★★★☆☆

There have just been too many comic book movies lately. I think I’ve finally figured it out. The only way to make a new comic book movie work is to have a Scarlett Johansson or a Robert Downey Jr. to make them work. You’ve gotta have someone that takes the work seriously, but not the role. What I mean by that is they know it is a joke and the let the audience in on the joke.

I think that is what was missing here. They tried to add it with the counter terrorism agent, but it was too little too late. Don’t get me wrong, all of the actors went full title for the stunts and the fight scenes. There was nothing lacking there. It’s just hard to take a comic book movie seriously and nobody seemed to be letting us in on the joke.

They tried to create some love relationship or at least infer it, but it didn’t seem to really work either.

This isn’t a bad movie. It’s just not a “feel good” movie like Iron Man or The Holiday. (Tossed you there with that one didn’t I? You thought I was going to stay within the world of comic books.) Both of these films have a high rewatchable factor. They don’t need a whole lot of plot. The actors have that special something magazines used to call “the ‘it‘ factor.” Sadly Cameron Diaz has since retired from acting.

Comic Book Movies Can’t Lack Cheese

In fact, now that I’ve brought up The Holiday, I know what was wrong with Snake Eyes. The Holiday knew it was a cheesy romance movie and they piled on the cheese.

  • They had all kinds of up-lifting happy music scattered about at “queue the popcorn” moments.
  • They had Hal Douglas doing cheesy voice overs that really ladled it on making things work even better. A voice that we all knew from commercials, trailers, and television show lead ins.
  • They had Kate Winslet getting gumption and a host of other cheesy little stories.

Snake Eyes forgot to bring the cheese. It took itself a bit too seriously for too long. By the time it broke out the cheese it was too late.

If you want to watch martial arts stuff of a comic book story nature that brings some great tasting cheese to the table watch Kung Fu on the CW. Take the martial arts serious, just not the rest of the show. That’s how you pull this genre off.

For more movie rental ideas please see list one and list two.