful of films that add 3D just to get a few extra bucks and ultimately don't contribute anything special to the viewing. Retaliation was delayed to allegedly add the feature, and thankfully the conversion is thoroughly amusing. It may sound cheesy, but having ninjas, projectiles and so much more abruptly launch at you is pretty exciting stuff. A 3D ticket is certainly worth it if you have a few extra bucks to spare.

You can really tell director Jon M. Chu cares about the franchise -- it basically feels like a love letter and it's like he's having fun playing with all of his favorite characters. Yes, the main narrative is a complete mess at times and there's some cringeworthy lines here and there, but overall G.I. Joe: Retaliation is a ridiculously entertaining ride. Leave your brain at the door and you're sure to have a great time.

Gregg Katzman is a freelance writer for Comic Vine and IGN Entertainment. This is the part where he shamelessly plugs his Google+ and Twitter page in hopes of getting a new follower or two.

72 Comments

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_Braveheart_

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This made the top list of my most favorite comic book movies for sure

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TheBlueAngel93

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Just saw this on DVD and I really wish they would just make a movie based on Snake-Eyes, the scenes with fighting the group of ninjas were arguable the best parts of the movie. Cobra Commander was much better in the movie than in the previous one as well.

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Raw_Material

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This made the top list of my most favorite comic book movies for sure

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weaponxx

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I was pretty disappointed in this film, which is surprising because I went in thinking that it would just be a popcorn flick and noting to myself, not to be disappointed.

I did like Channing Tatum and the Dwayne Johnson's performances, and the film had some funny moments. There was a lot of action and firefights. I will always love everything about Snake Eyes.

However, the lack of a good sensible plot was REALLY distracting to me. I tried not to think about it, but I couldnt help it. Though I liked the twist about Storm Shadow, it took awhile to get to that point and prior to it, I thought the ninja side of the story was a bit out of place. I liked it, but it was almost as if there were two separate movies going on at once which was distracting and annoying for the first hour or so.

I didn't like the blindmaster at all... it looked really bad and also the old woman in the mountains... It felt really random that SPOILER (Zartan killed their master). I liked that twist about storm shadow, but having Zartan be responsible felt out of place.

What happened to the tech from the first one? Perhaps they are forgetting all about it (and that Storm Shadow should be dead) but the first one had a lot of awesome weaponry, and this one just had regular weapons, besides firefly's tech. Oh, and the Zeus satellites? How did those secretly get into space?

I will have to watch it again sometime, but I was disappointed.

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k4tzm4n

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k4tzm4n  Moderator

@lunacyde: I know you're a huge Joe fan... what did you think?

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Lunacyde

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Edited By Lunacyde  Moderator

@turoksonofstone said:

DEATH! DEATH to those who would be willing to leave their brain at the entrance way to a theater so they might tolerate a ill conceived film like this.

Overpriced Popcorn movies unfit to entertain popcorn

We as consumers must leave these ill conceived hollywood products to whither away unseen lest hollywood create more.

Onwards to Mordor!!!

You're right...I don't have to leave my brain at the door when I contemplate why some of the wisest beings in Middle Earth risked the fate of their world by trying to have two Hobbits walk the ring to Mount Doom instead of just having the giant eagles fly them there....shut up.

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Lunacyde

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@ravenvice01 said:

I hated the idea that Zartan was the one who killed the Hardmaster. It took away from the hatred that Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow have for one another plus Zartan died too soon. It will be nice to see a civil war between Cobra and Destro's forces. The third movie will probably involve Destro and Baroness taking their revenge on Cobra Commander for his betrayal and Baroness' personal vendetta against the Joes for allowing Duke to die. Hopefully, Zartan will come back one last time.

It actually made Storm Shadow a far more dynamic character. No longer is it one ninja is good and wears black and the other is bad and wears white. It gives him more depth, and in the comics has made for some great stories. At heart these two men are not enemies, but brothers, and that also provides for a far richer story than this guy hates this guy and that is it. You do know that they didn't just make it up for the movie right, this vaguely does follow comic book canon with the Zartan killing Hard Master story, though it was done with an arrow not a sword. Also I doubt they will bring back Baroness, storywise it makes little sense with the direction they took in the first film.

