There is no end to the source material for Hollywood movies, from comic books, to theme park rides and toys. No doubt we shall be seeing characters used to advertising chocolate or cereal given the big screen treatment.

GI Joe: Retaliation is the follow up to the fairly mediocre GI Joe: Rise of Cobra, based on the Hasbro toys of the same name – think an American version of Action Man.

While the first film didn’t exactly wow the critics, it did well enough at the box office for Paramount to put together a sequel, adding action stars Dwayne Johnson and Bruce Willis to up the star power and no doubt draw more punters.

A few years after the events of GI Joe: Rise of Cobra – the Joes are sent on a trip to Pakistan to take control of a number of nuclear weapons, in order to render them safe from enemy hands.

However the Joes are ambushed by an enemy force – and all but wiped out. Unbeknownst to them their arch enemies Cobra – led by the Commander - have infiltrated the highest echelons of power – to the point where one of the villains, a master of disguise, is currently impersonating the President (Jonathan Pryce), keeping the actual President prisoner.

The remaining Joes led by Roadblock (Johnson), track down the man who started their unit off Joe Colton (Willis) and they come up with a plan to rescue the President and prevent the Commander taking over the world.

If the first film isn’t particularly good, you can be sure the second one will be equally disappointing.

It is a classically entertaining action movie, with lots of explosions, wisecracks and cliched plots. It’s a bit cartoonish in many ways – which you could argue was deliberate given what it is based on – but everyone could have made a bit more effort.

The performances aren’t really worth mentioning as they take away from the non-stop action, but everyone does what is expected.

It is a shame that the brilliance of the likes of Pixar and Dreamworks Animation, showing that you can make a film that appeals to both young and old alike, that these kinds of films get churned out – but given the box office numbers there will always be an audience for them.

5/10

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