G.I. Joe: Retaliation
Paramount Pictures | Release Date: March 29, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
41
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
14
Negative:
10
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
70
TimeRichard CorlissApr 1, 2013
An action figure with a sweet core, Johnson can pump up the humanity of any franchise, whether he’s playing a stepdad who becomes a hero in Journey 2 or, as here, a stud soldier who treats Flint and Jaye like his grown children and shepherds them through peril. Following those younger Joes, the Retaliation audience is encouraged to clamber up on Johnson’s huge soldiers and go along for a pretty cool ride. Read full review
70
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlMar 27, 2013
It's not enough to call this the rare franchise action movie to bring the goods; it's the even rarer one whose creators seem to understand what the goods even are. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyMar 27, 2013
So fetishistic about high-powered weapons that it qualifies as an NRA wet dream, G.I. Joe: Retaliation pretty accurately reflects the franchise's comic book and cartoon origins, which is both a good and a bad thing: good if you're a 12- to 15-year-old boy, bad if you're just about anyone else. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanMar 27, 2013
It's well-executed technocratic action fluff. But it did leave me buzzed rather than drained. Read full review
67
The PlaylistTodd GilchristMar 27, 2013
Retaliation is no masterpiece, but it’s a movie whose fun doesn’t feel like a four-letter word -- popcorn entertainment that not only rivals what you see during summer, but surpasses what you see from Sommers. Read full review
63
USA TodayScott BowlesMar 28, 2013
A more sure-footed shoot-'em-up that finds some heart, wit and perhaps enough momentum to spawn a formidable action franchise. Read full review
63
New York PostKyle SmithMar 28, 2013
Willis is at his relaxed best this time. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsMar 29, 2013
As long as Hollywood keeps hitting us over the head with empty spectacles like G.I. Joe: Retaliation, regular Joes will be too numb to fight back. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMar 28, 2013
The directive behind this sequel, clearly, was non-stop action. Let's think about that phrase a second. Do we really want our action movies to deliver action that does not stop? Ever? I get a little tired of action sequences that won't stop. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMar 28, 2013
Dumb fun can be, well, fun. G.I. Joe: Retaliation is way too much of the former and not nearly enough of the latter. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubScott TobiasMar 27, 2013
At times, G.I. Joe: Retaliation has a sense of its own ridiculousness — Pryce seems to be having a good time, anyway — but not enough to soften the mass death, hardware fetishism, and militaristic zeal that gets in the way of its escapist fun. Read full review
50
VarietyJustin ChangMar 27, 2013
Offering a more straight-faced brand of idiocy than its cheerfully dumb 2009 predecessor, G.I. Joe: Retaliation might well have been titled “G.I. Joe: Regurgitation,” advertising big guns, visual effects and that other line of Hasbro toys with the same joyless, chew-everything-up-and-spit-it-out efficiency. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineMar 27, 2013
Instead of long takes, which are lovingly utilized in Step Up 3D, Jon M. Chu opts for increasing volatility in the editing room. Read full review
50
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreMar 26, 2013
It’s a live-action version of on an ’80s cartoon that was designed to sell toys. This is “Transformers” without the Bumblebee Camaro, a lot of action, a few one-liners, and a lot of gunplay. Read full review
40
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottMar 29, 2013
If you currently own a G.I. Joe toy or if you've dressed like a ninja at least twice since Halloween, you're going to find a lot to "hooah" about in "G.I. Joe: Retaliation." Read full review
40
Time OutKeith UhlichMar 29, 2013
Plays like a tiresomely extended evening of channel surfing. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriMar 28, 2013
That G.I. Joe silliness the first film embraced has been steamrolled into tentpole flatness this time around. It’s not stoopid anymore, but just plain stupid. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierMar 28, 2013
The G.I. Joe team is back, and most of their sophomore movie adventure, G.I. Joe Retaliation, is as bland as their name and as subtle as an exploding tank. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyMar 27, 2013
It's massive, all the retaliation and the world saving stuff. And it's convoluted. Frankly no one should have to think that hard to keep up with the Joes. Read full review
40
EmpireOlly RichardsMar 25, 2013
Fast Five was a good example of how applying The Rock to a tired series could bring it back to life. G.I. Joe, by opting for self-seriousness instead of knowing daftness, has squandered its secret weapon. Read full review
40
Total FilmJosh WinningMar 25, 2013
“Rock solid,” is Bruce Willis’ nod-wink appraisal of an attack strategy in G.I. Joe: Retaliation. The film’s nowhere near as sturdy, trundling out middling action and nonsensical plotting. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyMar 28, 2013
Feels like a five-year-old with a megaphone, excitedly yelling about his latest bulldozer-soldier-dinosaur smash-kill-squash-everything game. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeTom RussoMar 28, 2013
How funny that Pryce, a tweedy Brit playing a bad guy, should be the one person doing anything remotely heroic for this dud. Read full review
38
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMar 27, 2013
The dialogue and exposition scenes in G.I. Joe are like something out of a Saturday morning cartoon from the 1980s, but the PG-13 violence is a little intense for the 7-year-old boys (and girls) who might love this stuff. Read full review
38
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMar 27, 2013
Everything in G.I. Joe: Retaliation is perfunctory - technically proficient but soulless. It's not exciting. It's boring. Read full review
37
Washington PostStephanie MerryMar 28, 2013
Although “G.I. Joe” is merely a movie based on Hasbro toys, the action -- the real point of all this -- feels just as lifeless. Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleLouis BlackApr 3, 2013
There actually is some clever dialogue in the film, especially early on between Roadblock and Duke (Tatum). But this fades over the course of the film, and too much of what the characters say sounds as though it’s been lifted verbatim from 1930s and 1940s serials. Read full review
30
The New York TimesNeil GenzlingerMar 28, 2013
The film’s director, Jon M. Chu, executes a pretty good high-altitude fight scene. Still, there should be a “Fans Only” sign at the door of every theater. Read full review
30
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternMar 28, 2013
I won't pretend that I had a great time watching G.I. Joe: Retaliation. Read full review
25
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallApr 3, 2013
This movie never realizes how ridiculous anything it does truly is, right up to the last-second promise of another sequel. Read full review
25
NPRMark JenkinsMar 28, 2013
What's the difference between an action figure and an action star? Very little in G.I. Joe: Retaliation, which features no performances of note, even from such combat-tested thespians as Bruce Willis, Jonathan Pryce and Dwayne Johnson. Read full review
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