G.I. Joe: Spy Troops (2003)

Truly Dreadful Film

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Hey, remember when you were a kid and you liked something, but as you got older you realized its not as great as you remember? Well this is the situation with me. Wow, this really bad. That's all I gotta say. I mean except for Storm Shadow, all the villains were just silly especially Cobra Commander. Yes, even more ridiculous than the 80s cartoon version. The Joes were okay, except for Beachhead. I mean my God he was horrible. In the original cartoon, Beachhead was a tough as nails soldier who was angered very easily, this version sounds like some surfer dude. Overall what can I say that no one else said. Its just bad a bad incarnation of GI JOE.

While not the best G.I. Joe I've ever seen (As someone who grew up on the original 1980's cartoon to eventually meet some of its original stars.) I was pleasantly surprised by how well it does work. I expected it to focus entirely on Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow as too much of Joe has focused on martial arts and ninjas over recent years. Thankfully, that's shelved as a small part of this movie. They wisely brought back onboard one of the men integral to 1980's G.I. Joe history as the writer. Larry Hama, writer of about 90% of the original Marvel G.I. Joe series, as well as having input on both the toy file cards and into the original cartoon series, brings a lot of the old series back with him. And, while I'd have preferred a more direct old Joe continuation, this new vision of it could have been worse. Hama wisely sticks with one basic element: Cobra's latest world control plot. This time, it's a combination of virtually remote controlled war vehicles and an army of new robot soldiers, updated Battle Android Troopers (B.A.T.s) CGI could have been better, but, I've seen worse. While the voice cast is sans anyone from the original series, it does provide some past links with G.I. Joe cartoon history. A handful of the actors from the 2nd animated series, released by DIC, and some from the G.I. Joe: Extreme abortion are back. Scott McNeil as Destro, though, is the only one who is back as a character he had previously. Other nice touches are peppered throughout for old Joe fans. B.A.T.s were, either positively or negatively, a constant element in the 2nd season of the old show, and in a few scenes, bars of the original G.I. Joe cartoon theme appear. I think you'll find "he'll fight for freedom, wherever there is trouble" in key points. All in all, I've spent a worse of my life before, and, was quite surprised by how well it does turn out. "YOUR CRACKERS, COBRA COMMANDER!"

As a fan of the old series I must say that this is at best a parody of a much beloved series. First the old series would at least attempt to follow some military structure. I know in this P.C. world it is not the thing to do but hey don't turn it into the care bears. In the old series Beachead was a hardspoken soldier, now he is a teenage mutant turtle. Another thing is the flying tank, ok it flies out of the cobra base and bounces off the copter and they are both ok???? Lets face it if the next one is not better this could spell the end of G.I.joe.

Yeah I don't think it was great but I've still watched it more than twice. They came close to capturing the voices (all except Beach-Head) correctly and that was a plus. The story is good for something with kids as it's target, but there really should have been more for old school fans. I've read that the writer, Larry Hama, has never seen an episode of the classic cartoon and if that's true it really explains a lot.All in all I'd say it was good but not the best G.I. Joe story I've ever seen.On a side note...why does Snake Eyes have a listing in the voice cast? He's mute and doesn't make a peep through the whole thing.