G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

 Released Year: 2009

Directed by Stephen Sommers

Casted by:

Channing Tatum as Conrad S. Hauser / Duke

Marlon Wayans as Wallace A. Weems / Ripcord

Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Rexford G. "Rex" Lewis / Cobra Commander

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Hershel Dalton / Heavy Duty

Dennis Quaid as General Clayton M. Abernathy / Hawk

Rachel Nichols as Shana M. O'Hara / Scarlett

Ray Park as Snake Eyes

Christopher Eccleston as Laird James McCullen XXIV / Destro

Sienna Miller as Anastasia DeCobray / Ana Lewis / The Baroness

李炳憲 Lee Byung-hun as Thomas Arashikage / Storm Shadow

 Story:

In the near future, weapons master James McCullen has created a nanotech-based weapon - nanomites designed to devour metal and other materials, capable of destroying anything from tanks to cities. The nanobots can only be stopped by activating the kill switch. His company M.A.R.S. (Military Armaments Research Syndicate) sells four warheads to NATO, and NATO troops led by American soldiers Duke and Ripcord are tasked with delivering the warheads. Their convoy is ambushed by the Baroness, whom Duke recognizes to be his ex-fiancee Ana Lewis. Duke and Ripcord are rescued by Scarlett, Snake Eyes, Breaker and Heavy Duty. They take the warheads to The Pit, G.I. Joe's command center in Egypt, and upon arriving rendezvous with the head of the G.I. Joe Team, General Hawk. Hawk takes command of the warheads and excuses Duke and Ripcord, only to be convinced to let them join his group, after Duke reveals that he knows the Baroness.

McCullen is revealed to be using the same nanotechnology to build an army of soldiers with the aid of the Doctor, planning on using the warheads to cause worldwide panic and bring about a new world order. Using a tracking device, McCullen locates the G.I. Joe base and sends Storm Shadow and the Baroness to retrieve the warheads, with assistance from Zartan.

After a fight, Storm Shadow and the Baroness retrieve the warheads and take them to Baron DeCobray, the Baroness's husband, for him to weaponize. Making their way to Paris, the Joes pursue the Baroness and Storm Shadow, but are unsuccessful in stopping them from launching one of the missiles. The missile hits the Eiffel Tower and releases the nanomites in it, destroying the tower and some of the surrounding area before Duke manages to hit the kill switch, but in doing so he is captured and taken to McCullen's base under the Arctic.

The Joes locate the secret base and fly there, as McCullen loads three missiles with nano-warheads, which are aimed for Beijing, Moscow and Washington, D.C., the world's three most important cities. He intends to do this to strike fear into the hearts of every man, woman, and child on the planet, after which they will turn to the person with the most power in the world, the President of the United States. After Snake Eyes takes out one missile, Ripcord destroys the remaining two using a stolen M.A.R.S. prototype Night Raven jet, while Scarlett, Breaker, and Snake Eyes infiltrate the base. Snake Eyes duels and prevails over Storm Shadow. Duke learns that the Doctor is Rex Lewis, Ana's brother believed to have been killed by a mistimed airstrike during a mission led by Duke (also the origin of the alienation between Duke and Ana). Rex had encountered Doctor Mindbender in the bunker and was seduced by the nanomite technology, taking too long to retrieve the data and getting caught in the bombing, which disfigured him. After freeing Duke, the Baroness is subdued, as the Doctor reveals he has implanted her with nanomites, which has put her under his control for the past four years. Attempting to kill Duke, McCullen ends up being burned, so he and the Doctor flee to an escape vessel. Duke and the Baroness pursue him while the Joes fall back, when the Doctor activates the base's self-destruct sequence; which involves 'blowing the ice cap' to create blocks of ice which then nearly crush the Joes.

The Doctor assumes the identity of the Commander, having healed McCullen's burned face with nanomites, encasing it in silver and naming him "Destro", which places McCullen under the Commander's control. They are captured by G.I. Joe soon after. On the supercarrier USS Flagg, the Baroness is placed in protective custody until they can remove the nanomites from her body. Meanwhile, Zartan, having had his physical appearance altered by nanomites, infiltrates the White House during the missile crisis and assumes the identity of the President of the United States of America, thus completing a part of McCullen's plan to rule the world.

