4K Blu-ray Review: G.I. Joe 3-Movie Collection

Blu-ray Reviews, News, Reviews, Top Story



The journey to bring G.I. Joe to the big screen was a long one, with plenty of script rewrites, story changes and ultimately in 2009 G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra was the final result. Now, I’m often someone who enjoys a popcorn flick, and I’ll rate movies as such. For instance, I’m actually a big fan of a majority of the Transformers franchise, even though I never watched the cartoons as a kid and have no emotional connection to them outside of those crazy, explosion-ridden Michael Bay flicks. So when I say that G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is absolutely terrible and not worth watching, know that I mean it and I’m not just hating on something that’s meant to be fun.

Now, with that said, four years later they tried again and this time the results were so much better. G.I. Joe: Retaliation is an absolute gem in comparison to The Rise of Cobra, and on its own it’s just a really solid summer blockbuster that still holds up nicely today – especially if you’ve just finished watching its predecessor. Some big changes came in this film, like the removal of Marlon Wayans, whose character Ripcord was there as comedic relief and fit into the silliness that the first film was aiming for. Retaliation is still popcorn fun, but it’s not trying to be ridiculously slapstick silly like The Rise of Cobra foolishly chose to be, or at least came off as. In fact, a good amount of characters who set up the foundation for the sequel don’t return and aren’t even mentioned. You’d think that’d hurt the story in some way but it doesn’t. It actually makes things so much better because you can quickly forget The Rise of Cobra ever existed and just enjoy watching Dwayne Johnson kicking all sorts of ass.

Duke (Channing Tatum) being killed off at the start of Retaliation also helps wipe the slate clean, and building a more believable friendship between Duke and Roadblock (Johnson) in the first ten minutes than Rise did between Duke and Ripcord over the course of the entire films speaks volumes. This well-handled partnership helps pass the torch on to Roadblock to lead the potential franchise forward since Tatum wanted out. Retaliation also doesn’t try and put its own spin on the Joe costumes, which The Rise of Cobra did with outstandingly terrible results.


(Left: The Rise of Cobra and the off-putting Snake-Lips. Right: Retaliation’s much more visually appealing take on Snake Eyes.)


(Left: Once again, The Rise of Cobra bizarre Cobra Commander mask choice. Right: Retaliation’s real-world take on one of Cobra Commander’s classic looks.)

As can be seen from the images above, Retaliation goes with the more classic looks for Snake Eyes and Cobra Commander, and it’s incredibly welcome. The sequel as a whole just has a more realistic feel to it, even though it’s still full of over-the-top action sequences and bullets being fired at our heroes that hit everything but their targets. The story is stronger and there’s more to be invested in this time around as well. New cast members include Adrianne Palicki as Jaye, Ray Stevenson as Firefly and Elodie Yung as Jinx. Ray Park and Lee Byung-hun return as Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow respectively, and both are given more to work with here as well. Oh, and Bruce Willis also has a small part as the original Joe with a few fun scenes sprinkled throughout.

While the sequel was a financial success it didn’t spawn a direct sequel itself and instead the franchise lay dormant until Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origin was released in early 2021. For a deeper look into that 4K release you can check out my review of the Steelbook here. Snake Eyes didn’t fare as well at the box office, as it was released at a time when things still weren’t back to normal (it was also simultaneously released on HBOmax for those who wished to simply stream it from home) so it’s hard to say if the studio will look at the film’s returns and decide on a sequel from there, if they’ll simply go ahead with a sequel and hope that normalcy for audiences going to the theater help boost the numbers, or if they’ll once again start from scratch with the Joe property in a future film. I’m hoping that it’s choice number two, as I believe a Snake Eyes sequel has the potential to be a great movie if handled right, continuing to expand on the Snake Eyes/Storm Shadow mythos in the way it deserves.

For those who are looking to pick up all three films then this bundle is a quick way to do so, though make sure that it’s worthwhile from a pricing perspective, as the bundle itself is just a cardboard cover that holds the three films and it doesn’t add anything more than you’ll get from buying the discs individually. Personally, I think that G.I. Joe: Retaliation and Snake Eyes: Origins are well worth watching and both have solid replay value, while the first disc in the set at least makes for a nice G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra coaster that you can put your drink on as you do.

4K Blu-ray Video and Audio Review

Out of the three films, Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins takes top prize here, which shouldn’t be overly surprising given its newness; however, both G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and G.I. Joe: Retaliation find themselves with a 2160p/Dolby Vision transfer that isn’t anything to write home about. Both look solid in their upgrade, but it’s not an upgrade that’s worth shelling out for if you already own the Blu-ray versions.

The Dolby Vision is the big selling point here, allowing things to pop more than the Joe Blu-ray counterpart, and while I was never blown away by any of the visuals I also wasn’t distracted by any particular aspect of them either. So if that’s good enough for you and you want to shell out for an upgrade just to bring everything to 4K packaging on your shelf, then so be it; however, if you don’t already own the Blu-ray copies, then this is the route to go. While they aren’t necessarily worth the double dip, this 4K series is the best the franchise has looked, if even by a slim margin over their prior Blu-ray releases.

On the audio front the films truly shine, with The Rise of Cobra’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack and Retaliation’s Dolby TrueHD 7.1 lossless soundtrack bringing the explosive nature of both movies right into your living room. Snake Eyes pops on the audio front as well with its Dolby Atmos presentation, so the decision here comes down to picture, as the audio matches the Blu-ray releases for the first two films in spectacular fashion.

