Snake Eyes
Surprisingly not a complete write off.
Snake Eyes (Henry Golding) saw his father killed before his eyes as a young kid, and ever since he has been wandering the Earth as a vagrant, conning less experienced fighters in underground fight clubs to earn a living. When Kenta (Takehiro Hira) recruits him to help the Yakuza, his role brings him into contact with Tommy (Andrew Koji) - the head of the Arashikage family, who takes Snake Eyes in and begins to consider him a brother. But Snake Eyes has a tough decision to make, pressured as he is to steal the family’s mythical jewel for Kenta if he wants a chance to take on his father’s killer; he can honour his new family, or avenge his former one.
Snake Eyes is an intriguing beast, essentially a prequel to the GI Joe films of quite a few years ago now, but also largely eschewing any of the lore of those films. Director Robert Schwentke still throws elements of that franchise into the film, but those parts feel weird and out of place.
That is testament to the fact that the basic structure of this piece, and the samurai aesthetic and action, works really well. Surprisingly well in fact, for a film you would expect to be terrible. There’s a lot to love here, and often the action is entertaining and impressive. Some moments really stand out; Snake Eyes ninja-sliding over rooftops, or a hilarious scene with Snake Eyes and Tommy in the cab of a truck that gets progressively filled with more and more attackers' samurai blades. The camera also has a particular eye for Tommy’s hero pose, which consistently works.
The issues with the film stem from the fact it’s largely a “been there, done that” piece of filmmaking, and elements of the visuals feel like a big screen TV advert. On top of that, the addition of GI Joe characters is jarring and frankly stupid - there’s enough interesting story here, we really don’t need it.
Golding and Koji are both solid in their roles, although Golding is pretty much sleepwalking through the drama on display. Hira is an incredible villain, and one wishes we could see him in more things.
