Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins
While I had G.I. Joe action figures growing up, and probably watched the cartoon, I cannot say I had any particular nostalgia for the property. Part of what I liked about “The Rise of Cobra” was that there was an energy and enjoyment in that film that connected with me separate from any memories I might have had as a kid. What “Retaliation” seemed to get lost in was a visual style that didn’t feel as clean, despite having a decent story and making some good choices. Unfortunately, “Snake Eyes” is more “Retaliation” than “The Rise of Cobra.” Can we officially put a moratorium on this franchise?
(Before we continue, I would like to apologize to Jon M. Chu, “Retaliation’s” director, for calling him a downgrade from Stephen Sommers. You didn’t make a better “Joe” movie, but “In the Heights” shows you are more talented behind the camera than Sommers.)
Origin stories are always a bit tricky for franchises like this. You want to tell an interesting story while also hewing close to the character’s origins in the pre-existing universe. I couldn’t tell you one thing about Snake Eyes’s origins prior to watching this film, other than how it was tied to Storm Shadow, the other silent assassin of the G.I. Joe Universe. I actually enjoyed this movie’s interpretation of those events, as Snake Eyes witnesses his father killed, he is adrift in the world without a purpose, until someone who seems a bit dangerous offers him a chance for vengeance by helping take out a rival, only to have Snake Eyes need to make a choice between revenge, or purpose that includes belonging to a family. Sure, that story has familiar narrative threads, but when told well, it can just give us a lot of joy. Unfortunately, joy is oppressed in this film by a directorial style that gave me a headache.
Was “RED” simply an anomaly for director Robert Schwentke? Sure, he did solid films like “Flightplan” and “The Time Traveler’s Wife” prior to “RED,” but “RED” was such a wonderful blast of action, comedy and fitting actors to characters that his career since (including two lousy “Divergent” sequels) feels bafflingly disappointing. Schwentke has a good story, but during the fight scenes, he just doesn’t have an idea of what makes action sequences effective. The opening fight with Snake Eyes (played by Henry Golding, who does good work) in an underground fight has some of the most frenetic editing and camerawork I’ve ever seen; it’s intended to get us to feel the brutality of the fight, but it’s more chaos and nonsense than anything. And the scenes don’t get better after that. Sure, the staging is different, but there’s not one action scene that stands out, or does anything that gives us any bit of excitement.
That’s where the story comes into play. The narrative this is telling is fine, and the dynamic between Snake Eyes and Tommy (Andrew Koji), the pending leader of a ninja clan that will train Snake Eyes, is interesting, as are the nuggets of the larger Joe vs. Cobra conflict the film with the inclusion of Scarlett (Samara Weaving) and Baroness (Úrsula Corberó), although they felt more like cosplay versions of the characters than what we saw in the previous “Joe” movies. (I will say, though, that they didn’t look as bad as the background characters in “Space Jam: A New Legacy.”) In the end, however, I just don’t see G.I. Joe working on the big screen, not after three times out with such mixed results. I’m comfortable with that.
