Kay Curry
Northwest Asia Weekly
Henry Golding is on the set of “Snake Eye Commando Joe Origins”. (Source: Paramount Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and Skydance.)
Okay, so the movie “Snake Eye: GI Joe Origins” is for entertainment. It is for comic book fans (I guess?), GI Joe fans (maybe!), definitely fans of Henry Golding, fans of Asian actors in general, and fans of Asians and Asian Americans in Hollywood.
This is really enough. Fun. It has a great driving soundtrack, full of taiko drums; it has enough Tokyo neon lights to please any Tokyo neon fan (I think these are there); everyone looks great in their leather outfits. In addition, Golding is also great. I am pushing him to become the next #JamesBond. Can everyone fall behind? seriously. He has good looks. He has an accent (he lost his accent in this movie, so he can become “American”). He is very nice to ladies and friends. He can be strong, he can cry. And he can keep secrets like a professional.
This is the role of Snake Eyes-an “alternating continuity” version (I have to check)-where the most popular role in the GI Joe franchise plays both sides and escapes by chance. This is the part about who the Snake Eyes movie might not be suitable for. On the one hand, people who insist on his origin. Or who are not fans of the new version, they can do whatever they want with the characters and the entire GI Joe universe.
So in the original book (yes, I also checked), Snake Eyes is an army soldier and a Vietnamese veterinarian. Let me stop there. This is not in this movie. Okay, go ahead. In the Marvel Comics storyline, Snake Eye’s parents were killed in a car accident (oh, that familiar metaphor), and he was invited to the Lanying family to learn ninjutsu. In this movie, the father of the Snake Eyes child is executed in front of him (another familiar metaphor). Apparently, he grew up, struggling to overcome his anger and guilt in the cage because he could not save his father from the murderer, when he was almost knee-high to the murderer’s knee and had no weapons (another, another A familiar analogy). He was not directly invited by Storm Shadow and Lanying, but through the gang. This is where the double agent/spy comes in. Golding plays on the tee.
Snake Eyes (Henry Golding) and Tommy Storm Shadow (Andrew Koji). (Source: Paramount Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and Skydance.)
The 2021 movie is more like a complement to the films “GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra” and “GI Joe: Revenge” released in 2009 and 2013. In those movies, Ray Parker played Snake Eye.
Obviously (does anyone doubt it?) Someone complained that the snake eye in this movie was not played by white people. In the preview interview of the trailer, “Weekly” asked Golding his views on the career trajectory of “Snake Eye: GI Joe Origins” and the representatives of Hollywood AAPI.
“This is a great opportunity because this is a color-blind actor. The story of Snake Eyes is a “fish out of water” story… People are like,’But he is destined to be white’… .. You can become a white American, do you think if you land in Iceland, you will have the same experience. Cultural references…? No. His going to Japan is a whole new world territory for him, so no matter what race you are .”
Everything is true, and Golding’s follow-up statement somehow summarized what happened in this “alternative continuity” version of the GI Joe legend.
“Let’s bring it back to the core nature of the character and the roles that actors can play.” This movie does just that. It does maintain the spiritual core of the GI Joe team and individual team members. It has always existed in betrayals in comics and movies and moving back and forth between the GI Joe team and the Cobra team. In other versions, it may be Tommy/Storm Shadow. But this time, it was snake eyes.
Is it the so-called “performance league” for Golding to be listed as the protagonist? Maybe so, but first of all, my goodness, can we be a little bit intoxicated? Golding’s face, the face of an Asian actor, is located in the front and center of the movie poster. Golding’s face, the face of an Asian actor, appeared on the Comicon 2021 poster (at the same time as the film’s release). Golding, an Asian actor, is the leading actor. Unlike in “Crazy Rich Asians”, he is partnered with the heroine and is a nice, harmless guy who mainly shows off his abs and how good he is, but a skilled, tough action protagonist, and The ability to heat up with women. He is the leader of a franchise whose origin is to promote Americanity. Special forces.
Maybe it’s time-Golding thinks it might be-but we must make good use of this! (Did I say the next #JamesBond?)
“The industry is really working hard…what is hot now… when it comes to diversity, it’s really sad because it’s like,’What are the hot games we need to invest in now? [fore]In front of our movie? … shouldn’t even make such a decision,” Golding said. Similar to the mission statement of the creators of “Crazy Rich Asians.” Golding urged: “Let us work hard to get this industry into one all These are irrelevant stages…every time people of color are projected, like [win]…But this will be a never-ending business until…[it] Become the norm. “
Yes, this is the victory of the representative. And super fun! Count the Asian actors in the movie. There are so many! They are awesome! There is the villainous grandmother Lanying played by Ishada Eri. She started to stir up ninja fans in the finale; there is a new character, Akiko, played by Haruka Abe, who is a security chief with a heart of gold There is a gangster revenge for his injured self, played by Takehiro Hira-they are everywhere in the movie-last but not least Tommy/Storm, played by Andrew Kogi, he almost surpassed Golding’s sheer awe.
This is an interesting movie. It has swords. It has motorcycles. There are neon in the rain. It has leather. Its themes of loyalty and identity resonate, even if there are some loopholes in the way it transmits information (if swords are a glorious way of fighting, Tommy, why would allegedly dishonorable gangs use them?). But if you immerse yourself in the action, that is, literally spinning (forewarning)-if you immerse yourself in the fabulous Lanying family, their three challenges, their tenacious masters, and their blind people Master; if you let yourself fall into Golding’s act of being a snake eye, be whoever and anyone he wants, at this point-you will love it.
Kai can be info@nwasianweekly.com.
