The two “G.I. Joe” live-action films to date have been heavily CG affairs – action hero movies so abusing the laws of physics and over the top in nature that they could fairly be considered alongside some superhero movies in their level of fantastical action.
Neither of the two films were well received though, which has led to something of a reboot of the property with the upcoming Henry Golding-led “Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins”. Putting the focus on the popular silent ninja character Snake Eyes, Golding spoke to Collider about the new film and talked the movie’s quite different tone to its predecessors:
“It’s not a superhero film. People need to understand that these characters, the G.I. Joe universe, are normal people with extraordinary skills and who have dedicated their lives to it. So even the action is so much more grounded in reality.
And somebody explained it fantastically. They’re like, it felt like a Mission: Impossible movie. Sort of the expanse and the largeness of it all and the world that we’re filming in, especially in Japan, it feels so kind of grounded and like we’re being sucked into a reality. That’s really, really not hard to believe.”
Golding plays a man who comes across an ancient ninja clan known as the Arashikage after he saves the life of their heir apparent. In return, the Arashikage invite Golding’s character to train with them and teach him the ways of the ninja assassin.
While training, he becomes fast friends with fellow assassin Storm Shadow (Andrew Koji). Over time, that friendship turns into a bitter rivalry, as certain secrets are revealed from Snake Eyes’ past that force him into conflict with the Arashikage. Golding says the Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow relationship will evolve throughout the film:
“There’s a beginning where they’re brothers. There’s a moment where they’re sworn enemies. There’s moments where they work together to fight an equal sort of enemy. This relationship never sort of ends and sort of peeling back those layers and discovering more. And that’s the great thing again about the origin story is we get to see the basis and to see why it’s so emotionally charged for both of these characters and at what point does it turn.”
Robert Schwentke helms “Snake Eyes” which also stars Iko Uwais as Hard Master, Ursula Corbero as Baroness, Samara Weaving as Scarlett, Haruka Abe as Akiko, and Tahehiro Hira as Kenta. The movie opens in cinemas on July 23rd.
