G.I. Joe: Retaliation - oh Flint!

 

the Plot:



Duke (Channing Tatum) becomes the leader of the G.I. Joe unit, which is framed for stealing nuclear warheads from Pakistan by Zartan (Arnold Vosloo), who is impersonating the President of the United States (Jonathan Pryce).
 

The majority of the unit is subsequently eliminated in a military air strike with Duke among the casualties.

love the visor, Girl!

The only survivors are Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson), Flint (D.J. Cotrona) and Lady Jaye (Adrianne Palicki).

fearsome much?

Meanwhile, Storm Shadow (Byung-hun Lee) and ex-Joe Firefly (Ray Stevenson) rescue Cobra Commander (Luke Bracey) from an underground maximum-security prison in Germany, who in turn abandons Destro.

 

Storm Shadow is injured during the escape and retreats to a temple in the Himalayas to recover. Upon learning that he is alive, the Blind Master (RZA), leader of the Arashikage Clan, sends Snake Eyes (Ray Park) and his apprentice Jinx (Elodie Yung), Storm Shadow's cousin, to capture Storm Shadow so he can answer for the murder of his uncle the Hard Master, and help unravel the Cobras' plans.



Roadblock, Flint, and Lady Jaye return to the United States where they set up a base of operations in a rundown gym.

 
After Zartan announces that Cobra will replace the Joes as America's main protective unit, Lady Jaye deduces that someone is impersonating the President, and Roadblock leads them to General Joseph Colton (Bruce Willis), who provides them with weapons and rallies the old Joes to help the mission.


 


The 3 Joes later infiltrate a fundraising event that the President will be attending. Lady Jaye steals a sample of the President's DNA and confirms that he is Zartan. They escape after a brief confrontation with Firefly and Zandar (Matt Gerald), the head of the Presidential Detail and a member of Cobra.



Snake Eyes and Jinx locate and capture Storm Shadow after a battle with ninjas and take him back to Japan, where during questioning by the Blind Master, it is revealed that Storm Shadow was innocent of killing the Hard Master and in fact it was Zartan who murdered him and gained most as Storm Shadow joined Cobra to avenge those he thought believed him guilty. Storm Shadow then accompanies Snake Eyes and Jinx as they join the Joes' efforts to stop Cobra.



Zartan invites the world leaders to a summit, where he blackmails them into disabling their nuclear arsenals, and reveals that he has created Project Zeus: seven orbital kinetic bombardment weapons of mass destruction at his command. He destroys central London to prove his superiority, and threatens to destroy other capitals if the countries don't submit to Cobra. Storm Shadow betrays Cobra Commander and kills Zartan, revealing Cobra's deception to the world leaders. While Snake Eyes, Jinx, and Flint fight Cobra's soldiers, Cobra Commander activates the remaining six weapons and instructs Firefly to protect the launch device. Firefly is killed in combat by Roadblock, who deactivates and destroys the orbital weapons. Meanwhile, Colton and Lady Jaye rescue the President.



Cobra Commander escapes during the battle and Storm Shadow disappears after killing Zartan.

The real President addresses the nation at a ceremony where Roadblock, Lady Jaye, Flint, Jinx, and Snake Eyes are commemorated as heroes. Colton salutes each of them, and presents Roadblock with an M1911 pistol that belonged to General George S. Patton, to use when he finally finds Cobra Commander and to avenge Duke. Roadblock proudly raises the weapon and lets out a single shot in honor of his fallen comrades.

the Review:
i downloaded this movie long ago and didn't give it much thought until last weekend. and i fell in love with Flint. he was understated, like a boy in need of a lady ruffling his hair somewhat. i read the back story on him and i guess no wonder there was that awkwardness between him and Lady Jaye. i mean, he was respectful but being a guy, oh well, can't resist a peek. i mean, that undie is INDEED something :grins:



Duke is dead. does that make Joes worth watching? i mean, left with only 4 Joes (not including recently added Jinx and former Joes though), perhaps in the upcoming sequel, we'll get to see them regroup. Ripcord, Scarlett and General Hawk, to name a few is conspicuously missing. not that i'm saying Roadblock, Flint and Lady Jaye are not entertaining, it's just that it gets lonely, that GI Joes enthusiasts shall be feeling something's missing.