Special Features:

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra:

Audio Commentary track – The disc here has a commentary track with Director Stephen Sommers, as well as Producer/Editor Bob Ducsay, which is fine for those who may want to learn about some of the issues they had while filming, how the writers strike may be somewhat to blame for things, as well as other bits and pieces about working on a film of this magnitude with such a popular Hasbro license.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation:

Audio Commentary – We’ve also got a commentary track on the sequel, with Director John M. Chu and Producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura taking on the task. They deliver an informative track here, talking about the film’s more plausible scenarios, shooting on different sets and locations, working with the new cast, and like the film itself this is just an overall more enjoyable track than its predecessor has.

G.I. Joe: Declassified is a feature broken into eight parts that can be viewed at once or individually and come in at a total of just over 70-minutes total. As a whole it’s a solid watch that fans should really enjoy. The feature breaks down into the following parts:

G.I. Joe: Declassified: Mission Briefing – This featurette is 10-minutes in length and focuses on Chu and what he brought to the sequel, the different style from its predecessor as well as character and vehicle designs this time out.

G.I. Joe: Declassified: Deployment – This part comes in at just over 8-minutes in length and sees Military Advisor/ex-Navy SEAL Harry Humphries prep the actors and teach them how to come off as trained professionals on screen. This is a nice, quick piece that allows viewers a small look into the training the actors have to go through for films like this.

G.I. Joe: Declassified: Two Ninjas – This featurette is seven-and-a-half minutes in length and focuses mainly on the film’s martial arts fight sequences, which are major improvements over the brief ones in the first film. Also, the godsend of redesigning Snake Eyes suit is covered as well!

G.I. Joe: Declassified: The Desert Attack – This self-explanatory feature comes in at eight-and-a-half minutes, and talks about shooting in a giant sand pit near New Orleans, the craziness involved with such a task, as well as touching on killing off Duke so early on in the film.

G.I. Joe: Declassified: Cobra Strikes – This part comes in at just under 9-minutes in length and focuses on the prison escape scene, the set it takes place in, the introduction of Firefly, as well as the redesign of Cobra Commander’s outfit, which was just as bad as Snake Eyes prior and thankfully came full circle to the realm of awesome this time around.

G.I. Joe: Declassified: The Lone Soldiers – Here we have an almost 8-minute look into bringing Bruce Willis on board, the more emotional core this film centers around and a very quick jaunt through the history of Joe action figures.

G.I. Joe: Declassified: The Monastery – This featurette comes in just under 10-minutes and showcases one of the larger scale battles in the film, which is the monastery battle between Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow, as well as the wire work involved with the crazy escape that follows.

G.I. Joe: Declassified: Fort Sumter – Here we have a 12-minute featurette that touches on shooting at Fort Pike, as well as the major battle that takes place when all the world leaders meet up to discuss disarming all nuclear bombs on the planet.

Lastly we have some Deleted Scenes for those who like to see what didn’t make the cut.

Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins:

Morning Light: A Weapon with Stories to Tell – This featurette comes in at just over 3-minutes in length, and it quickly tells the story of Morning Light, the sword that Tommy gifts Snake Eyes in the film. It’s told through animation, and is a fun watch for those that are interested in a bit more backstory on the honourable weapon.

Enter Snake Eyes – This featurette comes in at nine-and-a-half minutes in length and gives an overview of different aspects of Snake Eyes in the film. We get various cast and crew perspectives, as well as G.I. Joe comic creator, Larry Hama. It’s an easy watch that kind of skims the surface of everything over delving too deep into much.

A Deadly Ensemble – This featurette comes in at just over 6-minutes in length and focuses on the Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow relationship from the comics and cartoon, how it evolved in this film, and also touches on other fan favourites who were put into this movie, such as Scarlett and Baroness.

Arashikage – This featurette comes in at just under 7-minutes in length and gives a brief history of the Arashikage clan, their beliefs and their duty. We get to look at how locations were chosen and why, as well as some more interested tidbits. Again, an easy watch that adds a bit but not enough to get truly excited about for special features fans.

Deleted Scenes – There are a handful of deleted scenes that come together at roughly two-minutes in length.

Paramount Pictures Presents G.I. Joe: 3-Movie Collection. Starring: Channing Tatum, Marlon Wayans, Dwayne Johnson, Adrianne Palicki, Dennis Quaid, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Elodie Yung, Ray Stevenson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rachel Nichols, Ray Park, Lee Byung-hun, Jonathan Pryce, Henry Golding, Andrew Koji, Úrsula Corberó, Samara Weaving, Haruka Abe, Takehiro Hira, Iko Uwais, Peter Mensah, Eri Ishida, D.J. Cotrona. Total Running time: 5 Hours 49 minutes. Rating: 14A/PG. 4K Blu-ray Bundle Released: Oct. 19, 2021.

Brendan Campbell was here when Inside Pulse Movies began, and he’ll be here when it finishes - in 2012, when a cataclysmic event wipes out the servers, as well as everyone else on the planet other than John Cusack and those close to him. Brendan’s the #1 supporter of Keanu Reeves, a huge fan of popcorn flicks and a firm believer that sheer entertainment can take a film a long way. He currently resides in Canada, where, for reasons stated above, he’s attempting to get closer to John Cusack.