SNAKE EYES

Yet again we have another origin story in our hands to talk about. The last time we saw an entry into the G.I. Joe franchise was in 2013 with G.I. Joe: Retaliation. It's 2021 and we have Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins. It's been over six years since the last movie and going into this movie I was asking the question if this was a revival for the franchise or a prequel that should have been released a long time ago. Well, let's delve into what Snake Eyes is about and see if these questions were answered by the time the credits rolled.

Snake Eyes tells the origin story of one of the iconic Joes from the other movies, Snake Eyes. The plot follows the a young orphaned boy who witnessed the murder of his father in the hands of a mysterious man. Years after this tragic occurrence, the orphaned boy has grown into a martial art fighter that is out on a journey to avenge his father by doing almost anything to get to the mysterious man. He is eventually recruited by a Yakuza boss who offers him the deal deliver the mysterious man to him in exchange for a rare artifact that he has to obtain by infiltrating the Arashikage clan. 

This movie is two hours long movie with a simple and linear storytelling. The character Snake Eyes is given a fresh origin story in this movie and this is a departure from the older movies where Snake Eyes is played by a Western actor. In this version of Snake Eyes, the character is given an Asian origin and played by an Asian actor. The plot and setting also revolve mostly around Asian characters and settings. Now whether to call this movie a soft reboot of the franchise it's unclear unless one does a deeper dive to find out more but if another G.I. Joe movies is going to be released after this one. It's highly likely going to be a new era for the franchise with new faces and recasting as we have seen with this origin story. 

Talking about the casts. The cast lineup of this movies has some interesting actors and actresses that which caught my attention and I'm sure you guys will be familiar with. Henry Golding plays Snake Eyes. Remember him? The dude from 2018's Crazy Rich Asian. Andrew Koji plays Tommy (Storm Shadow). I was really pumped to see him in this movie. Anybody following the series Warrior will know why I was really hyped to see him. Other familiar faces in the cast list are Iko Uwais as Hard Master and Peter Mensah as Blind Master. Samara Weaving as Scarlett. Ursula Corbero as Baronness(you might know her as Tokyo from Money Heist tv series).

Not to sound like a broken record and being fully aware that this movie is PG13. It was kind of weird watching the fight scenes without blood being splattered around in this movie. I just felt like something was missing while watching and I discovered this was it. I mean it's an origin story for a super ninja, so there is a lot of well choreographed hand to hand combat and sword fight scene with a lot flare and flashy moves. To make the movies more family friendly in a way the element of blood was taken away from its visual effects. I still imagine what those cool fight scenes would have looked like with blood effects on screen. Nonetheless, I don't think this should take away much from your experience of the movie.

Finally, Snake Eyes is an enjoyable movie, if you haven't seen it yet definitely go check it out. I'm also interested what they do with the franchise in this new decade. Hopefully, we'll see a good titular revival with this one.