Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins Misses Its Target - Gizmodo

Joe Origins, the film’s hero, Snake Eyes (Henry Golding) is forced to fight 15-20 adversaries at once—and, against all odds, he triumphs.

Once is character-building and exciting, by the fourth or fifth battle, it loses almost all of its power—of course Snake Eyes will make it out of another lopsided fight.

After a brief, crucial flashback to start the film, Snake Eyes picks up in modern-day Los Angeles where the title character is being recruited into the Yakuza.

Snake Eyes has no family, so Tommy invites him to go to Japan and become part of his group.

That relationship between Snake Eyes and Tommy is the best thing about the film.

It’s a complex dynamic that’s fueled further by Akiko (Haruka Abe), head of security for the Arashikage, who doesn’t trust Snake as much as Tommy does.

It’s a jarring shift that creates an unsettling imbalance in the film’s themes of family and trust.

The main way Snake Eyes attempts to develop themes is with action set pieces, which is expected (this is a G.I. Joe movie after all).

Joe Origins that we haven’t seen before in some way; from the muted colors at the Arashikage base to the neon lights of downtown Tokyo, and the action scenes filled with anonymous bad guys in motorcycle helmets, it all feels very safe and familiar.

Golding and Koji both do everything they can to raise the bar on the script and action scenes putting as much nuance and intensity in their performances as possible.

Snake Eyes: G.I Joe Origins isn’t a bad movie, but it’s not a good movie either.

This jackass jumped around yelling clever retorts at Snake Eyes for about 15 minutes before Snake Eyes kicked his ass using the Arashikage Mindset.