G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)

• Play
• Add to Instant Queue
• Add

Plot Summary 

France, 1641, the Scotsman, Klan McCullen, has been accused of selling weaponry to both the Scots and the French. Instead of being executed for treason, his face is branded with a white-hot iron mask.

Now in present time, weapons expert, James McCullen (Christopher Eccleston), has created nanotechnology-based weapons with the capability of destroying an entire city.   Four warheads are sold to NATO, and the U.S. Army is tasked with delivering them.

Duke (Channing Tatum) and Ripcord (Marlon Wayans) are delivering the warheads when they are ambushed by the Baroness (Sienna Miller), who is Duke’s ex-fiancee, Ana. Duke and Ripcord are rescued by Scarlett (Rachel Nichols), Snake Eyes (Ray Park), Breaker (Saïd Taghmaoui) , Heavy Duty (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and a hologram of General Hawk (Dennis Quaid).

They take the warheads to the G.I. Joe command center and, upon arriving, meet up with General Hawk, the head of G.I. Joe. And the crew has a hologram meeting with McCullen about the warheads.

We then see McCullen on his private jet with a hologram of the Baroness.   It is revealed that the code McCullen gave G.I. Joe was, not only to open the case, but to quietly reactivate a homing beacon.

McCullen is revealed to be using the same nanotechnology to build an army of soldiers with the aid of the Doctor (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), planning on using the warheads to bring panic and bring about a new world order. Using the tracking device, McCullen locates the G.I. Joe base and sends Storm Shadow (Lee Byung-hun) and the Baroness to retrieve the warheads with assistance from Zartan (Arnold Vosloo).

Back at G.I. Joe, Hawk is made official custodian of the warheads and he dismisses Duke and Ripcord.   While they try to figure out the identity of the Baroness, Duke reveals that he knows her.

A meeting of Storm Shadow and the Baroness at her home occurs.   Storm Shadow leaves after discussing their mission and the Baroness pulls a diamond ring from her dresser and we are sent into a flashback (four years prior) of Duke proposing to Ana.   Ana’s brother, Rex, ruins the moment by saying that they have to return to post.   Ana says yes to his proposal if Duke promises to make sure nothing happens to Rex (her only remaining family)…and then the flashback ends.

Returning to The Pit, Duke and Ripcord are shown various weapons; begin target practice, and training with different techniques of fighting.

After their training and testing, Duke and Ripcord are offered to become part of the team.

Storm Shadow and the Baroness infiltrate G.I. Joe’s secret lair and steal the case of warheads after immobilizing General Hawk and murdering a corporal.   Naturally, a fight breaks out between the Joes and their enemies.   During the fight, we see a battle between Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow (along with flashbacks to when the two were children).   After the fight, Storm Shadow and the Baroness escape with the warheads and take them to Baron DeCobray, the Baroness's husband, for him to weaponize.

General Hawk is now in stable condition, but confined to a hospital bed for a few days.   Ripcord encounters Scarlett in the bathroom, crying over her loss in the fight to the Baroness (her first fight she’s lost since she was a kid).

We are then taken to Tokyo (20 years prior) to see a young Snake Eyes breaking into a home to steal food.   He is caught by a young Storm Shadow and a fight ensues.   The fight is broken up by an older gentleman (presumably Storm Shadow’s father) and the man takes Snake Eyes in as his own.

McCullen is shown holding the iron mask that once belonged to his ancestor (Klan McCullen).   We see Zartan undergoing a procedure in order to change his appearance.

Back at G.I. Joe, Ripcord realizes that the code given to them must have been a way to activate a tracking device.   They eventually find out who the Baroness is and why she stole the warheads.

On a plane to retrieve the warheads, Duke dreams of a mission (four years prior, after his engagement to Ana) in enemy territory.   Ana’s brother, Rex, is assigned to enter an enemy building to retrieve information before an airstrike occurs.   The airstrike happens too early and the building is bombed, with Rex inside.   Duke attends Rex’s funeral and drives away on his motorcycle (and then wakes up).

The Baroness and Storm Shadow pay the Baron a visit to his lab for him to weaponize the warheads.   He weaponizes them and is then murdered by Storm Shadow.

On the streets, the team is ready to stop the Baroness from unleashing the warheads.   Duke and Ripcord are equipped with high-powered, million dollar battle suits and the two of them take off after the Baroness, with Scarlett following closely behind on a motorcycle and Snake Eyes on foot.

