G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

An evil Asian, a tough black guy, a black guy spewing catchphrases, a Bond-esque villain, his fuckable assistant, a charismatic general, and ninety-four other reasons, with one added on top, not to like contemporary Hollywood. This film is the perfect storehouse of ammunition and weaponry for its opponents. Looking around, I fully understand why so many spectators were banging their heads against the seats in front of them. But... to expect anything witty from Sommers is a mockery of one’s own common sense, and I succumbed to the film from the first seconds. When, after half an hour, the action that another director would have saved for the ending - and I felt happy when 1 (in words: one) Eiffel Tower is saved and half of it is demolished (mathematically: ½) of Prague - I wondered if there was such a thing as creative judgment and common sense. And yet it was still not over. Star Wars! The craziest, most unbelievable, and most entertaining high-budget dementia that contemporary cinema has to offer. My head hurts, it really does. (2009-08-14)

Exactly as expected. I wouldn't bother with a one-star-rating essay about how bollocks it is, even a small child knows it's bollocks. So I don't see a reason not to fully enjoy it knowingly. The action is unprecedented and cleverly filmed , with well-executed various technical gimmicks and other trifles. The acceleration suits are really cool. Above all, please don't look for something that isn't there, get some quality speakers, a big-screen TV, and let's go. (2009-11-29)

Action Man dolls fighting. It’s stupid, unbelievable, illogical and also really entertaining. Sommers may not be as good at action sequences as Bay, but still your eyes will be out on stalks: during the Star Wars battle under the sea, during the chase through Dejvice [a district of Prague] (excuse me, through Paris), during the duel with samurai swords, during the totally dumb lines that the Czech dubbing improved in translation. Quaid is cool, Tatum a chump and Arnold Vosloo a nice guy. It’s no surprise, having watched the trailers, that Rachel Nicols and Sienna Miller cause much drooling. And even Fantomas makes an appearance. Don’t take G.I. Joe at all seriously, it’s just an expensive commercial for toys. What the?! (2009-08-13)

The find of the year for those who love “so bad that it’s genius" bullshit. A movie where the list of all mistakes and illogicalities takes up more room than the entire screenplay. And the heavy-duty guilty pleasure is enhanced by the absolutely crazy Czech dubbing. A universe where ninety-nine percent of twenty equals nineteen, where we find the Silver Surfer (in fact two of them) prancing around, where people can eject from airplanes only by speaking Celtic, where little bastards a racing around under the ice cap and where the precise time and place of incidence is determined according to height a darkness of shadow... Well, who wouldn’t love a work of art like that? Not to speak of soap opera relationships that would have blind Esmeralda’s eyeballs drop out of their sockets. And if they had added the line “Duke, I am your father!", then I would have awarded this a full five stars. P.S.: And the not so hidden Pilsner Urquell product placement was also nice to see. (2009-08-06)

I watched it in 3 hours or so with all "stop" and "play". So I wasn't that bored. Still, I was tempted to fast-forward some of the fight scenes. Unnecessarily long running time, I'm sure it could have been done better in 80 minutes. It's very nice that they all knew each other, had a tragic past, and something in common. Such bullshit. It's watchable, but you better not turn your brain on. So if you want to turn it off, and turn it off hard, put this on. (2009-10-17)