 L² Scored: 4.5/10 

L² Comment:

Seriously, i'm not sure why i don't really this movie, no matter when i watch it in the cinema or even rewatching it now. Beside Channing Tatum, there's nothing really attracted me, of course ByungHun too haha... Overall this movie is so so, won't consider to rewatch for the 3rd time~

White House Down

 Released Year: 2013

Directed by Roland Emmerich

Casted by:

Channing Tatum as John Cale

Jamie Foxx as James William Sawyer

Joey King as Emily Cale

Maggie Gyllenhaal as Carol Finnerty

Story:

John Cale is a United States Capitol Police officer and former U.S Army soldier assigned to Speaker of the House of Representatives Eli Raphelson after Cale saved Raphelson's nephew's life during a tour in Afghanistan. Cale is struggling to develop a better relationship with his daughter Emily, who has a strong enthusiasm for politics. She became angry when Cale failed to attend her school talent show due to an unexpected delay on his work shift. He hopes to impress her by getting a job with the Secret Service, but the interview is conducted by Carol Finnerty, a former college acquaintance of his who believes that he is unqualified. After Cale lies to Emily about the outcome of the interview, the two join a tour of the White House. At the same time, United States President James Sawyer proposes a controversial peace treaty between allied countries to remove military forces from the Middle East.

Meanwhile, a man disguised as a janitor detonates a bomb at the center of the United States Capitol, causing the collapse of the building's dome. Raphelson – who was in the Capitol but is uninjured – and Finnerty are taken to a secure command center underneath The Pentagon while Vice President Alvin Hammond is taken aboard Air Force One. The White House is put on lockdown, separating Cale from Emily (who had left the tour group to use the restroom). Meanwhile, terrorists led by Emil Stenz start killing off most of the Secret Service and take the tour group hostage, but Cale manages to take a gun from one of Stenz's henchmen named Ritter and escapes to go and find his daughter. Meanwhile, retiring Head of the Presidential Detail Martin Walker escorts President Sawyer and his detail to the Presidential Emergency Operations Center. Once Sawyer gains access, Walker kills everyone else in Sawyer's detail, revealing himself to be the leader of the attack; he wants revenge for his son, who was killed during a botched black ops mission. Cale, who fails to find Emily, uses his radio from Ritter to locate and rescue the President.

Walker and Stenz bring in Skip Tyler to hack into the defense system, but they still require Sawyer to activate the nuclear football. Emily, while hiding, records a video of the mercenaries and uploads it to YouTube before eventually being captured by Carl Killick, one of the terrorists. Walker demands $400 million from the Federal Reserve as ransom for the hostages. Cale and Sawyer manage to contact the Pentagon, and Finnerty tells Cale to get Sawyer out through a series of secret underground tunnels. Finnerty then uses Emily's video to discover the mercenaries' identities, realizing that they used to work for various government agencies and radical political groups. They are informed that Stenz, a former Delta Force and Central Intelligence Agency operative, was disavowed and burned on mission, leading to his capture by the Taliban. They also discover that Walker has a brain tumor which occasionally causes mental breakdowns, suggesting his involvement to be a suicide mission and not for ransom. Cale and Sawyer find the tunnel gate rigged with an explosive and are forced to escape in a presidential limousine. After a car chase with Stenz on the White House lawn, Cale and Sawyer are flipped into the White House pool after Cale gets distracted by the sight of Killick holding Emily at gunpoint. A gunfight erupts which results in an explosion that leaves Sawyer and Cale presumed dead. Aboard Air Force One, Hammond is sworn in as President.

When Cale and Sawyer reveal they are still alive, they learn Hammond has approved an aerial incursion by Delta Force to take back the White House. Knowing the hijackers have Javelin surface-to-air missiles, Cale tries but fails to stop the hijackers from shooting down the helicopters. Cale gets into a fight with Stenz and ends up dropping his White House passes for himself and Emily while escaping. Having already learned of Emily from the video, Stenz, knowing that she is Cale's daughter, takes her to Walker in the Oval Office. Meanwhile, Tyler finishes the upload to NORAD and launches a missile at Air Force One, killing everyone on board, including Hammond. Raphelson is then sworn in as President and, in a last ditch effort to end the crisis, orders an air strike on the White House.

