Starring: Channing Tatum, Sienna Miller, Dennis Quaid, Joseph Gordon-Levitt,
Director: Stephen Sommers (The Mummy, Van Helsing)
Running Time: 1 hr 47 min
Release Date: August 7, 2009
Budget: $170 million
Average Critics’ Score: 33%
An “oddly satisfying action extravaganza…” David Hiltbrand, Philadelphia Inquirer
“The only collateral damage is in the audience…” Richard Corliss, Time
Like Transformers, the summer’s other movie based on Hasbro toys, this action-adventure is numbingly loud, chock full of stale dialogue and corny one-liners, stiff acting and in-your-face special effects. Silly ninja fights and excessive explosions distract from the pointless plot about a group of international G.I. Joes that battle an evil weapons dealer to prevent – you guessed it – world destruction. While action movie aficionados will love the nonstop, fast-paced action sequences, the attractive, leather-clad stars and the camera’s loving shots of shiny weapons, G.I. Joe’s lack of story and surplus of clichés make for a lousy late-summer blockbuster that doesn’t compare to earlier this summer’s smart and adventurous Star Trek.
