Bottom line: G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra may be based on a line of toys, but the toys in the movie are not so kid-friendly. Expect plenty of violence using every imaginable weapon. Blood is shown, and people die and are tortured.
MPAA Rating: PG-13, for strong sequences of action violence and mayhem throughout
Guide age recommendation: 13+
Genre: Action
Runtime: 120 min.
Starring: Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Christopher Eccleston, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Byung Hun Lee, Sienna Miller, Rachel Nichols, Marlon Wayans and Dennis Quaid
Release Date: Aug. 7, 2009
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra Movie Trailer
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra - Summary
When a military convoy transporting an extremely dangerous new weapon is ambushed by a team of villains using highly advanced weaponry, only soldeirs Duke and Ripcord survive -- thanks to a mysterious friendly unit that saves the day. Duke and his buddy, along with the weapon, are transported to the headquarters of the group -- the G.I. Joes -- and they learn that the international black ops group will now be taking charge of the weapons.
Duke's inside intel about the mysterious leader of the hi-tech team of bad guys, Ana DeCobray, wins him and Ripcord an opportunity to join the Joes on their mission. Duke and Ripcord become acquainted with Joes like Scarlett, Breaker and Snake Eyes, and they begin to prepare to carry out their orders. But their enemies are quick to strike again, and this time the weapon falls into their hands.
It doesn't take long for the Joes to figure out that they were sold out by James McCullen, the arms dealer whose company was behind the weapon in the first place. Whatever diabolical purpose he has for stealing the weapon back is unclear, but past relationships between friends and enemies are sure to color the massive fight as Duke, Ripcord and the others do everything in power to recover the catastrophic weapon and defeat their highly advanced enemies.
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra - Guide Review for Parents
As we've seen with the Transformers series, just because a movie is inspired by a line of toys, doesn't mean the movie will be kid friendly. While the press release featured on the Hasbo website explains, "Hasbro’s 2009 G.I. JOE toy line allows fans of all ages to capture the excitement of the live-action movie and recreate it in their own homes," parents should know before taking the family to this movie that it contains an immense amount of violence and a couple of torture scenes that could be terrifying to kids.
There were plenty of very young kids in the theater when I went to see G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, and I tried to seek them out to look at their faces when, in one of the opening scenes of the movie, a hot, iron mask is taken directly out of a fire and placed on a man's face. The horrified look in his eyes is the last we see of him as he screams and the movie cuts to the present time. I couldn't see any of the children in the theater at that time, but as soon as the movie was over I saw one little girl (about 8 years old) cowering in her seat next to her daddy. I think that parents expect the violence from this movie -- it is about a black ops military group, after all -- but fans may not be aware that some of this violence is very up-close and personal, and could be incredibly disturbing for kids.
*To find out more about the content of this movie, please see the "Content Overview" below.G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra - Content Overview
*May contain spoilers.- Violence (Extreme): Various weapons including guns, machine guns, tanks, knives, swords, helicopters, fighter jets, destructive high tech weapons (some akin to bioweapons), and more are used to kill, maim, destroy, and torture. Blood is shown, although is doesn't spew out or anything, and people are shown screaming in pain as they are injected with a weaponized substance. We see a couple of people being run through with swords or knives, including camera shots of their faces as they are stabbed. A hot, metal mask is placed on a man's face and his screams of pain are heard. Hand-to-hand combat occurs, including a couple of very personal kicks to the face and other body parts. To sum it up, the movie is violence from start to finish.
- Sex/Nudity (Medium): The movie does not contain nearly as much of this content as some others, but the women dress in tight, cleavage revealing spy-type clothing. One woman is married to a man in order to use him, and she comments that when they "touch" his work gets done faster. Several passionate kisses are shown throughout the movie.
- Drugs and Alcohol (Low): At a party some people have drinks.
- Language (High): Profanity such as the words such as "hell," "damn," the "s" word, "bastard," "a**hole," and "b**ch" are used. Several uses of "Oh my God" or variant of the phrase are used.
- Disrespectful/Imitative Behavior (Extreme): Along with the adult characters engaging in various forms of violence, the movie also contians flashback sequences of kids fighting in a martial arts style, and one of them gets angry and murders an adult (we do not see the actual murder.) The villains in the movie are intent on taking over the world, they seek power and control, and they are also bitter and want revenge for various things. Revenge is a big issue for several characters.
- Scary Scenes (High): Content listed under "violence" may be frightening for kids. Throughout the movie, characters are in various situations of mortal peril. Also, some characters have disfigured or scarred faces that may frighten kids.
- Sad/Unsettling Scenes (Medium): Moments from a funeral are shown in the movie. Some soldiers and others in the movie die in combat.
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra – Topics to Discuss
- After seeing G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, kids may have questions about the following topics: hi-tech weapons, nanotechnology/nanomites, mind control, torture, war, revenge, weapons and arms makers and dealers.
