Evidently, Snake Eyes is on a new level, or so the repeated musical refrain claims in the new trailer for the upcoming action film, which tells the origin story of everyone’s favorite G.I. Joe ninja. Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins is looking to soft-reboot the film franchise after lying dormant for a number of years thanks to a plethora of development issues and scheduling conflicts, and it’s doing so by telling Snake Eyes’ origin and his close connection with Storm Shadow.
Henry Golding portrays a young Snake Eyes, who is doing street fights and working low-level crime before he saves the life of Storm Shadow (Andrew Koji). The plot is akin to the popular comic run by Larry Hama and focuses on the “blood brother” relationship between the two ninjas. Since Storm Shadow eventually becomes Cobra Commander’s ninja bodyguard, something is obviously going to go wrong here, and it may have to do with secrets from Snake Eyes’ past. Whatever happens, there’s clearly going to be a lot of action, though this trailer is surprisingly light on it.
The film also stars Úrsula Corberó as the Baroness, Samara Weaving as Scarlett, Haruka Abe as Akiko, Takehiro Hira as Kenta, and Iko Uwais as Hard Master. It’s being directed by action-film journeyman Robert Schwentke, and Paramount/Hasbro is hoping that it will get folks back into the franchise, nearly a decade removed from G.I. Joe: Retaliation. That film was a huge hit, but the third film, which is still in the works, has yet to materialize.
In addition to the trailer, Paramount also dropped a quick behind-the-scenes featurette, which shows off a bit more footage we haven’t seen before and features Hama discussing his inspiration for the Snake Eyes / Storm Shadow relationship. Snake Eyes is set to release in theaters on July 23.
