another sam chan: the student blogger

As it often is with action remakes of children superheroes, GI Joe received a bad vibe from critics. However, I found the movie to be extremely entertaining and well done. There are aircrafts, hand to hand combat, ninja stars, sword fights, submarines, nuclear missiles, all sorts of guns, and who could forget those halo super human enhancement suits. And they managed to do it all under 2 hours. Micheal Bay take note!

This is not to say that the movie is perfect. The ending leaves some major question marks, and although it signifies there will definitely be a sequel, it could have used some closure. I have a feeling that my girlfriend would not have enjoyed this movie as much as I did as it is surely targeted for the male audience. I admit that I never followed the GI Joe cartoon as a kid so I have no idea if it depicts the timeline properly, but after some wikipedia-ing, it seems to follow the story fairly close.

But overall, it was action filled from front to end with flashbacks that were tastefully done. Marlon Wayans provided some good humour to support Channing Tatum’s always serious look, and Sienna Miller…wow. I would definitely recommend it to any dude out there in search of a good action flick or any girl who’s a fan of Channing Tatum.

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In movies, there’s always a main character. Well, I shouldn’t say always, but those movies without a specific main character usually suck so I disregarded those in my statement. I’ve noticed that there’s always the same movie flow:

Phase 0

A – MC has been doing well with his/her life so far, experiencing success without having to undergo hardship in the past.
or
B – MC life sucks.

Phase 1:
Something (such as a spider) or someone (usually somebody hot, or a dumb kid) alters MC’s life.

Phase 2:
As a result of Phase 1, MC has new previously unforeseen goals and changes attitude.

Phase 2b:
MC undergoes hardship to meet those goals but always peserveres and breaks through.

Phase 3:
MC is met with waves of success and briefly feels like the top of the world until

Phase 4:
A: something from the MC’s past comes back to haunt him/her
or
B: A trap is set by the antagonist
which results in
the MC falling into a deeper hole than ever before seen.

Phase 5:
the MC crawls out of the hole, battered, bruised, but rises higher than ever and takes over their world.

Phase 6:
A: MC wins/lives happily ever after, with ever after being the last 30 seconds of the film
or
B: dies with pride, thus effectively ending the film (anybody seen crank?)

What I want to emphasize on is Phase 2B, the part where the MC works hard, peserveres and gets rewarded for it. The reason it is 2B and not 3, is because it is always a few short cut scenes, where they show that “whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. You see it in Legally Blonde with Elle and her books, you see it in Mighty Ducks when the guys finally start to play as a team, and you see it in Coach Carter when the guys run lap after lap after lap, followed by 1000 pushups.  Like many other movie watchers, I always put myself into character when I watch movies and I see how they succeed…and think I can do the same thing. However, for the most of us, the majority of our lives are those few short scenes where we have to work hard and persevere. The MC always makes it look so easy, so smooth, so natural, where in reality, its a gruesome struggle. Sure makes me wonder if happily ever after is worth it, or is that a fantasy too?

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