G.I. Joe: The Rise of CobraMovie Reviews

Poster Art for "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra."

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Avg. Critic Score: 32 out of 100 Generally unfavorable reviews Metascore^® based on all critic reviews

Information for Parents:

Iffy for 13+

Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

70

Washington Post |
The loudest, flashiest, silliest and longest blockbuster in a summer full of long, silly, flashy, loud blockbusters (long and silly "Transformers," flashy and loud "Wolverine"). Read full review
70

Variety |
While thesping is not the main game here, having a cast of bright young things certainly helps, and Quaid gets in a few nice John Wayne-like moments as the no-nonsense boss. Read full review
63

Boston Globe | Ty Burr
A loud but proficient slab of explode-o-rama summer blockbuster nonsense, perfectly entertaining if you like that sort of thing, extremely skippable if you don't. Read full review
60

Los Angeles Times |
The action is mostly brisk and bracing and the battleground, particularly Cobra's headquarters -- a vast network of tunnels under the polar ice cap -- are wonderfully imagined, as are the futuristic machines at the Joes' disposal. Basically, the Joes are not bad, it's just that they could have been much better with a little less conversation, a little more action. Read full review
50

San Francisco Chronicle | Peter Hartlaub
It's hard to deny that the first two-thirds of G.I. Joe is an enjoyable film, especially when graded on the curve of lowered expectations. Compared to other big-budget movies out this summer, it's pretty mediocre. Read full review
38

Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert
Certainly better than "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen." How so? Admittedly, it doesn't have as much cleavage. But the high-tech hardware is more fun to look at than the transforming robots, the plot is as preposterous, and although the noise is just as loud, it's more the deep bass rumbles of explosions than the ear-piercing bang of steel robots pounding on each other. Read full review
30

The Hollywood Reporter | Frank Scheck
After nearly two hours of nonstop mayhem, the film ends on a surprisingly muted note, though pains have been taken to make sure that the hoped-for sequel has been carefully set up. Read full review
25

Entertainment Weekly |
Don't go expecting an escapist night at the movies; go expecting to be cudgeled into numb, drooling submission. Read full review
12

Rolling Stone | Peter Travers
I don't know what to say about the acting, writing and directing in G.I. Joe because I couldn't find any. Read full review
10

The New York Times | Manohla Dargis
This pricey, juiceless pulp could never have been killed by critics, simply because it was already dead. Read full review

Metacritic link View more reviews for G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra on Metacritic

Information for Parents

Common Sense Media says Iffy for 13+ Too violent for kids, too childish for grown-ups.

What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this relentless action adventure inspired by the '80s cartoon/toy line is filled with extreme (albeit minimally bloody/gory) violence. Kids will want to see it because they're the ones who play with the toys, but there's no end to the parade of characters who are slashed, stabbed, shot, or dispatched invarious other ways (it's important to note that, unlike in the similarly inspired Transformers movies, most of the victims here are people, not machines). There's also a lot of potentially scary medical imagery -- needles, scalpels, painful-looking procedures, and more -- and some intermittent strong language (including "s--t"). And Hasbro, the company that makes G.I. Joe toys, co-produced the movie -- meaning that the story doesn't contain product placement so much as the product placement contains a story.

Families can talk about the movie's violence. Despite dozens of on-screen deaths, the movie earned a PG-13 rating -- do you think that's accurate? Do bloodless deaths have less impact than gorier ones?
It's also worth talking about the consumerism side of things. What do kids make of the fact that this is a moviebased on a line of toys? Is the movie's goal to sell more toys? If not, what is it?
Why do you think the movie takes a fantasy-oriented approach to bothviolence and terrorism? Does it make those issues any less scary?

The good stuff

Positive messages: Although the movie theoretically promotes the concept of international cooperation to defeat threats, any true positive takeaway is neutralized by the movie's total divorce from reality and non-stop violent mayhem.
Positive role models: Duke and the other G.I. Joes are depicted as hard-fighting-yet-sensitive warriors who are focused on their mission and protecting each other. Their Cobra enemies are painted as wholly villainous (no complex bad guys here!).

What to watch for

Violence: Constant extreme -- though generally bloodless -- action violence. A man has a white-hot metal mask affixed to his face. Characters are shot, decapitated, and stabbed and slashed with swords and throwing stars. Characters fight both hand-to-hand and with firearms, and there are intense martial arts sequences. People fall from great heights. Planes, ships, and other vehicles fire on each other with a plethora of weapons and missiles. Lots of general mayhem and destruction. In flashback, children engage in brutal violence involving frying pans, flames, martial arts weapons, and more. A child murders a teacher -- it's off-screen, but the body is seen. Surgical imagery.
Sex: Some kissing, cleavage, and discussion of "touching."
Language: Some moderate strong language, including "s--t," "bastards," "piss," "a--holes," "damn," "hell," "bitch," "crap," "goddamn," "oh my God," and more.
Consumerism: The film is based on a cartoon series that itself was based on a toy line (and the movie was actually co-produced by Hasbro, which makes those toys), so you could argue that the whole thing is an exercise in product placement. Other brands visible or mentioned include Hummer, Mercedes-Benz, Double Bubble, and Cisco.
Drinking, drugs and smoking: A super-soldier serum lets people "feel no pain" and has implied adddictive and narcotic effects.

Common Sense Media An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.