Walker tells Cale over the White House intercom to surrender Sawyer or he will shoot Emily. Sawyer ultimately surrenders himself to save Emily, knowing Cale could still save them both if he were free. Holding the pair in the Oval Office, Walker reveals to Sawyer that his motive for the attack was to convey a message of American power. Because of Sawyer's dislike of military force, as well as backing out of the mission that killed his son, Walker had grown to believe Sawyer was too weak to be President; by launching a nuclear attack on Iran, Walker had hoped to regain international respect for America and avenge his own personal loss. He asks for Sawyer to activate the nuclear football, but Sawyer refuses. When Walker threatens to shoot Emily again, Sawyer still declined, explaining to Emily that lots of people will die, which she understands. Just as Walker is about to pull the trigger, the alarms and sprinklers are activated by Cale setting fire to the Lincoln Bedroom. In the chaos, Tyler tries to escape, but encounters the tunnel gate bomb. When he tries to deactivate it, it detonates instead, killing him. Killick finds Cale and tries to kill him, but is ambushed by Donnie Donaldson, the White House tour guide, who bludgeons Killick to death with a clock. After freeing the hostages and trusting Donnie to get them out safely, Cale battles Stenz and ultimately kills him with a grenade belt.

Using the explosion to catch him off guard, Sawyer attacks a distracted Walker, but Walker gains the upper hand and forces Sawyer to activate the football before apparently shooting him dead. Using updated launch codes from an anonymous source, Walker targets various cities in Iran, but before he can initiate the launch, Cale smashes through the wall of the Oval Office with a presidential SUV, and kills Walker with the SUV's minigun. Emily learns of the air strike, and she takes a presidential flag and waves it on the front lawn, prompting the pilots to call off the attack. Meanwhile, Sawyer reveals himself to be alive since the bullet that hit him had been stopped by a pocket watch given to him by his wife. Finnerty calls them to reveal that the hijackers were not hired by Walker, and that there is another person behind the attack. Cale realizes who it is and asks Sawyer for his help in exposing the person.

Later, Finnerty arrives at the White House with Raphelson. When Cale tells them Sawyer was killed, Raphelson orders troops to be placed back into the Middle East, which would go against Sawyer's peace treaty. Cale then reveals that Raphelson had conspired with Walker to orchestrate the attack because of Raphelson's opposition to Sawyer's treaty and then proves it by having Finnerty call the call-back number on Walker's pager, which was the source of the updated launch codes. Sawyer arrives and has Raphelson taken into custody, treating his taking of the Presidency as a coup d'état. Sawyer then officially makes Cale a Secret Service Special Agent, and takes him and Emily on an aerial tour of Washington, D.C. on his way to the hospital. Realizing an increased need for peace due to the day's events, the presidents of Iran, Russia, Israel, and France agree to sign Sawyer's peace treaty.

L² Scored: 3/10

L² Comment:

Once again, it prove that i'm so not into this kind of movie which i boringly and hope the movie will end fast. No doubt i like Channing Tatum a lot but it won't save me from falling asleep in the mid of the movie. yawn

She's the Man

  Released Year: 2006

Directed by Andy Fickman

 

Casted by:

Amanda Bynes as Viola/Sebastian Hastings
 Channing Tatum as Duke Orsino
 Laura Ramsey as Olivia Lennox
 James Kirk as Sebastian Hastings

 Story:

Viola Hastings is a high school soccer player at Cornwall, which has just cut its girls' soccer team. After her request to join the boys team is refused by the misogynistic coach, she finds a way to play for Cornwall's rival, Illyria, which is a boarding school. Viola's twin brother, Sebastian, is supposed to enter Illyria as a new student, and since he is instead going to a contest in London with his fledgling band, Sebastian asks Viola to cover for him by telling the school that he is sick and making each of their parents (who are divorced) think that he is staying with the other.

