GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra (12A)

GI JOE is almost as popular a doll in the US as Barbie. Starting out as an Action Man-type figure, in the 1980s he was joined by a team of super-elite soldiers and now they have their own action film.

Directed by The Mummy director Stephen Sommers,G.I. JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA (12A), has an impressive cast including Christopher Eccleston, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Sienna Miller, Ray Park, Marlon Wayans and Dennis Quaid.

Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura says: "While we're respectful of the original 12-inch GI Joe, this movie is not a toy movie. It's really based on the comic book series from the '80s that comes with an intricate mythology and a whole group of fully fleshed-out characters."

The team in the movie is made up of Ripcord, an expert marksman and weapons specialist; Snake Eyes, a ninja warrior; Scarlett, a martial arts master and skilled with a gas-propelled crossbow pistol; Breaker a specialist in deciphering covert electronics and technology; Heavy Duty, the team's weapons specialist; General Hawk, their commander; Courtney "Cover Girl" Kreiger, a runway model-turned-spy; and Duke, a combat veteran.

The story is typical of action adventure films, the elite team travels from one exotic location to another - from the Central Asian mountains to the deserts of Egypt, through the crowded streets of Paris to beneath the ice cap of the North Pole - using the latest in next-generation spy technology and military equipment to fight the duplicitous arms dealer Destro and the growing threat of the mysterious Cobra organisation from plunging the world into chaos.

For Wayans, working on the film was like being on a thrill ride. "We get to do a lot of fighting, kind of like when we were kids playing cowboys and Indians, or army soldiers or war. Except now I'm getting paid."

Expect lots of merchandise.