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k4tzm4n

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Paramount has confirmed they'll make a 3rd film.

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Bushwhacker_

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It sucked... well IMO it did... But that was expected.

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The_Ghostshell

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Edited By The_Ghostshell

i also believe that they messed up with storm shadow he would never work with the joes

In several versions of the comic Storm Shadow works with the Joes.

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k4tzm4n

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Edited By k4tzm4n  Moderator

@me_since_1993 said:

i did like G.I. Joe Retaliation but i wouldn't give it a four star i think that they muffed up the G.I. Joe the i grow up with like how they killed off duke, firefly, and zartan i also believe that they messed up with storm shadow he would never work with the joes all in all it was an alright movie i give it two and a half stars

If I had the ability to give half stars, I'd give it a 3.5. But sadly, I do not!

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evilvegeta74

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Rza sneaks into another movie.

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The_Ghostshell

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I had high hopes for this movie but ultimately....I'm pretty disappointed. The focus was clearly on action, which delivered, but at the expense of the story. They made no effort to explain Zartan's connection to the Hard Master or Arashikage. I can only imagine how random it must have appeared for fans who do not know that backstory. And thats how the entire movie felt. Random.

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me_since_1993

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i did like G.I. Joe Retaliation but i wouldn't give it a four star i think that they muffed up the G.I. Joe the i grow up with like how they killed off duke, firefly, and zartan i also believe that they messed up with storm shadow he would never work with the joes all in all it was an alright movie i give it two and a half stars

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Jayso4201

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I didn't see the 1st one until early last year but enjoyed it and decided I would go see this one. It was pretty good and exactly what you would expect.

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Gotham331

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Edited By Gotham331

This movie was bad

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jinxuandi

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The extended cliffside ninja fight scene between Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes was alone worth the price of admission for me. And how can anyone not like the Rock and Bruce Willis in one movie?

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TDK_1997

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Going to watch it tomorrow.

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dcfox

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I thought this movie was terrible and I was actually a fan of the first movie. I think the biggest problem with the movie was the poor choice to kill off Duke. Instead of Channing Tatum, we get the incredibly boring Flint who has zero charisma and on screen presence. The scenes with him and Lady Jaye were cringe worthy. Even without Duke, the movie would have been much better had it just focused on Road Block, Joe and Snake Eyes. Flint, Lady Jaye and Jinx add absolutely nothing to the movie.

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k4tzm4n

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@owie said:

I thought it was pretty fun. Ninjas! It even based some of the vehicles on the toys, which was nice to see. I liked that they tied in the Zartan/Storm Shadow/Hard Master stuff, although I imagine it made almost no sense to people who hadn't read the comics of that arc. It surprised me that they had almost none of the Joe characters from the first movie, although I was glad they made the Roadblock/Heavy Duty switch.

Yeah, they just shoved us right into the middle of that story. Overall, the narrative was super sloppy, but luckily the action and humor overshadowed that for me.

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k4tzm4n

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I guess I'm the contrarian because I saw this last night & thought it was just awful. I liked the first film, I even have a pretty high tolerance for the dumbest of dumb action movies, but Retaliation broke me. Characters appear & disappear without reason, the story's a mess, Tatum was by far the best part of the movie & when he makes his exit, the film goes downhill fast. Also, think I'm pretty sick of CGI as a replacement for actual filmmaking. That avalanche scene just looked like a video game or cartoon. The ending action sequence was better & I really liked all the stuff with Snake Eyes/Storm Shadow (just like the first film) but otherwise, yuck.

You're absolutely not. It currently has a 29% on Rotten Tomatoes, after all.

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owie

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owie  Moderator

I thought it was pretty fun. Ninjas! It even based some of the vehicles on the toys, which was nice to see. I liked that they tied in the Zartan/Storm Shadow/Hard Master stuff, although I imagine it made almost no sense to people who hadn't read the comics of that arc. It surprised me that they had almost none of the Joe characters from the first movie, although I was glad they made the Roadblock/Heavy Duty switch.

