G.I. Joe: Retaliation

Dwayne Johnson and Bruce Willis, center, star in a scene from the movie “G.I. Joe: Retaliation.” (CNS photo/Paramount)

By Joseph McAleer, Catholic News Service

NEW YORK (CNS) — Dynamite and decibels are the real stars of the explosion-laden, ear-splitting 3-D extravaganza “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” (Paramount).

Director Jon M. Chu (“Step Up 3D”) clearly enjoys using every toy in the special effects box to craft elaborate blasts, gunfights, and kung-fu combat. Fortunately, the violence is more cartoonish than graphic (toymaker Hasbro co-produced the film), and frequent interludes of buddy-bonding talk provide welcome relief to the eyes and ears.

The film picks up where its predecessor, 2009’s “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra,” left off. With the help of shape-shifting nanotechnology (think cyborg mosquitoes), the wicked Zartan (Arnold Vosloo) has kidnapped the president (Jonathan Pryce) and assumed his identity. Zartan’s mission is world domination (of course) via a monster space-based weapon, code-named Zeus.

Zartan loves being commander-in-chief. “They say this is a thankless job, but yesterday I got to hang out with Bono,” he tells his prisoner. “But my favourite thing is I get to blow things up.”

He certainly does. Before long, Zartan is laying waste to much of the Middle East, not to mention central London.

But two obstacles remain in Zartan’s path. Before he can achieve his goal, he must spring his nefarious leader, the Cobra Commander (Luke Bracey), from prison — and eliminate his main opposition, the elite fighting force of G.I. Joes.

The “Joes,” captained by Duke (Channing Tatum), are sent into Pakistan to rescue stolen nuclear warheads. But it’s a Zartan-designed trap, and the team is slaughtered. Only three survive: Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson), who assumes command; Lady Jaye (Adrianne Palicki), and Flint (D.J. Cotrona).

To unravel Zartan’s conspiracy and take back the White House, Roadblock and his crew join forces with their ninja counterparts from the Far East. They also seek advice from the “original” G.I. Joe, Gen. Joseph Colton, portrayed by none-other-than — “yippee-ki-yay!” — Bruce Willis.

If all this sounds silly, it is. So it’s just as well that “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” doesn’t take itself too seriously. If there’s any kind of a message to be garnered from the bullet-strewn proceedings, it consists of a timely reminder about the perils of nuclear proliferation and the necessity for international cooperation.

The film contains pervasive action violence, brief gore and a handful of crude and crass terms. 

Hitchcock

Anthony Hopkins stars in a scene from the movie “Hitchcock” (CNS/Fox Searchlight Pictures)

By Joseph McAleer, Catholic News Service

NEW YORK (CNS) — The Greek philosopher Aristotle observed, “There is not great genius without a mixture of madness.” Case in point: “Hitchcock” (Fox Searchlight), an absorbing portrait of the legendary film director during the making of his biggest success, the 1960 horror classic “Psycho.”

The “Master of Suspense” gets quite a dressing-down in this adaptation of Stephen Rebello’s 1990 book “Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho,” directed by newcomer Sacha Gervasi. The famously corpulent director (Anthony Hopkins, unrecognisable under layers of prosthetics) was, apparently, a psychological mess –  a compulsive voyeur who fantasised about his leading ladies and terrorised his staff.

Hitchcock was also, it seems, a control freak who suspected the motives of just about everyone, even his devoted wife, Alma (Helen Mirren).

Intriguingly, Alma seems to have been his muse – and the power behind the throne. A talented editor in her own right, this endlessly patient spouse knew how to sober “Hitch” up and save the day. The tender story of their tempestuous yet faithful marriage is a high point of the film.

In 1959, Hitchcock was the world’s greatest director with a string of stylish thrillers to his name, most recently “Vertigo” and “North by Northwest.” But he was always searching for his next hit, and Hollywood was changing fast.

“Audiences want to be shocked,” Hitchcock observes. “They want something different.”

To meet the challenge, he settles on “Psycho,” a sensational novel by Robert Bloch, based on the real-life case of notorious serial killer Ed Gein. The lurid story is rejected by the studio, so Hitchcock opts to go it alone, financing the movie himself and crafting a sensational publicity campaign.

At one point, he orders this staff to purchase every copy of “Psycho” in the United States to prevent the public from knowing the plot – and the ending.

“Hitchcock” goes behind the scenes of the production, with stars playing stars, including Scarlett Johansson as Janet Leigh, whose character was destined to die in that famous shower scene; and James D’Arcy as Anthony Perkins, playing Norman Bates, the twisted motel owner who is dominated by his mother.

Even the ghost of Gein (Michael Wincott) pops up on set, to ask Hitchcock tauntingly why he would make such a shocking film.

Why indeed. Raised a Catholic and reconciled to his faith before his death in 1980, Hitchcock can be said to have done a great disservice with “Psycho.” As this film shows, he battled the Hollywood censors to allow an unprecedented degree of explicitness: In addition to the infamous shower scene, “Psycho” was also the first mainstream movie to show an unmarried couple in bed together.

There were long-term implications to Hitchcock’s “victory;” his triumph over the censors contributed to the breakdown of the long-standing production code that had regulated movie content since the 1930s.

The film contains graphic recreations of movie-making violence, a scene of implied adultery, sexual innuendo and some profane and rough language.