I was born in the mid-90s so by proxy I’m a 2000s kid or what some would call a millennial. Even though I was able to catch the eighties GI Joe on DVD when I was growing up, my first experience with the Joe’s and corrupt Cobra through were through an anime would air on network television. And to be honest, I wasn’t really feeling the Joe’s since the characters I couldn’t really identify with (well unless of course they were Cobra) but there was one particular character on the Joe side that I did actually enjoy watching week after week and that would be Snake Eyes!
Week after week I would tune in to see if Eyes and Shadow would ever settle their toon beef. Growing up Kung Fu flicks were commonplace within the building that I was staying in and to see that replicated through animation was something I’d eat up all day everyday. That show did end prematurely, by the time that I was in Middle School followed by the first slew of Michael Bay helmed GI Joe movies that were focused too much on comedy than the serious tone of espionage artists using their skills to combat a ruthless terrorist organization hell bent on molding the world into how they saw fit. “G.I. Joe Origins Snake Eyes” will have the world over thankful for ret-cons.
Coming off the heels of the release of Marvel’s “Black Widow”, “Snake Eyes” follows this year’s tradition of putting the spy thriller genre once more at the forefront of summer blockbusters, rather than the expected CGI filled action-fest that has drew in audiences year after year; only due to the fact that there was a lack of creative competition.
Having being raised in an area of Los Angeles that was primarily Asiatic, the landscape of Tokyo captured by the cinematographer was everything I ever could have hoped to dream of when I had foolish thoughts as a youth of one day relocating to the city before I fully understood the mistreatment that I had suffered while being the only Afrocentric individual in a primarily Asiatic area of what I have come to know as my stomping grounds. But dreams can come true, at least on the big screen and I was happy to escape too a land real though so fantastical same time. Bright, with street signs filled with vibrant electricity and electronically synthesized music that would fit the ultimate cult-80’s neo noir flick.
The cinematography here in “Snake Eyes” are focused on neon lights … dazzling, but of course what is a film without a good story to keep one staring into the light? Existence is fraught with traumas that must be overcome to be able to move forward and progress to levels of both maturity and wisdom. In the anime that I watched as a youth, Snake Eyes was a silent character surrounded by a shroud of mystery, whereas Storm Shadow was constantly going on about how he wanted to exact vengeance on Snake Eyes for some wrong that that was done unto him in the past. Here that past is revealed, and it holds up and doesn’t take away from any of the previous mythology that I have seen regarding Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow whether that would be in the animated adaptations or the comic books.
One should not expect Eyes to be mute here, but one can also see the reasons why after this Origin the man behind the black ninja/motorcycle helmet might want to keep his mouth shut.
There are many times in the film where Snake Eyes’ duplicitous nature makes it to where I have no other choice but to root for Storm Shadow. And I love that because it drew me back to being that child and having no choice but to root for Cobra – because they just happened to be cooler at that time for me, and to this day they still are, this film being another exhibit to add to their case : with the screenwriter taking the time to have a classic Cobra/Joe temporary alliance between none other than Scarlet and Cobra baddie Baroness !
Baroness was lovely in the film as any of her other counterparts regardless of the adaptation of the mythology, but Scarlett here was pompous, arrogant, and hard to love. Which again transported me back to childhood, Cobra flag in hand.
This film is special in how it reignites childlike exuberance – regardless if you are a millennial like me or if you came up watching the first animated iteration of GI Joe in the ’80s, or if you never heard of a “Kung-Fu grip” – there is an hour or two here filled with wonder and escapism for everyone. “Snake Eyes” (both the film and it’s titular character) heavily deals with combating and besting childhood trauma. This is because that trauma that a person experiences during childhood is known to shape an individual for their entire lives unless they can identify the trauma and control that trauma instead of allowing the trauma to subconsciously dictate their decisions and lifestyle. Absolutely funny how a film featuring Storm Shadow has a lot to deal with metaphysical shadow work. But this, as well as various passages from the Tibetan Necronomicon being enacted on the screen is of course not by mistake. But even for those who are uninitiated in metaphysics, these scenes are not put there to to make viewers feel out of the loop and dumb, rather they speak to the viewer and ask them to do something about their weaknesses and instead work on turning them into strengths.
Honesty is amazingly such a key element and plot device in this film all about espionage and double-agents. As the reel rolled, I would think to myself what those I have once called friends, what those I have once called lovers, who all betrayed me in our time, victims themselves of betrayal in their time; what they would think of themselves while watching a film like this … And then as I sat there by myself in a room that seated at least 100, I found myself content in the solitude and trust that I have in myself, knowing that that at least cannot be betrayed.
Something that I noticed despite the flaws in Snake Eyes’ actions throughout the film : his confidence and trust within himself is unwavering. And that, just like this film, is something that should be respected and not go unchecked.
SCORE: 5/5
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