i guess that what's made critics panning this movie down. but it has performed well in the box office.

in a way, i guess the plot in this movie is too simplistic. a bit toned down as compared to the first movie, full of action and all that. though i do appreciate more scenes given to storm Shadow. BHL is superb!

being a nitpick auntie, i wonder why didn't Cobras put the remaining Joes on surveillance? i mean, those 3 are literally everywhere. now that POTUS declared them criminals, perpetrator of war and all that, why didn't they got pick up? it's not they are wearing disguises or anything. i mean, Roadblock would be hard enough to be missed, right?

this hulk of a person wouldn't be hard to spot. really.

plus, the security detail at the summit is laughable. it made the lives of the world leaders so cheap, don't you think? this is a Nuclear Summit kot. plus, it seems a lot easier to jack off one's nuclear missiles and a mere button to cancel it out. for real? man, we should be afraid, real afraid. and the evacuation details of dem world leaders are so laughable as much as there are non-existent. no Pakistani, North Korean leaders would ever agree into coming on the US soil given this rather shoddy security detail, i tell you. not in million years.

i was also wondering why on earth they spent that much money, space, technology and effort into keeping Commander Cobra, Destro and the criminals alive? why not just give them a bullet and let the world be much safer? why drill into the earth and make them suffer just by looking at a pair of swords? stupid! waste of people's money, this.

anyway, Lady Jaye serves well as the only gal on the team. with a RIDONKULOUS body, i think she must be fearsome enough to escape unruly attention. plus, there is that Patton's chauvinistic treatment of her. melampau sih.

me = ENVY

oh well, i love this movie for Flint. DJC may not acted in many films or tv shows  but as Flint, he scores.

yummeyh from the very beginning :)

can't wait for the next movie. :doublegrins:

the Mummy: BF's machismo and RW's sweet gumption :)

the Poster:

the Trailer:



the Plot:
In Egypt, 1290 BC, high priest Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo) engages in an affair with Anck-su-Namun (Patricia Velasquez), the mistress of Pharaoh Seti I (Aharon Ipale).

When the Pharaoh discovers their tryst, Imhotep and Anck-su-Namun murder the monarch. Imhotep flees with his fellow Egyptian priests. Seti's guards, the Medjai then enter the room, to see only Ankh-sun-Amun and the dead pharaoh. Anck-su-Namun then kills herself, intending for Imhotep to resurrect her.

After Anck-su-Namun's burial, Imhotep breaks into her crypt and steals her corpse. He and his priests flee across the desert to Hamunaptra, the city of the dead, where they begin the resurrection ceremony. However, they are caught by Seti's guards before the ritual can be completed, and Anck-su-Namun's soul is sent back to the Underworld. For their sacrilege, Imhotep's priests are mummified alive, and Imhotep himself is forced to endure the curse of Hom Dai: his tongue is cut out, and he is buried alive with flesh-eating scarabs.

The ritual forces Imhotep to endure the agony of his wounds for all eternity. He is buried under high security, sealed away in a sarcophagus below a statue of the Egyptian god Anubis, and kept under strict surveillance by several generations of Medjai, for if Imhotep is ever released, the powers that made him immortal will allow him to unleash a wave of destruction and death upon the Earth.

In 1926, Cairo librarian and aspiring Egyptologist Evelyn Carnahan (Rachel Weisz) is presented with an intricate box and map by her bumbling older brother Jonathan (John Hannah), who says he found it in Thebes.

After the pair discover the map leads to Hamunaptra, Jonathan reveals he actually stole it from an American named Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser), who is currently in prison.

Rick tells them that he knows the location of the city because his unit of the French Foreign Legion reached the fabled city, only to be overrun by hostile Bedouins three years ago. He makes a deal with Evelyn to reveal the location of Hamunaptra, in exchange for Evelyn saving Rick from being hanged. And Evelyn closed that deal by promising the jail warden (Omid Djalili) 25% of the treasure worth, rumored to be kept at Hamanuptra.

Rick leads Evelyn and Jonathan's small expedition to the city, where the group encounters a band of American treasure hunters, Burns (Tuc Watkins), Daniels (Corey Johnson) and Henderson (Stephen Dunham), led by the famed British Egyptologist Dr. Allen Chamberlain (Jonathan Hyde) and guided by Beni Gabor (Kevin J. O'Connor), a cowardly former Legion soldier and former comrade of Rick, who had hidden himself in Hamunaptra during the Bedouins' attack.

