 ***PLEASE NOTE: A Blu-ray 3D disc is only compatible with 3D Blu-ray players.*** Team G.I. Joe is not only fighting for their lives they are fighting for their very existence. Framed for crimes against the country, they are forced to disband by Presidential order. The surviving team members face off against Zartan, Cobra, and the world leaders he has under his influence! Storyline: Framed for crimes against the country, the G.I. Joe team is terminated by the President's order, and the surviving team members face off against Zartan, his accomplices, and the world leaders he has under his influence. Written by Anonymous Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Martin Liebman on July 14, 2013 -- The Cobra revolution has begun. -- G.I. Joe: Retaliation is an odd sort of sequel, a movie that's a chronologically in-order followup to the 2009 film but also a fairly unique, individualistic picture that's replaced several actors and removed a whole lot of characters from the flimsy script written by Rise of Cobra. Retaliation is a film with its own identity but not its own purpose, a movie that ties up the story from the last film but in many ways feels like about half a franchise reboot, except, of course, in the one area that counts most: action. Retaliation, for all its new names and faces, kicks up the style, pumps up the action, and delivers a shamelessly entertaining tale of good versus evil in a movie that rarely slows to catch its breath or build up its characters as they bring down the house. Plenty of stuff explodes, countless rounds are fired, and lots of marital arts action fills in the gaps when the guns take a breather. It's not special, significant, or really memorable moviemaking, but Retaliation will satisfy that Action-hungry swath of fans while getting back to a more core-friendly Joe experience. Oh, and power suits are definitely not included. Though Cobra Commander and Destro are imprisoned and out of the picture, Cobra remains a global threat with master of disguise Zartan (Arnold Vosloo) posing as the President of the United States (Jonathan Pryce). Zartan's goal as President: a nuclear weapons-free world, not for the betterment of mankind but so that Cobra may, without fear of massive retaliation, dominate the planet with its advanced satellite-based weaponry called "Zeus." Zartan, as President, frames the G.I. Joe team for the theft of Pakistani nuclear weapons and the murder of that nation's President, an event he uses to set off his global disarmament initiative. He disavows the Joes and sends a strike team to eliminate the group. Now, only a few Joes remain, including Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson), Flint (D.J. Cotrona), Lady Jaye (Adrianne Palicki), and Snake Eyes (Ray Park). They must covertly reveal the truth within the White House before Cobra can dominate the world once and for all. Retaliation moves away from an excess amount of gimmick and lame-brained humor and instead creates something much closer to what hardened, longtime G.I. Joe fans probably wanted from the first movie: a big, roaring behemoth of an Action flick that's huge in scope and expends an excess of ammunition and pyrotechnics with plenty of Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow bladed and high-flying intimate combat playing out along the way. In other words, it's a humongous popcorn movie that's everything a popcorn movie should be. It's not deeply rooted in human emotions, it doesn't explore the human condition, it's not profound, and it won't create a lasting legacy of dramatic excellence. Instead, it's a superficially complex but fundamentally simple story of muscled and good-looking heroes with big guns battling evildoers determined to rule the world. It's G.I. Joe "fighting for freedom wherever there's trouble," and there's no shortage of trouble in Retaliation. Director Jon M. Chu, in the tradition of the greatest of the straightforward Action movie directors like Roland Emmerich, uses the camera as a playground to explore the scope and intensity of G.I. Joe come to life, and the end result is a movie much more fundamentally satisfying than the first. Though the action supersedes pretty much everything in a G.I. Joe film, the supporting elements and intangibles do make or break it; those things harmed the previous film -- too much lame humor, too much of a drift from core beyond character names, and shabby character camaraderie -- but they only make Retaliation a better film, complimenting the story and action and pacing rather than hindering them or, worse, feeling like a detached element from them. Channing Tatum and Dwayne Johnson -- the latter of whom proves an invaluable addition to the franchise -- find a natural, believable, friendly chemistry that, beyond the mayhem and plot basics, is the film's best asset. However, Retaliation largely ignores its secondary characters; Jinx and especially Flint rarely elevate to anything beyond two faces, while Lady Jaye offers little more than sex appeal and a rather flat story arc with a "haunted past" she hopes will be resolved by film's end. The villains, too, are bland (beyond Zartan and Storm Shadow) and work only as foils for the heroes and a reason to set off all of the explosions. Ultimately -- no matter what the characters do, how they look, or who's gone and who's back and who's new -- this is a film about expectations. Audiences going in hoping for deep character studies or profound drama will leave disappointed, but like the best of Emmerich the film will satisfy core Action enthusiasts just looking for the next big spectacle. It'll also wash away much of the bad taste left behind from the last picture as a more faithful G.I. Joe adaptation without all the added bells and whistles that weighted down Stephen Sommers' fun, though very far from perfect, film. If lots of explosions, an endless string of gunfire, and plenty of marital arts action sounds even the least bit palatable, check out G.I. Joe: Retaliation. It's the zenith of polished, action-packed modern shoot-em-up marvels. Better, it's a superior film to the previous installment in every area. Better characterization, a good story, and a more faithful adaptation of classic G.I. Joe makes it a runaway success within its natural confines. It won't leave its audiences pondering the meaning of life, but it's rock-solid escapism at its finest. Paramount's Blu-ray 3D release of G.I. Joe: Retaliation features reference-quality sound but a picture quality that's a few ticks below the 2D-only presentation. A nice selection of extra content is included. The 2D-only release is the better value. (Based on Comic Book) Cast Notes: Dwayne Johnson (Roadblock), Jonathan Pryce (President), Byung-hun Lee (Storm Shadow), Elodie Yung (Jinx), Ray Stevenson (Firefly), D.J. Cotrona (Flint), Adrianne Palicki (Jaye), Channing Tatum (Duke), Ray Park (Snake Eyes), Luke Bracey (Cobra Commander), Walton Goggins (Warden Nigel James), Arnold Vosloo (Zartan), Joseph Mazzello (Mouse), Nick Erickson (President Picture Double), RZA (Blind Master). IMDb Rating (07/29/13): 5.9/10 from 61,659 users IMDb Rating (04/02/13): 6.4/10 from 17,883 users
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