G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra

I do enjoy some of the foreign and art house films I have been watching lately, but every now and then a mindless action movie is fun. When I was a kid, I had the 12" G.I. Joe doll.  When I pulled the string, it gave name, rank, and serial number.  After that, I don't remember watching the cartoons or playing with the later action figures.  If I had, I probably would have loved this new G.I. Joe movie. 

I won't say it wasn't a fun movie.  There was lots of cartoonish action, some impossible but cool settings--like the military base hidden in the middle of the desert and the bad guys' lair under the polar ice cap--and gung-ho good guys.  As is the norm with this type of movie, the special effects were pretty spectacular.  The best scene was the chase through Paris.  The good guys wore accelerator suits which gave them the speed of a car and strength of a machine.  They chased the bad guys, who drove a Hummer armed to the teeth.  The creativity and freshness of ths scene made the movie for me.

Yeah, lots of explosions in this movie.

This is one that the fans will love, the action movie fan will think is OK and then forget it, and the non-action movie fan will be heading for the door.

Bottom line, 2 stars.