Viola instead decides to pass herself off as Sebastian and join the boys' soccer team at Illyria. She hopes to beat the Cornwall team and humiliate her cocky ex-boyfriend, Justin, who plays for the rival team. With the help of her stylist friend Paul and his girlfriends, Viola becomes the quirky "Sebastian".

At Illyria, Viola's roommate is Duke Orsino a good-looking striker on the soccer team. Tryouts see Viola assigned to second string, much to her dismay. Meanwhile, "Sebastian's" lab partner, Olivia develops a crush on him, which frustrates Duke, who likes Olivia. In exchange for "Sebastian's" help in getting Olivia's attention, Duke agrees to put in extra soccer practice time with him. Coach Dinklage eventually moves "Sebastian" up to first string, and he is delighted.

“Sebastian” is reminded, by a message from his mother, about the Junior League carnival that the siblings promised to attend. Due to the fact that Duke’s mother is also a part of the Junior League, he must go as well. “Sebastian” is forced to switch between herself (Viola) and Sebastian the whole time, while trying to avoid her mother and Monique, Sebastian's ex-girlfriend, so that she is not discovered as impersonating her brother. Viola is trying to run around and do both her and her brother’s jobs at the carnival. Duke misses his chance with Olivia when her shift is up at the kissing booth. He is not disappointed by her replacement, who turns out to be “Sebastian’s” sister, Viola. Duke and Viola meet for the first time and exchange their kiss at the kissing booth, only to be interrupted by Viola’s ex-boyfriend, Justin. Duke and Justin get into a fight and decide they will finish the battle on the soccer field. Duke realizes he might be crushing not only on Olivia, but on Viola as well.

Olivia goes on a date with Duke to make "Sebastian" jealous, remaining far more interested in him than in Duke. Encouraged by Viola, she decides to go directly to Sebastian and tell him how she feels.

The plot becomes complicated when the real Sebastian returns from London a day early. When he arrives at Illyria, Olivia runs up and kisses him. Duke, seeing this, believes his roommate has betrayed him and after arguing with "Sebastian" kicks him out. Viola stays in Eunice's room and oversleeps, causing the real Sebastian to wind up on the pitch playing in what should be his sister's spot in the next day's much-anticipated game against Cornwall. Principal Gold, who has been told of Viola's impersonating Sebastian by a student and Sebastian's ex-girlfriend, Malcom and Monique, he halts the game and informs the crowd that Sebastian is a girl. The real Sebastian being present instead, he proves himself to be male by pulling down his shorts and exposing his genitals off-screen. At half-time, Viola explains the situation to Sebastian and they switch places again.

Later on in the game Viola explains that she has been impersonating her brother, finally convincing Duke and everyone else by showing them her breasts (again, off screen). The coach agrees to let Viola keep playing anyway, sternly informing the Cornwall coach that Illyria doesn't discriminate based on gender and he calls out the coach for his sexist ways. Illyria wins the game on a penalty kick when Viola scores a goal (after a save and then pass from Duke), finally humiliating Justin and the rest of the Cornwall boys, Justin cries.

Everyone at Illyria celebrates their victory over Cornwall, except for Duke who is hurt at Viola's deception. She invites Duke to her debutante ball, but she leaves as he doesn't show. Whilst in the garden, Duke turns up and they head to the debutante ball, where they are introduced, come on stage, and kiss. Monique and Justin come on stage together followed by Olivia and Sebastian. At the end of the film, Viola and Duke are shown playing on the soccer team of Illyria a year later, both on the first string.

L² Scored: 5/10

 

L² Comment:

Surprisingly after some make up, Bynes does look a bit like Kiri and kinda cute too. But as her own gender, she's just simple and not really that attractive at all. Overall the storyline is predictable but luckily my favorite Tatum is here :)

G.I. Joe: Retaliation

 Released Year: 2013

Directed by Jon M. Chu

Casted by:

Dwayne Johnson as Roadblock (Marvin F. Hinton) 

李炳憲 Byung-hun Lee as Storm Shadow (Thomas Arashikage)

D.J. Cotrona as Flint (Dashiell R. Faireborn)
Adrianne Palicki as Lady Jaye (Jaye Burnett)
Jonathan Pryce as the President of the United States
 Bruce Willis as General Joseph Colton
Ray Park as Snake Eyes
Elodie Yung as Jinx
Channing Tatum as Duke (Conrad S. Hauser)

 Story:

The Joes are framed for stealing nuclear warheads from Pakistan by Zartan who is impersonating the President of the United States. The entire team is eliminated in a military strike, with Duke as one of the casualties. Roadblock, Flint and Lady Jaye are the only survivors.

