Plenty of action and even a decent plot in ‘GI Joe: Rise of the Cobra’

Director: Stephen Sommers

Cast: Marlon Wayans, Channing Tatum, Sienna Miller, Dennis Quaid

Time was when little lads went to the pictures and wanted toys relating to the characters. Now Hollywood goes to the toy store and wants to make films about the little plastic figures.

Enter, then, GI Joe, the all-action hero that made the concept of little lads playing with dolls cool.

There’s nothing new about this film, taken from an obscure 1980s TV mini-series, since we have all the predictable elements of a top unit of highly-trained operatives with hi-tech equipment battling to save the world from the clutches of an evil organisation and its even more nasty arms-dealing head honcho.

There’s plenty of action – don’t even bother to look for a more than passing plot – and little lads, and mindless big lads, will doubtless thrill to it all … the fact that it’s a fairly decent cast doesn’t do it much harm, either.

Star Rating: 3/5