Mr. Movie: “Snake Eyes” is win for the ninja action

One of the most popular characters of the G.I. Joe series is Snake Eyes. He popped into existence in 1982 and now — finally — has his own movie. It stars Henry Golding of “Crazy Rich Asians” fame.

“Snake Eyes” tells of how his father was killed by assassins when Snake Eyes was a young boy. As an adult he’s approached by Kenta, a Japanese man who says he can deliver the man who killed his dad.

Vengeance is assured if he can infiltrate an ancient ninja clan called the Arashikage. Once in the clan he’s to steal a powerful jewel the clan is protecting. Kenta wants it to get revenge on the ninja clan.

Snake Eyes befriends Tommy who belongs to the clan. Tommy wants Snake Eyes fighting by his side and thinks he can pass the three critical tests that will make him a ninja warrior.

One of them — the last one — could be fatal if he fails.

Snake Eyes begins to bond with the members of the clan, and he and Tommy become like brothers. His problem is how to betray his new friends and yet not betray them.

Vengeance drives his dilemma and the movie.

Golding’s co-stars are Andrew Koji (the “Warrior” TV series), Haruka Abe and Takehiro Hira who plays Kenta. All — and their cast mates — are very good in their roles. Not that it really matters. Almost anyone could play any of these characters and it would work.

This is a kick-butt action movie and acting isn’t the focus. What matters is the martial arts battle scenes, motorcycle chases, some woo-woo magic and a wanting to dominate the world group of bad guys against a good guy organization.

In other words, it’s a traditional martial arts movie.

G.I. Joe has been around since 1964. It began as a line of toys created and distributed by Hasbro. Characters spun off of the original toys ended up as an animated children’s TV show. Movies and video releases followed.

Like most of you, I don’t know a lot about the toys, or the series and really don’t care. The series focus from the outset has been young boys and comic book fans. I’m neither. Most of you aren’t either.

We tend to judge these movies based on content.

Golding — who has a very bright future doing something other than action movies — is quite good as Snake Eyes. Characters in martial arts action movies don’t have much in the way of dialogue. So all Golding has to do is glare and stare, and look athletic. He does all three very well.

So does everyone else involved.

It’s the skill of a director and how he imagines the movie, the choreographed action sequences and the sets that determines whether an action movie is good or bad.

That makes director Robert Schwentke ( the Divergent series movies “Allegiant” and “Insurgent,” “The Time Traveler’s Wife”) the film’s real star. He takes the script done by Evan Spiliotopoulos (“Charlie’s Angels,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Huntsman: Winter’s War”) and Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse who penned the remake of “Rebecca” last year and turns it into a pretty good — but too long — martial arts movie.

If this is your thing and you’re into G.I. Joe and those characters, you’ll like this one. Not into it but interested and unsure? My advice — and in gambling terms — role the dice. I guarantee your toss won’t come up snake eyes.

▪ Rated PG-13 for mature themes and violence. It’s playing at the Fairchild Cinemas Pasco 12, Queensgate 12 and at the Southgate 10 and at the AMC Classic Kennewick 12.

▪ Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5

This story was originally published July 22, 2021 at 7:00 PM with the headline "Mr. Movie: “Snake Eyes” is win for the ninja action."