Meanwhile, Storm Shadow and ex-Joe Firefly rescue Cobra Commander  from an underground maximum-security prison in Germany. Storm Shadow is injured during the escape, and retreats to a temple in the Himalayas to recover. Upon learning that he is alive, the Blind Master, leader of the Arashikage Clan, sends Snake Eyes and his apprentice Jinx, Storm Shadow's cousin, to capture Storm Shadow so he can answer for the murder of his uncle, the Hard Master.

Roadblock, Flint, and Lady Jaye return to the United States where they set up a base of operations in a rundown gym. After Zartan announces that Cobra will replace the Joes as America's main protective unit, Lady Jaye deduces that someone is impersonating the President, and Roadblock leads them to General Joseph Colton, who provides them with weapons and helps them infiltrate a fundraising event that the President will be attending. Lady Jaye steals a sample of the President's DNA and confirms that he is Zartan. They escape after a brief confrontation with Firefly and Zandar, the head of the Presidential Detail and a member of Cobra.

Snake Eyes and Jinx locate and capture Storm Shadow after a battle with ninjas and take him back to Japan, where Storm Shadow reveals that Zartan murdered the Hard Master and he joined Cobra to avenge his uncle. Storm Shadow then accompanies Snake Eyes and Jinx as they join the Joes' efforts to stop Cobra.

Zartan invites the world leaders to a summit, where he blackmails them into disabling their nuclear arsenals, and reveals that he has created Project Zeus: seven orbital kinetic bombardment weapons of mass destruction at his command. He destroys central London to prove his superiority, and threatens to destroy other capitals if the countries don't submit to Cobra. However, Storm Shadow betrays Cobra Commander and kills Zartan, revealing Cobra's deception to the world leaders. While Snake Eyes, Jinx, and Flint fight Cobra's soldiers, Cobra Commander activates the remaining six weapons and instructs Firefly to protect the launch device. Firefly is killed in combat by Roadblock, who deactivates and destroys the orbital weapons. Meanwhile, Colton and Lady Jaye rescue the President.

Cobra Commander escapes during the battle and Storm Shadow disappears after avenging his uncle. The real President addresses the nation at a ceremony where Roadblock, Jaye, Flint, Jinx, and Snake Eyes are commemorated as heroes. Colton thanks each of them, and presents Roadblock with the gun of General Patton, an M1911 pistol, to use when he finally finds Cobra Commander. Roadblock proudly raises the weapon and lets out a single shot.

 L² Scored: 6.5/10

L² Comment:

Well this movie is definitely not better than it first movie in previous 2009. Of course ByungHun showing off his nice toned body is a yummy yummy things for us, but i just totally lost interest on this movie after Channing Tatum die :( lol, ok, the one scene i love the most is the fighting scene on the snow hill cliff, cool huh? Bet a lot of graphic has been used to beautified the whole scenery of it~

The Vow

 Released Year: 2012

Directed by Michael Sucsy

Casted by:

Rachel McAdams as Paige Collins
Channing Tatum as Leo Collins
Jessica Lange as Rita Thornton
Sam Neill as Bill Thornton
Jessica McNamee as Gwen

 Story:

Paige Collins and her husband Leo come out of a movie theater. On their way home, at a stop sign, Paige unbuckles her seatbelt to lean over and kiss Leo. At that very moment, a truck rams their car from behind and Paige crashes through the windshield. Both of them are rushed to the emergency room, and as Leo, in a voice-over talks about how "moments of impact help in finding who we are" the movie cuts to how Paige and Leo first met. The scenes of how they courted, proposed and married are interwoven with the present.

