effatory Reviews

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero - The M.A.S.S. Device (1983)

The MASS Device was the best

[14 April 2015]

I remember seeing this cartoon mini series as a kid and it has really held up over the years, better than any other cartoon version of GI Joe, although Resolute is pretty good, albeit too short! This mini series really captured the feel of the comic like no other cartoon outing, which I was a big fan of…and it is for that reason that it stands above the other cartoons in the series or the horrible 1987 movie. Destro is just amazing in this…he kicks serious butt. He is a very strong antagonist and the storyline benefits a great deal from this. The animation is top notch, I Iove the fact they took the time to animate the characters blinking. Excellent voice work across the board. I do wish that he original GI joe leader, Hawk, had a role in this, but Duke works as the leader of the team. It would have also been nice if Stalker had more of a commanding presence befitting of his character. Overall this is not to be missed by any Gi Joe fan new or old and is a great introduction into the brand.

G.I. Joe: The Invasion of Cobra Island (2009)

The Invasion of Cobra Island Rocks!

[14 April 2015]

It is beyond me how anyone could trash this short or give it a poor rating. This was obviously made by people who are real fans of GI Joe and extremely knowledgeable about the vast GI Joe Mythos. Loads of attention to detail has gone into the fast paced story and it is much appreciated. There is also quite a lot of technical proficiency being shown, from the camera movements to the actual puppetry, shooting small action figures like these are pretty damn difficult. The talking effects work and the voice work is pretty good overall. I loved the quirky sets, and I think the modern figures blend perfectly with the vintage vehicles. In every way, these are the battles I imagined having if my Action Figures could run around on their own. This was super cool for Paramount to put out and they should do more for the next GI Joe feature.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)

Rise of Cobra High Points - Low Points (Spoilers within)

[14 April 2015]

Well there have been tons of reviews, mostly mixed so I will try to keep mine brief. The Good: They included a nice roster of Joe characters, and that felt pretty balanced. The cobra operatives were also well chosen for this initial movie offering. There are a lot of fast paced action scenes and thankfully you can at least tell what is going on from scene to scene. The Bad: Oh boy, well the look of the film is all wrong….this looked and felt like Sci-Fi and not a Military inspired movie. I don't have an issue with making the team international to a point, but I think I would have kept the team true to its American origins and let the international aspect be filled in by ancillary characters. The character connections: brother, sister, lover whatever seemed really off to me and don't work in the movie at all. The Ugly: The pacing was way too fast, and no time was given to reflect on the situations, sometimes too fast just doesn't work. The origin stories, both Destro's, Cobra's, Duke's and Snake Eyes were just awful. None of them resonated or made me care about the characters. I think a clear mistake was trying to move this story into the future and not keeping in mind that these characters and situations are a product of Reagan's 80's and that if you are going to move it forward to a different time you have to update all elements accordingly. To clarify, create a world where you have jingoism as its heart where the shadow of a cold war and a looming threat of terrorism is constantly lurking in the background….ya know…like the world we live in today….more or less.