Review: G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

This is a new sort of post I have decided to do.  It's not because I don't have anything to say, but because I think this could be fun to do sometimes, or more often in general.  My intent is to write reviews of movies I see, books I read, and new CDs I get. 

The first of this series of reviews is a movie that came out a little while back - G.I. Joe.  The title, and the titular organization in the movie, stands for Government Issue Joe.  In this case, the Joes are the best of the best from military organizations across the world. 

Enter Captain Conrad "Duke" Hauser.  On the surface, Duke is fairly easy to read.  He's a no-nonsense commander in some ways, but his closest friend is part of his battalion.  They bicker as he and Rip Cord (affectionately known as Rip for most of the movie) pass the time when they are in the middle of a top-secret mission. 

Their mission?  To transport the nanotech warheads designed by a weapons company called M.A.R.S. 

Along the way, they get ambushed by a group of soldiers, led by a woman later revealed to be the Baroness, an operative (who actually is a baroness) who means to take the warheads from Duke's battalion.  Explosions abound as she and her soldiers go after the warhead case.  There is only one way that they can lose: Duke, of course.  And guess what?  Duke wins.  Thank goodness for plot armor. 

This attack throws Duke and Rip, the only survivors of the attack on their battalion, into the world of G.I. Joe, a top secret organization made up of the very best soldiers and operatives from around the world.  And guess what?  They asked Duke to join them a while back, only he doesn't remember it.

For the sake of not spoiling the movie, the plot stops here.  Overall, I give it five stars out of five.  The acting is good - Christopher Eccleston (who some may know the Ninth Doctor on Doctor Who) plays McCullen brilliantly, and Channing Tatum makes Duke engaging and does a brilliant job making the character seem very layered, among others.  The rest of the cast played their characters nicely, but Eccleston and Tatum jumped out at me more than the others did.  Some of the romance was a bit cheesy (okay, Scarlet and Rip is VERY cheesy and a bit cliche) but the action more than makes up for it.

All in all, a great movie.  It's very balanced, and the best part is...there's at least one more (possibly up to three from what I've been told) to come.