They then realize that the intended target for the warhead is the Eiffel Tower, so they must stop them before it is destroyed.   Scarlett shoots one of the nano-mite soldiers and he falls from the enemy vehicle.   The enemy Hummer is struck by a train and thrown into the street.   Storm Shadow emerges from the totaled vehicle and runs off with one of the warheads, giving Ana the kill switch.   Duke goes for Ana to obtain the kill switch, while Ripcord goes for Storm Shadow with the warhead.   Ana winds up on the roof of the building when Storm Shadow fires the warhead.

The nano-mites begin to eat away at the tower when Ana and Storm Shadow escape.   Duke manages to jump into the escape plane and pushes the kill switch for the nano-mites and is knocked unconscious.

Back on the street, the team tries to extract information from the fallen nano-mite soldier killed earlier by Scarlett.   The nano-mites eat away at the brain before the information can be extracted, but not before being obtained by the team…revealing that McCullen is behind everything.

The Joes are arrested and we are shown the president of the United States (Jonathan Pryce).   General Hawk shows up at the containment unit to tell everybody that they are off the case and are required to return to their base.

Duke awakens to find himself on a plane with Storm Shadow and Ana.   He apologizes that Rex was killed overseas and that he had no control over it.   Ana says that everybody is sorry for something, and the camera pans to Storm Shadow, who then has a flashback to him and Snake Eyes fighting as children.   Storm Shadow is defeated by Snake Eyes in the flashback, and we learn that Storm Shadow is responsible for murdering his master (potential father).

G.I. Joe locates the secret base in the Arctic.   Duke reactivates the tracking beacon and tries to escape, but is stopped by a throwing star and taken back into the base.   As Duke is being beaten, Ana has intermittent flashbacks of her and Duke when they were together.

Duke then gets to meet the Doctor (Rex), who reveals that he was not killed in the airstrike, only injured.   He managed to escape with Dr. Mindbender, who taught him all of the nano-mite technology.

The Joe’s arrive just as soon as McCullen unleashes three missiles with nano-mite warheads (Beijing, Moscow, and Washington, DC).   The Beijing missile is disabled immediately.

Ripcord volunteers to go into the air and shoot down the remaining two missiles himself while everyone else infiltrates the base.

Ana has more flashbacks of her and Duke.   She rescues Duke from Rex’s procedure, when Rex enables the nano-mites in her system to knock her unconscious.

Snake Eyes manages to get past the pressure sensors and is now inside of the lair.   An underwater battle occurs and Heavy Duty takes out a large chunk of the undersea base.

Up in the air, Ripcord learns of the coordinates of the remaining two missiles.

Duke is now in the midst of battle between Rex and McCullen.   He re-awakens Ana as Rex and McCullen (who has severely burned his face) escape.

Now on the path of the Moscow missile, Ripcord realizes that there are no fire controls to take out the missile.   He learns that he must say “fire” in Celtic in order to destroy the missile.   He is now headed to take out the Washington, D.C. missile before it re-enters the atmosphere.

In the president’s bunker, a nano-mite soldier kills everyone in the room, leaving just him and the president.

Another battle ensues between Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow.  We learn that when his master was killed, Snake Eyes had taken a vow of silence.   Rex and McCullen board an escape sub and head for the surface…Duke and Ana follow closely behind in their own sub.

Ripcord shoots at the D.C. missile, but misses.   The missile has now gone drone.

Returning to their fight, Snake Eyes stabs Storm Shadow and he falls into the icy water below.

Back underwater, Duke fires at Rex’s sub, managing to get one shot in.

A mere hundreds of feet in front of the White House, Ripcord destroys the missile and takes the nano-mites into the upper atmosphere where he ejects, parachutes down, and gets arrested (again).

Rex gives the order to detonate the icepack.   Ana notices the other subs’ retreat, causing Duke to report that they are going to blow the icepack.   The Joes escape from the underwater base via the elevator cables as Duke and Ana continue to follow Rex.

Now that they have a moment to themselves, Rex heals McCullen's burned face with nano-mites, encasing it in silver as he christens McCullen "Destro".   He assumes the name “Cobra Commander” before they are captured by G.I. Joe soon after.

On board the USS Flagg, Ana is placed in protective custody until they can remove the nano-mites from her body.   The Joes then depart on their new mission, Operation Mongoose. 

Meanwhile, Zartan, having been earlier operated on by Rex, infiltrates the White House during the missile crisis and assumes the identity of the President of the United States.   We know that it is Zartan by the tune he whistles throughout the film.