Disappointing
Summary
Snake Eyes is a major letdown with barely coherent fight scenes and a forgettable story; the potential was there and the cast do their best but this could have been so much better.
Plot: An ancient Japanese clan called the Arashikage welcomes tenacious loner Snake Eyes after he saves the life of their heir apparent. Upon arrival in Japan, the Arashikage teach him the ways of the ninja warrior while also providing him something he’s been longing for: a home. However, when secrets from Snake Eyes’ past are revealed, his honor and allegiance get tested — even if that means losing the trust of those closest to him.
Review: So, just to clarify I didn’t grow up with G.I. Joe; I never watched the cartoon or read the comics. However, I did see the previous two films. To me. The Rise of Cobra was a lot of fun with a cast that for the most part surprised me, while Retaliation was incredibly dull which wasted Dwayne Johnson and had an incredibly bored Bruce Willis.
Now, onto this which I felt was the definition of disappointing; this is a prime example of a film that had a lot of potential and plenty of style but is squandered by some questionable decisions.
First, I’ll get to the positives which are some of the cast are solid in this; in particular our lead Henry Golding who is believable in the role, Andrew Koji who is clearly the standout as Storm Shadow, and Haruka Abe. The finale has some moments that are quite memorable, but that’s it.
Now on to the negatives; most if not all the action is ruined by horrendous camerawork or bad editing which lets down what looks like some great choreography which we could be seeing, but somehow the filmmakers didn’t even bother to show that. I just don’t understand why they feel the need to do that, it’s just incredibly frustrating.
The story is rather weak and I felt there were some instances where there could be something interesting, but unfortunately is weighed down its pacing.
The direction is very lackluster especially with regards to the action which surprised me as this is the director of Red so I expected more.
Overall, Snake Eyes was a letdown that’s only carried by some of the cast, and not much else; there is too much shaky cam which ruins the action scenes so keep your expectations low.
