Believe it or not it’s been 8 years since we last saw a G.I. JOE film hit the big screen. A lot has happened in that time and as successful as the films were it makes you wonder why it took so long. Thankfully the wait was worth it since SNAKE EYES: G.I. JOE ORIGINS is as good a movie as the previous two outings.
This movie does give us the story of how the character of Snake Eyes came to be. It opens with a man and his son in hiding in a remote cabin. Apparently they haven’t hidden well enough and the bad guys show up. Hiding his son in the closet the man is offered a chance for his life with a throw of the dice. They come up snake eyes and he is killed. His son escapes and waits until the bad guys leave before watching the cabin burn in flames.
Years later the boy has grown and begun duking it out in underground fights calling himself Snake Eyes (Henry Golding). He wins enough that no one bets on him and moves on to another territory. At this most recent location he is approached by Kenta Takamura (Takehiro Hira), a Yakuza boss who offers him the chance to kill the man responsible for his father’s death if he will come work for him.
Snake Eyes takes him up on the offer and soon finds himself butchering large fish and replacing their insides with sealed weapons. His supervisor is Tomisaburo “Tommy” Arashikage (Andrew Koji). Called to a meeting by Kenta, Snake’s loyalty is tested when Kenta asks him to kill a traitor in their midst, Tommy. He refuses to comply and the pair are set upon by Kenta’s men in a wonderful display of action and martial arts.
Kenta escapes as do Tommy and Snake. During the battle Snake saves Tommy’s life. Afterward he learns that Tommy is actually Kenta’s cousin and next in line to be the head of the Arashikage clan, a ninja order who for centuries have fought evil and preserved order. Tommy takes him home where he meets the head of the clan, Tommy’s grandmother Sen (Eri Ishida). There in thanks for him saving his life, he seeks approval for Snake to join the clan.
Sen agrees with this decision and informs Snake that he will undergo three tests. To pass and become one of the clan he must pass all three. To fail means death. Snake agrees, unaware of what these tests are. At the same time Akiko (Haruka Abe) doesn’t trust Snake and disagrees with the decision.
The weapons that Kenta was trying to ship to Japan were to be used to take down the clan. Kenta seeks the most powerful weapon known to man, “the Jewel of the Sun”, protected since the beginnings of the clan. Aiding him in this battle is a sinister group known as Cobra. They have sent in one of their own to oversee things, the Baroness (Ursula Corbero). But the clan has allies of their own and they’re sending in Major O’Hara otherwise known as Scarlett (Samara Weaving).
Betrayal and trusts are tested. Double crosses take place among the good guys and the bad. A fight for what is right is carried out from start to finish. And in the end of this origin tale we discover the new look Snake will take on as well as who his arch enemy, Storm Shadow, is.
The film offers fans exactly what they came for. Plenty of high octane action and adventure with a huge heap of martial arts expertise tossed into the mix. Swords clang, guns fire and explosions roar. This is a pure popcorn flick that will satisfy the most ardent fan of both the action film and G.I. Joe.
Golding takes to the role like a fish to water, making the character of Snake Eyes come alive. This is not the Snake we see later in time in the previous films, this is the character coming to life. Had Golding failed to make the character believable all else wouldn’t have mattered. He does a fantastic job here as does the entire cast.
Visually the film is amazing with stunt choreography that moves with blinding speed and sets that dazzle the eye. This is a comic book brought to life and that was where the G.I. Joe franchise found its beginnings.
After the film finished I found myself hoping that they continue making these films giving us the start of the various Joes and bringing them together in the process. The movie is entertaining and mostly a lot of fun with enough story to keep the most jaded viewer interested. It makes a nice tie in with the previous films and one that will end up on my shelf.
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