G.I. Joe

G.I. Joe

“Would you look at that? Real American heroes…”

It’s Back-to-School week and with yesterday being my last full day of summer vacay (I work for a school system), I decided to take my 12 yr. old son to see the movie we’d been trying to find time to see all weekend. G.I. Joe—surprising in so many ways.

First of all, who knew G.I. Joe isn’t just one man, but a highly trained special mission force comprised of many men? I didn’t! I thought Joe was a G.I. (whatever that is) and Channing Tatum was playing the part. Imagine my surprise when Channing was addressed as Duke and several men were called “Joes”. The confusion almost distracted me from the first ten minutes of the movie.

In my defense, I have only one frame of reference where G.I. Joe is concerned; the camouflage covered doll my brother owned in 1970something. At the time, I didn’t have a Ken doll, so I often bribed my brother to let me use Joe to play the part of Barbie’s husband. On a good day, my brother would give Joe a voice and even bend his body to fit into the Barbie loveseat to watch her plastic t.v. He would regale Barbie with tales of his workday (in our world, War was a 9 to 5 job) and listen to her tales of fame and fortune. He never complained about having to drive a Tonka Truck (my brother didn’t have any G.I. Joe inspired transportation) while Barbie got a pink Corvette and while Barbie changed her clothes every 15 minutes, Joe was happy in his camo coveralls and army boots. Barbie never even had to launder them. I loved G.I. Joe.

So, surprise…I find out that G.I. Joe isn’t a guy and Channing Tatum wasn’t playing his part. Tatum was a Joe wannabe who takes his place among them, fighting his way to and through the bad guys in search of stolen weapons. I was not surprised he did a great job as an action hero…just look at him. And I did…just look at him.

On the bad guys’ side is Ana, Duke’s former girlfriend who blames him (as much as he blames himself) for the death of her brother, which seems to be the reason she dyed her hair from blonde to black and went from good to bad. I thought Sienna Miller did a great job playing the villain, so different from anything I’d ever seen her in. A character named Storm Shadow (played Byung-hun Lee) is the other half of this evil duo. Storm Shadow has a personal history with one of the Joe wannabes. He and Snake Eyes spent time together as children; their rivalry is justifiable…but sad.

I loved the female characters in this movie. So often the women in an action flick are forced to portray the damsel in distress. Surprisingly, Sienna Miller and Rachel Nichols (Scarlet) were anything but. Both played strong women who didn’t need a man to save them.

I never read the comic book on which the movie was based, so I can’t say how true to character it was, but I enjoyed the characters, nonetheless. Another favorite was Ripcord, played by Marlon Wayans. I was so surprised to see this comedian show up on the screen to play the part of a crime-fighting hero. Gotta love the strong, funny and sensitive type.

Rounding out the cast were small but important parts for Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Dennis Quaid. Another surprise in the storyline stems from one of these two characters…didn’t see that comin’!

No, this isn’t a movie that will win any critical acclaim and unfortunately because comic book fans will all have an opinion on how the movie is done, it may not do well in the public arena, either. But, as far as I—and my 12 year old son—were concerned, it was a great movie. My son is still talking about it today, claiming it as one of his favorites. Of course, in a large family, any movie you’ve seen that your siblings haven’t is that much better. However, I do think catered to boys his age…and their mothers. Lots and lots of action, very little gore and bad language. I really did enjoy it. For some reason, that surprised me.

Bottom Line: G.I. Joe was a G.I. surprise!