Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins (2021)

Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins (2021)

3/10

Starring

Henry Golding

Andrew Koji

Úrsula Corberó

Samara Weaving

Iko Uwais

 

Directed by Robert Schwentke

 

Based on the 1889 book The Wrong Box by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, which I have not read, by the way, the movie has a lot of stars running around in what I believe was meant to be chaos in a wheel of madness. But what I got in the end was a disjointed script filled with silliness, which ended in a way that made absolutely no sense. It will leave you in the same wheel of madness, thinking it has achieved some sort of comedic uproar moment.

Meaningless, a movie which seems to be more interested in setting itself up for a sequel than making this movie worth warranting a sequel. Snake Eyes reminds me of the early '90s, when B-action movies were everywhere. When the henchmen were lame, and the only reason needed to drive the protagonist was revenge. The protagonist has some weird luck woven into his being, and he never seems to be out of breath or scared of death, even when he is in over his head. The movie took itself too seriously, weaving a web of lies, counter-lies, and trying its best to be suspenseful when it basically copied everything it knows from every other film there is.

The story is not anything spectacular, even though the fight choreography is nice. But if you are a fan of a little bit of flesh (story) to all the fighting, then you will not like this movie at all.

The movie starts with the murder of Snake Eyes’ father when he was a child. He grows up to be a fighter, while being on the hunt for the person who killed his father. He is approached by a wealthy Yakuza boss who wants Snake Eyes to infiltrate and take down his rivals. The boss claims he has been watching Snake Eyes for a long time and promises to help him find the man who killed his father. Snake Eyes takes the job with the aim of finally getting what he so craves: revenge.

But things take a turn when he is to prove his loyalty to the Yakuza. Instead, Snake Eyes helps one of the Yakuza’s rivals, Tommy, escape. Snake Eyes is welcomed into Tommy's clan of ninjas, who Tommy wants to use to bring order to things.

Snake Eyes also has his own agenda, which at first seems to be parallel to what is going on between the two groups. But soon, his conscience has him torn between his loyalty to Tommy and his desire for revenge.

It is easy to believe that everyone in this movie was under duress to make it, judging by the lack of interest every one of the actors seems to throw at us. But in comparison to other wastes of reels that Hollywood has dished out lately, this may be better than a few. Notwithstanding, this movie falls short of good. It falls in line with the most naturally predictable things you have already seen. The moment Tommy says he will vouch for Snake Eyes, my brain ran circles around other movies I have seen, which this line precedes some form of betrayal.