Shortly after reaching Hamunaptra, both groups are attacked by the Medjai, led by a warrior named Ardeth Bay (Oded Fehr). Ardeth warns them of the evil buried in the city, but rather than heed his warning, the two expeditions continue to excavate in separate portions of the city.

Evelyn is looking for the Book of Amun-Ra, a solid gold book supposedly capable of taking life away, but unexpectedly comes across the remains of Imhotep instead.

The team of Americans, meanwhile, discover a box containing the black Book of the Dead, accompanied by canopic jars carrying Anck-su-Namun's preserved organs; Chamberlain takes the Book of the Dead while each of the Americans takes a jar as loot. Before opening the box, Chamberlain reads an engraving saying that any and all who open the box are cursed to mutilation of their flesh if Imhotep is awakened. The men ignore the warnings, but Beni refuses to assist them, and flees.

At night, Evelyn takes the Book of the Dead from the sleeping Chamberlain and reads a page aloud, accidentally awakening Imhotep.

The priest's resurrection awakens the camp and they search the pyramid for the cause of commotion.

Burns is found by Imhotep and his eyes and tongue are taken from him for Imhotep's use.

Although both groups return to Cairo, Imhotep eventually finds them with help from Beni, who bargained with Imhotep in exchange for fortune and his life. Imhotep finishes absorbing Burns and eventually absorbs Chamberlain and Henderson.

Rick, Evelyn, Jonathan, and Daniels head to the museum in search of clues to put Imhotep back to rest, only to find Ardeth speaking with the curator, Terrance Bey, who is also a Medjai. After Evelyn reveals that Imhotep referred to her as Anck-su-Namun at the pyramid, Ardeth and Terrance hypothesize that Imhotep is indeed seeking to resurrect his love once more and has chosen his sacrifice: Evelyn. Evelyn hypothesises that if the Book of the Dead brought Imhotep back to life, the Book of Amun-Ra can kill the high priest once again.

Shortly after discovering the location of the Book, Imhotep, now with an army of brainwashed slaves, corners the group, in the process absorbing Daniels and fully restoring his power. Evelyn agrees to accompany Imhotep if he spares the lives of the rest of the group. Rick reluctantly agrees to do so, only for Imhotep to go back on his word and order his slaves to kill them. Luckily, Ardeth discovers an entrance to the sewers and they escape. Terrance stays behind to hold off the horde of slaves to allow the rest to escape at the cost of his own life.

Imhotep, with Evelyn and Beni in tow, returns to Hamunaptra, pursued by Rick, Jonathan, and Ardeth.

Evelyn is rescued after an intense battle with Imhotep's mummified priests, and she reads from the Book of Amun-Ra. Imhotep becomes mortal, and Rick stabs him, forcing him into the River of Death. Rapidly decaying, Imhotep leaves the world of the living, vowing revenge with the same words he carved into his sarcophogus, Death is only the beginning. While taking his promised treasure from the pyramid, Beni accidentally sets off an ancient booby trap and is trapped by a swarm of flesh-eating scarabs as Hamunaptra begins to collapse into the sand. The heroes escape, although they lose the book of Amun Ra in the process, and ride off into the sunset on a pair of camels laden with treasure that Beni took earlier on.

the Riviu:
this movie is my cult movie back in the year 1999. the mix of Rick's machismo and Errol Flynnish attitude, Evie's sweet gumption and daring, Jonathan's comic timing and sheer good luck was the recipe that moves this movie into fan's heart.

Imhotep, the villain was antagonistic enough and though the legend of his power once resurrected was rumored to cause 10 plagues on Egypt, i was like disappointed to see that the plagues were quite limited. for example it is said that his power shall cover the whole Egypt into total darkness, still, the scene at the desert was done during a bright sunny day. and to think that his power only extends (or rather contained) to Egypt only, well, these people should just move out of Egypt. Settle masalah kan?

i much prefer the sequel "the Mummy Returns". that one is pure genius despite the CGI-ish look of the Scorpion King. but then, that's just me :)

4 star for this film, just because i love the chemistry shared by Rick, Evie and Jonathan. these 3 guys win my vote anytime of the day (^^,)v