Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins

This review may contain spoilers!

 

Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins follows the title character as he navigates a covert battlefield between the Yakuza and an ancient ninja clan. Driven by a desire to avenge the death of his father, Snake Eyes will have to choose between honour and revenge. As an action blockbuster this film triumphs with its stunt choreography, every action sequence looks impressive and intricate. The cinematography complements this quite nicely, opting for a very fluid style of shooting that is only halted to show off impressive still framing.

 

Andrew Koji, who played Tommy, actually has one of the most genuine portrayals of character development in this film; watching Koji present his character being consumed by his own vendetta is a nice contrast to Golding's performance. Iko Uwais, who played Hard Master, is woefully underutilised in this film but nevertheless really stands out; Uwais has this cocky gravitas that makes his Master figure an instant favourite.

However the best performance came from Henry Golding, who played Snake Eyes. As a lead I think Golding did a very good job at portraying his role consistently and in a manner that always kept the plot focused. This take on Snake Eyes is more of a disgruntled loner, a wild fighter who has lived a hard life in search of revenge. Golding convincingly wields this cocky, self-assured attitude that makes his character a believable criminal, at least initially. Yet as we watch Snake Eyes react to and fall short of the world he is steadily opening himself up to, we as an audience get a taste of the wonder this character feels. When Golding shows Snake Eyes embracing the more honourable path he has been taught there is a sense of righteousness that lends itself well to his character's arc.

The entire film was very hard to watch because as a character Snake Eyes just didn't feel much like a protagonist. For almost the entire feature the main role is a henchman working for the antagonist, not torn between two side - working for the bad guy. The scene that ignites the final act, in which Snake Eyes chooses to be a hero is a very quick moment that the film takes too long to really reach. I felt a little lost as an audience member because if I couldn't empathise with the main character then what was the reason to follow his story? The entire film had an embroiled family war between the Yakuza and a ninja clan; though this became less interesting as the film veered away from the history of the two sides and reduced the conflict to a battle for a shiny rock. Snake Eyes wanted very desperately to be another shot at relaunching the G.I. Joe universe for the big screen; but dumping characters like Scarlett or the Baroness into the picture actually ruined the tone of the whole thing. This movie wants to start a franchise but it has barely worked out how to present itself; and it hasn't even achieved that very well. The editing for the feature was crammed with a number of unnecessary shots, while the special effects for the giant snakes looked pretty poor. The score for the film was standard fare for a high octane thriller and it certainly wasn't the music that made the action sequences good.

Haruka Abe, who played Akiko, starts the film out in quite an interesting way but her role devolves to really only prop up the male lead; Abe chasing after Golding's role urging him to be better when she started out as the tough chief of security is disappointing. Takehiro Hira, who played Kenta, is underwhelming as the antagonist for the film; Hira really plays up to the classic monologuing villain with a tendency to grandstand. Eri Ishida, who played Sen, is the classic matronly dojo leader; her dry delivery really betrays no emotion and is very two-dimensional. Peter Mensah, who played Blind Master, is quite similar to Ishida in that he adheres to a stereotypical role; the blind wise teacher is such a played out trope in these films that Mensah became swiftly forgettable. Úrsula Corberó, who played Baroness, is lacking as our introduction to the big Cobra antagonists; this is a role who is here as a cameo and the rest of the feature is treated more as a punchline or comedic presence. Samara Weaving, who played Scarlett, does not mesh well with the cast at all as this tough military type; Weaving enters this film spouting exposition and making for a very boring first introduction to the 'Joes'.

If you can't even make Snake Eyes cool then it's probably time to stop making G.I. Joe films happen. I would give Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins a 3.5/10.