Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #266 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-12-07
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 118 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The Rise of Cobra is not your grandfather's G.I. Joe. It's more like C.G.I. Joe with explosive special-effects action sequences that provide the film with a surplus of "Boom Boom Pow" (to quote the Black Eyed Peas song that drives the end credits). This blast from the summer past is very much like the metal-munching nano-mite missiles a (literally) mad Doctor (Joseph Gordon-Levitt cashing in some of his indie cred) and McCullen, a Scottish weapons dealer (Christopher Eccleston), threaten to unleash upon the world. It never stops. Ever. The original G.I. Joe action figure was an all-American hero. These Joes are--all together now--"the best of the best," an elite multi-national squad. Two soldiers, Duke (a buff Channing Tatum), an "on the ground, in the fight" kind of guy, and Ripcord (Marlon Wayans), his wisecracking best friend, are rescued by the Joes after they are ambushed while transporting the missiles. These are no ordinary Joes. Snake-Eyes (Ray Park) is a silent ninja, Stella (Rachel Nichols) a bodacious brainiac, Heavy Duty (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) the imposing weapons specialist, and Breaker (Said Taghamaoui) the techie. They are led by gruff Gen. Hawk (Dennis Quaid), who barks out lines like, "When all else fails, we don't," with polish. Duke and Ripcord are recruited to join the classified unit after Duke discovers that Ana (Sienna Miller), his former fiancée, is in cahoots with McCullen and now sports the sinister moniker the Baroness, not to mention killer cleavage-enhancing latex outfits. This being the first in a budding franchise, there is much backstory to cover. Flashbacks date back to 1641! But the order of the day is underground military command centers, underwater evil lairs, gleaming high-tech weaponry, breakneck chases, and cool gadgets, such as a speed-accelerating hydraulic suit. It's enough to make you want to dust off your original Hasbro action figures or, the studio no doubt hopes, buy the new ones. --Donald Liebenson

Synopsis
From the Egyptian desert to deep below the polar ice caps, the elite G.I. Joe team uses the latest in next-generation spy and military equipment to fight the corrupt arms dealer Destro and the growing threat of the mysterious Cobra organization to prevent them from plunging the world into chaos.
Stephen Sommers (The Mummy, Van Helsing) directs this live-action adventure featuring a huge cast of stars, including Dennis Quaid, Channing Tatum, Marlon Wayans, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Sienna Miller. Ray Park, who made his name playing Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace, takes on the role of Snake Eyes.

Customer Reviews

Over-the-top, non-stop and fun - 3.5 stars
Being a big fan of the toys, cartoon and comics as a kid (it was called Action Force and Action Man in the UK) I was interested in seeing how Stephen Sommers would adapt it into a live-action big screen movie. And although it was 90% CGI for a majority of the film, the plot was paper-thin, the acting wasn't great, the action was completely unbelievable and over the top and it was generally pretty brainless, I found it to be incredibly fun and very entertaining. As long as you don't take this film seriously at all - it is just a movie for big kids at the end of the day - and you enjoy action films then you should like this, especially if like myself you grew up with it all. The CGI was very top-end quality with some of the most visually stunning special effects I have seen, particularly the whole section in Paris. The action was literally non-stop from the opening scene and doesn't slow down for a second. The characters are all great and stay true to their cartoon and comic book forms, but there are plenty not used in this so I can see a whole bunch of sequels on the horizon.

Overall this probably won't be everyone's cup of tea but for me, I enjoyed it for what it was and will definitely be getting it on Blu Ray when it's released later in the year. If you enjoy films like XXX and TRANSFORMERS then you'll most probably like GI JOE too.

surprisingly good blockbuster fun.
G.I. Joe, aka action force to us brits back in the 80s, it was a big part of my childhood, I watched the cartoon I played with the figures and I read the comics. When I heard they were making a live action movie I assumed it would be awful. I heard Stephen Sommers was directing it, he of Van Helsing and The Mummy fame, so I figured who better to do a dumb action movie based on toys.
It is a dumb action movie, the story is easy to follow and there is plenty of bang per buck on screen. The effects are usually good but a few times they do slip into obvious territory.
This a great boys toys fun, nothing more but certainly nothing less.
It does exactly what it sets out to do, entertain kids both big and small.
If you are expecting a deep movie about the horrors of war, move along nothing to see here, but if you want an OTT action flick, give it a go.

G.I. Cliché - The Rise Of Plagiarism
Okay, I'll start with a disclaimer - This is a review of the film, not the Blu-Ray specifically or its extras etc. But surely, that's why people buy this - To watch the film.

I went to see this at the cinema and wasn't honestly expecting a lot; On that front I wasn't disappointed - You really can't take a film like this remotely seriously; it's just not that kind of film - It wouldn't know reality if Salvador Dali slid up to it and slapped its face with a sixteen finned fish beast that had hanging chandeliers as antennae and a pair of roller blades as undercarriage...

The nearly two hour film slipped by quickly enough with a plethora of action, huge explosions, destruction on a massive scale, testosterone bursting soldiers with big guns, females in some very nice skin-tight outfits, ridiculously over the top CGI effects being served up in plentiful quantities and a bizarre apparent hatred of cars and glass... We'll get to the `story' a little later.

The film seems almost entirely CGI based (Were there many real sets..?) and the ship designs appear to have been half-inched straight out of Final Fantasy - The Spirits Within. As a result, there is a somewhat artificial feel to it all - But that's to be expected with a big budget Hollywood action film e.g. the street battle scenes in Hancock. Some of the set pieces are actually quite well done apart from little bits here and there throughout the film that look a little out of place.

The acting was pretty much what you would expect in this type of film: Better than it needed to be but always coming second after the effects... There are plenty of decent people in it and they ham it up in a predictable way.

My biggest gripe has to be with the plot or at least the lack of originality in it: Apart from one or two bits, this film is literally cliché after cliché; The second half of the film practically copies the entire Death Star Attack / Obi-Wan vs. Vader lightsabre duel ("He is here" / "I feel a presence") bits from Star Wars. Don't even start on the similarity of the bad guy with the breathing mask to Darth Vader! If they had added two bickering droids, the circle would have been complete...

Ultimately a forgettable action film that was watchable, enjoyable to an extent and clearly had a ton of money thrown at it for on screen visuals - They just played assemble-by-numbers with the plot.