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Aiden Cross

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Maybe i'll go see it tonight, there isn't much else in the movie theater. I'm not getting my hopes up too high, just flick the switch and watch the movie and hope to be entertained ;p

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KnightRise

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The Rza was in this movie. The-frickin'-RZA!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Sammo21

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Edited By Sammo21

@thebane2890: To be fair, they could easily bring back Zartan and Firefly...heck, even Duke. No body no death, right? Heck, if Storm Shadow was brought back so easily anything is possible. I could easily see GI Joe raid a COBRA facility and find Duke under lock down or something.

@mild_karl:To each their own but how can you like the first movie but not like the second? That's like thinking Ghostbusters 2 is better than Ghostbusters 1...

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Mild_Karl

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I guess I'm the contrarian because I saw this last night & thought it was just awful. I liked the first film, I even have a pretty high tolerance for the dumbest of dumb action movies, but Retaliation broke me. Characters appear & disappear without reason, the story's a mess, Tatum was by far the best part of the movie & when he makes his exit, the film goes downhill fast. Also, think I'm pretty sick of CGI as a replacement for actual filmmaking. That avalanche scene just looked like a video game or cartoon. The ending action sequence was better & I really liked all the stuff with Snake Eyes/Storm Shadow (just like the first film) but otherwise, yuck.

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The Mast

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I thought this was dog patch.

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Press Oblivion

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I saw this today and I enjoyed the action. The Rock is really a talented guy.

The movie was much improved from the last one and the dismissal of Channing Tatum was a blessing . . . how did that guy get his record deal?

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jaydee98

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The best part of Rise of Cobra, to me was the Baroness. Anyway, I plan on seeing this movie over the weekend. The trailers looked cool. Plenty of bullets, ninjas and Jinx!

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TeamUnitedNerds

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I watched it, it was just...ugh

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mrdecepticonleader

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I really want to go see it.

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k4tzm4n

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Edited By k4tzm4n  Moderator

@icon said:

This was not a 4 star movie. x] To each their own though.

Well, for me 4 stars simply means I "really liked it" and in this case, I did. As for why, I'd like to believe the review did an adequate job explaining why ;)

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Icon

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This was not a 4 star movie. x] To each their own though.

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Iron_Turtle

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Adrienne Palicki's awful boob job.

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k4tzm4n

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k4tzm4n  Moderator

Disappointed again.

Sorry to hear that, but I love your avatar, man.

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Dirk_Dexter

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Disappointed again.

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k4tzm4n

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Edited By k4tzm4n  Moderator

You guys are crazy. Film was complete and total garbage.

Having a different opinion = TOTES CRAZY! :P

@csl316 said:

I just missed the GI Joe train, but I still remember having fun with the toys as a kid. After seeing some heady stuff in theaters last year (Cloud Atlas, Lincoln, Les Miserables, Breaking Dawn 2), I'm due for something like this.

Man, I still need to see Cloud Atlas! Heard nothing but great things about that one.

DEATH! DEATH to those who would be willing to leave their brain at the entrance way to a theater so they might tolerate a ill conceived film like this.

Overpriced Popcorn movies unfit to entertain popcorn

We as consumers must leave these ill conceived hollywood products to whither away unseen lest hollywood create more.

Onwards to Mordor!!!

Well, that's very reasonable of you.

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ObsideonDarman

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Edited By ObsideonDarman

You guys are crazy. Film was complete and total garbage.

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csl316

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I just missed the GI Joe train, but I still remember having fun with the toys as a kid. After seeing some heady stuff in theaters last year (Cloud Atlas, Lincoln, Les Miserables, Breaking Dawn 2), I'm due for something like this.

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turoksonofstone

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DEATH! DEATH to those who would be willing to leave their brain at the entrance way to a theater so they might tolerate a ill conceived film like this.