When Paige regains consciousness, she thinks Leo is her doctor, having lost all memories of the past few years. When her parents, Bill and Rita Thornton, learn about this and visit her, it is the first time that Leo meets them. Paige does not understand why she left law school, broke her engagement with her previous fiancé, Jeremy, and why she has not been in touch with her family and friends. Her parents insist on taking her home with them and Paige agrees, assuming she might have married Leo for some mutual benefit and seeks evidence for the marriage. Just as she's about to leave, Leo comes running to play her a voice message in which she sounds very happy and romantic. Paige decides to go back with Leo, hoping it will help her regain her lost memory. Paige is welcomed home with a surprise party by her friends, but as she is not able to remember any of them, she finds it overwhelming and bursts out in anger.

The next day Paige ventures out to her regular cafe but does not remember having been there and loses her way back. She calls her mother because she does not know or remember Leo's number. That evening Leo and Paige are invited for dinner by her parents. At the dinner and in the bar later, Leo does not fit in with her family and friends. He persists in his attempts to help her regain her memory, but Paige is more driven to learning why she left law school and broke her engagement to Jeremy. During the course of one encounter with Jeremy, she kisses him. Her doctor advises her to fill the holes in her memory rather than be afraid of her past. With her sister Gwen's wedding approaching, Paige decides to stay with her parents until the wedding. Though Leo asks her out on a date and spends a night with her, the relationship is further strained when Paige's dad tries to persuade Leo to divorce his daughter, and by Leo punching Jeremy for talking about chances to bed his wife.

Paige rejoins law school and Leo signs divorce papers. At a store, she meets an old friend who, unaware of her amnesia, apologizes for having had a relationship with Paige's dad, thus alerting Paige as to why she had left her family. When she confronts her mother about this, Rita tells her that she decided to stay with Bill for all the things he had done right instead of leaving him for one wrong act. Paige then asks Leo why he never told her, and he replies he wanted to earn her love instead of driving her away from her parents. Paige, while in class, starts sketching; thus depicting how she first left law school. She continues her interest in art, eventually returning to sculpting and drawing. Though Jeremy confesses he broke up with his present girlfriend, hoping to be back with her, she turns him down stating she needs to know what life would be like without him.

As seasons change, Leo discusses his philosophy about "Moments of impact". "A moment of impact whose potential for change has ripple effects far beyond what we can predict. Sending some particles crashing together, making them closer than before. While sending others, spinning off into great ventures, landing where you never thought you’d find them..." Back in her room, Paige finds the menu card on which she had written her wedding vows and is deeply moved. The movie ends with Paige waiting for Leo at their regular Cafe Mnemonic and going with him to try a new place instead of their regular alternative.

   L² Scored: 9/10

L² Comment:

This is based on a real story of Kim & Krickitt Carpenter, whom Kim has never remember back the old memories that she has with her husband.

The storyline is nice, very romantic and warm. The add on points will be Channing Tatum juicy ass, so yummy :)

The Son of No One

 Released Year: 2011

Directed by Dito Montiel

Casted by:

Channing Tatum as Jonathan White 

Al Pacino as Detective Stanford
Ray Liotta as Captain Marion Mathers
Katie Holmes as Kerry White

 Story:

 A young cop, Jonathan White is assigned to a precinct in the Queens neighborhood, where he grew up. To provide for his wife and ailing daughter, he works hard to keep his life on track. But this life is threatened when a dark secret bubbles to the surface. An anonymous source reveals new information about an unsolved murder by two boys and a possible police cover-up, setting off a chain of events that rattles the neighborhood.

 Jonathan's childhood flash as he accidentally killed a guy in a bathroom and cause his friend to go into jail, just to cover him. The young Jonathan was questioned by Detective Standford who knows everything but did not reveal him to the justice. As he grows old, his childhood history was found by his superior Captain Marions. Jonathan reveal the darkness of the police dept to a journalist and was threaten by Marions. In the end, the childhood friend killed Marions to free Jonathan from his control.

 L² Scored: 3/10

L² Comment:

Though i love Channing Tatum, but i really can't stand this film. The pace is slow and the storyline is a bit difficult to understand until the final part. But however, Tatum looks kinda matured in this film and Holmes look as ugly as she always is....