This weekend I went to see Snake Eyes, an origin story in the G.I Joe series. This movie focuses on the film’s namesake, Snake Eyes. While I don’t have any strong affinity for the G.I Joe series, it looked like it would deliver some exciting fight sequences, and I’m part of the AMC Stubs reward program so there was no real risk! My first mistake was not getting popcorn. While I heard my fellow attendees munching on their delicious salty snacks, I turned my attention to the story.
So, the story wasn’t super great. I won’t be spoiling anything as it’s a totally brand-new film but I understand that’s not why you solely watch an action film, so I put that aside and was eager to see some fighting. While there were several hand-to-hand combat scenes, there were a lot of quick editing cuts. So as soon as you got your bearings, your perspective would be placed into a blender. This is especially true when our hero, or heroes, were fighting multiple people at once.
The film didn’t want to show too wide of a scene because the henchmen were very clearly “waiting around” to attack until their designated time, so our hero still looks like a badass. This is a hard trope to overcome because logically a handful of people do not stand a chance against 20+ opponents. Showing too much of a scene can lead to ruining the illusion. See this TikTok for example that breaks down The Last Jedi’s throne room scene (which I still find enjoyable to watch). That applies to most of the action scenes in the movie and the others were just a bit lackluster, without an “aw” factor.
I guess what I’m trying to say is, a mediocre, semi-confusing story, paired with predictable fight sequences left me checking my watch a few times during the movie. However, I did see an exceptional movie this weekend, so part 2 of the blog today is coming and I’ll just leave you with this question – who knew bowling could be so much fun?
– Katrina Rotondo
Katrina Rotondo 