On August 7, 2009 a wild and wooly film called G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra was released with an all-star cast that surprised everyone with a box-office take of over $302.5 million worldwide during its run. Considering their competition for that year was high energy and magical including Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Avatar, Star Trek, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, it was one amazing feat. 4 years later in May of 2013 Paramount released the sequel called G.I. Joe: Retaliation and did it again amassing over $375.7 as the box-office worldwide against the competition that included action films Iron Man 3, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Gravity, Fast & Furious 6, Thor: The Dark World The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and Star Trek Into Darkness. Again an amazing task up against the giants of the industry.
Bringing everything up to speed on their films, they have released the two separately in the 4K Ultra HD format. High quality picture and sound really make the films jump off the screen even without 3D. Since the films are ultra-action with so many special effects from battle suits that look like they are made of impenetrable material, to futuristic armaments that blast through walls and anything in their way. If you haven’t ever seen G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and its sequel Retaliation on the big screen, this duo is really exciting in 4K or even just their newly mastered Blu-ray that’s included.
The Rise of Cobra starts out with a flash back to the days of old when knights were bold and the King was as defiant with his people as the enemy. Flash forward and we are invited to a seminar showing new warheads that use Nano technology to destroy anything that’s targeted. With a quick introduction to our hero’s G.I. Joe soldiers Duke (Channing Tatum), Ripcord (Marlon Wayans), Heavy Duty (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), The Doctor (Joseph Gordon Levett), Snake Eyes (Ray Park) and Scarlett (Rachel Nichols) the film digs deeper into the plot under the guidance of General Hawk (Dennis Quaid).
The continuation of their fight against Cobra, Retaliation finds the team fighting when the leader of Pakistan gets assassinated. Thrown into a battle to intercept warheads, things don’t work out for the best as the toll is high loosing their top fighters in an unexpected attack. Taking over the leadership of the Joes who find themselves on the run, include Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson) Lady Jaye (Adrianne Palicki), and Flint (D.J. Cotrona). Roadblock solicits the help of General Joe Colton (Bruce Willis) when they get intel that the President of the USA is working against them. Although this episode lacks some sizzle due to the elimination of star power, it still has all the special effects and non-stop battles.
The two films move along at a fast pace providing exciting adventure packed with relentless clashes and explosive fighting. Included on the two disc sets are the following extras.
Special Features:
THE RISE OF COBRA
4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
“Feature film in 4K Ultra HD:
“Commentary” by director Stephen Sommers and producer Bob Ducsay
Blu-ray
“Feature film in HD”
“Commentary” by director Stephen Sommers and producer Bob Ducsay
RETALIATION
4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
“Feature film in 4K Ultra HD”
“Commentary” by director Jon M. Chu and producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura
Blu-ray
“Feature film in HD”
“Commentary” by director Jon M. Chu and producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura
“G.I. JOE: Declassified” includes features; Mission Briefing, Deployment, Two Ninjas, The Desert Attack, COBRA Strikes, The Lone Soldiers, The Monastery, and Fort Sumter.
“Deleted Scenes”
Both films have been rated PG-13 by the MPAA and include strong sequences of action violence, some language and mayhem throughout. Action adventure fans and gamers at the main target audiences for the films.
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com
