Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins
Paramount Pictures | Release Date: July 23, 2021 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
43
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
20
Negative:
8
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
VarietyOwen GleibermanJul 22, 2021
Snake Eyes, as directed by Robert Schwentke (“The Divergent Series: Insurgent”), has style and verve, with a diabolical family plot that creates a reasonable quota of actual drama. The movie is also a synthetic but infectiously skillful big-studio hodgepodge of ninja films, wuxia films, yakuza films, and international revenge films. Read full review
75
USA TodayBrian TruittJul 22, 2021
Pretty much everybody is kung fu fighting in “Snake Eyes,” a satisfying martial-arts action-adventure with two magnetic leads, a heap of lightning-quick swordplay and the best argument yet for a G.I. Joe cinematic universe. Read full review
67
Original-CinJim SlotekJul 22, 2021
There’s a little more room for characters to breathe. This is not to last, however. The whole thing must ignite into a final act of fights, car chases and general destruction (and Snake Eyes’ discovery of honour). The battle scenes are often darkly lit and confusing (though it is a change of pace to see so much swordplay as opposed to gunplay), and the attempt to fuse the Joes and Cobra into the plot in the last act is not exactly smooth. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerJul 22, 2021
Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins doesn’t reach the giddy, earnest heights of something like Aquaman or a Wachowski project. It methodically sets up sequels—to be recast and released around 2030, judging by the Joes’ cinematic track record so far. But the dubiousness of its present-day achievement, the sheer ludicrousness of making the best G.I. Joe movie in 2021, is part of the dumbfounding fun. Read full review
60
Film ThreatAlan NgJul 23, 2021
The highlight of Snake Eyes is the action. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeJul 22, 2021
As shamelessly corporate popcorn movies go, Snake Eyes is better than most. That’s not high praise, but considering the film’s dopey pedigree, it’s not nothing. Read full review
60
Screen RantMolly FreemanJul 22, 2021
With energetic and thrilling action, Snake Eyes is a fun summer blockbuster, even if the movie's haphazard franchise setup leaves much to be desired. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesMichael OrdoñaJul 22, 2021
Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins ends up having enough good-time action sequences to make it worth the popcorn money. Read full review
55
PolygonJoshua RiveraJul 22, 2021
Its battles are conceptually interesting — one rainy, neon-drenched fight across the alleys and rooftops of a city slum is a highlight — but an excessive reliance on shaky camerawork and jarring cuts makes the action unreadable. Rhythmically, Snake Eyes never really finds its footing, as fights end abruptly, and character stakes rarely align with the scale of a confrontation. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMatthew MonagleJul 27, 2021
Compared to other Hollywood blockbusters, Snake Eyes is better than fine — but there are hundreds of Asian and Southeast Asian action movies that run circles around the final product here. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJul 23, 2021
Snake Eyes collapses in a crosscurrent of conflicting character motives, joyless plot twists and who-cares violence. Read full review
50
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiJul 23, 2021
The fights, taken on their own, are occasionally OK, but not enough to lift this joke-and-fun-free slog. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyChristian HolubJul 23, 2021
Unfortunately, director Robert Schwentke (RED, R.I.P.D.) uses a lot of razzle-dazzle, and too often the quick cuts and close-ups obscure the action rather than highlight it. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJul 22, 2021
My thoughts turn to the Giant CGI Anacondas in “Snake Eyes” and what their lives are like in between meals — and if that sounds ridiculous and outlandish and weird, welcome to this bombastic, slick, convoluted and unnecessary second-tier action franchise reboot. Read full review
50
The Associated PressLindsey BahrJul 22, 2021
Golding is simply not the right actor for the part. He’s not exactly bad, just miscast and misused. And despite the novel trimmings and flash around him, his character is woefully generic. Read full review
50
IndieWireDavid EhrlichJul 22, 2021
The action scenes are so inexplicably painful — and the character work in “Snake Eyes” is so unexpectedly strong — that your heart sinks whenever the swords come out. Read full review
42
The PlaylistMarshall ShafferJul 23, 2021
If the assignment was to rebuild the series largely from scratch essentially, perhaps the producers should have taken a risk by entrusting “Snake Eyes” with a director who could bring something specific or startling. This is still a derivative, paint-by-numbers effort that can’t decide if it wants to build a franchise or a character. Read full review
40
EmpireAmon WarmannAug 18, 2021
Snake Eyes finally speaks, but with frustrating action scenes, a middling story and unearned sequel-baiting, there’s not much here that’s worth listening to, or watching. Read full review
40
Rolling StoneDavid FearJul 22, 2021
Not even the presence of Money Heist‘s Úrsula Corberó as a slinky villain known as the Baroness could stave off a sense of disappointment. Read full review
40
CNNBrian LowryJul 22, 2021
As much as the movie appears to yearn to jump-start the franchise, it seems to have forgotten to bother with a coherent script, leaving one to wonder how a film with this much action somehow manages to be so boring. Read full review
40
SlashfilmHoai-Tran BuiJul 22, 2021
The worst sin a martial arts movie can commit is not properly showing its action. The second sin is casting martial arts superstars and not letting them fight. On both counts, the extraordinarily limp G.I. Joe reboot Snake Eyes is guilty. Read full review
40
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiJul 22, 2021
The drama is muddled, the action is murky, and the storyline can’t help but get goofier and goofier until, by the end, every attempt this movie makes to ground the “G.I. Joe” series gets blown up. It’s hardly the worst film the “G.I. Joe” series has delivered, but it’s certainly the least interesting. Read full review
40
Screen DailyTim GriersonJul 22, 2021
Slavishly obeying the rules of a would-be franchise starter — including crafting an open-ended finale that leaves room for sequels — Snake Eyes features plenty of martial-arts mayhem but very little actual excitement. Read full review
40
The GuardianCharles BramescoJul 22, 2021
The script’s attempts at wisdom amount to little more than dime-store platitudes, and the internecine turmoil of the Arashikage clan never comes close to anything like emotional heft. Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreJul 23, 2021
There isn’t an original idea in “Snake Eyes,” so even if the first big brawl is cool enough to give one false hope, the puerile story leaves our star and the director of “RED” (and “R.I.P.D.”) nowhere to go, even on a cool, whining electric street bike. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsJul 22, 2021
More often than not, Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins is a dire checklist of clichés that were already gathering moss back in the 1980s, when G.I. Joe was a popular children’s cartoon. Read full review
38
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenJul 22, 2021
The fight scenes, full of swordplay and gunfire, are choppily edited and somehow lackadaisical. It’s as though Schwentke was operating from a checklist of expected action-movie clichés and hurries through them all. Read full review
30
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriJul 23, 2021
If we absolutely must have G.I. Joe movies, surely they shouldn’t be this joyless. Read full review
30
The New York TimesGlenn KennyJul 22, 2021
For an ostensible action hero, Henry Golding in the title role does an awful lot of standing around and looking tense. The mayhem is frantic yet forgettable. Read full review
30
ScreenCrushMatt SingerJul 22, 2021
It takes the most popular G.I. Joe character and totally demystifies him until all that’s left is a blandly hunky dude with a sword. Read full review
25
ObserverBrandon KatzJul 22, 2021
The fight choreography is often impressive. But the script is pockmarked with cliches, tropes and never-ending predictability. Read full review
17
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzJul 22, 2021
Watching Snake Eyes (full title: Snake Eyes – G.I. Joe Origins) is not a physically painful ordeal. But it is an emotionally harmful one – a soul-deadening exercise that approximates satire, minus the self-awareness. Read full review
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