Well, it is my first movie back at the theaters. And it could not have come with a movie I was more excited for. But I should have stamped down my expectations a bit. And no that does not mean Snake-Eyes is a bad movie. I went in expecting something and that is not what I got but as we should learn you should never go into a movie with expectations of how a story should be told. As Snake-Eyes takes the history of Snake-Eyes and reimagines it. And the final product is not bad.
So first off Snake-Eyes isn’t an Army Ranger like past history has had him depicted. He is an orphan who saw his father killed and swore revenge. And as Henry Golding portrays him, he will do anything to get his revenge. And I mean anything. As he meets with Andrew Koji who plays Thomas Arashikage the next in succession to lead a secret ninja clan that protects the world from threats. But Sanke-Eyes is shown to only be infiltrating the clan at the behest of Tommy’s cousin Kenta, played by Takehiro Hira. Every step of the way Snake-Eyes must pass the challenges put before him while battling his own demons of how far he will go and how much of himself will he sacrifice to reach his goal.
The movie does an admirable job of setting up a potential G.I. Joe franchise by introducing characters Scarlett, played by Samara Weaving and Baroness played by Úrsula Corberó. And establishing that Cobra and the Joes are in operation already. What needs to be kept in mind is that this is not the bad ass ninja/long range recon commando that we may be familiar with. This is the origin story for the character, and he is a far cry from the established history. But like I said throw out that history because I believe they have secured a good foundation to build that character on. Golding does shine in this role and I genuinely enjoyed his portrayal of this very conflicted character. We could not have gotten this level of setup if we had gone with our mute scared face commando ninja. Andrew Koji however could have probably carried the two had they gone that route because he’s shown to be capable and deadly but sadly when the rubber hits the road and it’s time to do things it’s inconsistent. Haruke Abe who plays Akiko is sadly forgettable. She never really gets a chance to shine in this movie and that feels like a wasted opportunity. Overall, this all come together and gives us a good movie but the ending turns things complete 180 and it’s not a smooth transition. It’s just a thing that needs to happen but we literally have it happen so fast it leaves you confused on why it happened even though the most of us versed on history ask why and those that are not may see it as an unnecessary action.
I give Snake-Eyes and 7 out of 10. There will be mixed opinions on this I’m sure but overall I liked it and some of that shine could be just from getting back to watching a movie in theaters. A sequel is already in development.
Jason The X