Overpriced Popcorn movies unfit to entertain popcorn

We as consumers must leave these ill conceived hollywood products to whither away unseen lest hollywood create more.

Onwards to Mordor!!!

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RedheadedAtrocitus

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Can't wait!

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TheBane2890

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@ravenvice01: said:

I hated the idea that Zartan was the one who killed the Hardmaster. It took away from the hatred that Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow have for one another plus Zartan died too soon.

If you ever read the comics, it was Zartan who killed the Hardmaster with one of Storm Shadow's arrows, and Firefly helped him escape. Firefly was hired by Cobra Commander, to infiltrate the Arashikage Clan and kill Snake-Eyes, since Cobra Commander blamed Snake-Eyes for the loss of his brother. Firefly asked for help, so Zartan was brought in. Zartan used a special bow that could detect heartbeats, and one of Storm Shadow's arrows. The Hardmaster was training Snake-Eyes in private, and teaching him how to change his heartbeat. The Hardmaster was imitating Snake-Eyes' heartbeat, so the arrow fired by Zartan, killed him instead. Storm Shadow had seen Zartan running away, and chased after him. The Arashikage only saw Storm Shadow running away, and blamed him, since it was one of his arrows. Cobra Commander found Storm Shadow and promised him the killer of the Hardmaster. He tricked Storm Shadow and hypnotized him into service. Zartan was right under Storm Shadow's nose and he didn't know it. Storm Shadow and Snake-Eyes never truly hated each other, they were just on different paths, and Storm Shadow was blinded by rage. I do agree with you however that Zartan died way too soon, as did Zandar (Zartan's brother (which wasn't really mentioned in the movie)), and Firefly.

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k4tzm4n

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Edited By k4tzm4n  Moderator

@mucklefluga said:

I wanna see this since the action looks insanely fun. The question for me isn't whether to see it or not, it is whether to watch in 3D or not?

My second to last paragraph talks about the 3D. And thanks!

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Mucklefluga

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Edited By Mucklefluga

I wanna see this since the action looks insanely fun. The question for me isn't whether to see it or not, it is whether to watch in 3D or not?

I love the review by the way Gregg

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k4tzm4n

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k4tzm4n  Moderator

I enjoyed Rise of Cobra, it was a fun movie.

Can't wait to see this one; just sit back, relax and watch a "flashy" movie.

Then I imagine you'll be pleased!

@lifeboy said:

Thanks for the info. I will need to check this out now that you have given me confidence in it.

Well, like I say in the review, it has a lot of flaws (the story is all over the place, there's some terrible lines), but if you're looking for mindless fun, it's a good time.

@majid said:

It came out in the UK yesterday; I saw it today and really enjoyed it. Goofy, great action scenes, thumbs up from a UK reader.

Thumbs up right back at ya. Glad you enjoyed it.

If it's anything like the first one it'll be complete and utter garbage, aside from some overly utilized, if not mildly impressive CGI.

Well, then you should definitely save your cash and not see it. You'll likely hate it less than Rise of Cobra, though.

Dude, can you modify that so it has a spoiler tag? Thanks.

Despite its flaws the first one was a bunch of big dumb fun. I don't mind if Retaliation has some of the same and it sounds like it's better than the original. Plus the Joes look more accurately portrayed this time around. I don't have huge expectations but am definitely going to see it!

Be sure to chime back after you check it out!

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alex6166

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A pro-wrestler as a star? I'd probably go see it if Tugboat or Kevin Nash were starring in it. :)

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LordRequiem

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If it's anything like the first one it'll be complete and utter garbage, aside from some overly utilized, if not mildly impressive CGI.

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happypup70

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what does "Campy" mean ?

I did some quick research and camp originally comes from the french prase "se camper" or to pose in an exaggerated fashion. until the 1960's it was a generally derogatory term for homosexuals. Later it took on a more mainstream meaning of performing in an over the top way to the point where it creates a 'sophisticated amusement.' So an example of a campy scene would be one where the performer is being so over the top sad that it makes the audience laugh.

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