WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins, in theaters now.
The inherent conflict between Cobra and G.I. Joe has always been at the heart of the franchise. While G.I. Joe has shifted from being a primarily American organization to becoming a global peace-keeping force in Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins, Cobra remains a chaotic and powerful alliance of criminals, terrorists and threats to the general public.
That's also true in the new film, which actually chooses not to fully engage the fight at the center of the story. The conflict between the two forces doesn't take up the primary plot in Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins, and instead serves as a piece of world-building that helps expand the scope of the world without distracting from the chief narrative -- and it's actually for the better.
The primary plot of the film focuses on the titular Snake Eyes (Henry Golding), a skilled warrior on a mission of vengeance against the man who took his father away from him. Taken in by the Clan Arashikage exile, Kenta (Takehiro Hira), Snake Eyes tries his best to earn the loyalty of the storied family -- specifically the future head of the Clan, Tommy (Andrew Koji) -- so he can steal a powerful artifact from the family. During the mission, however, Snake Eyes and his "allies" within the Clan discover that Kenta and his allies in the Yakuza are working alongside the forces of Cobra, with their contact being the Baroness (Úrsula Corberó). A high-ranking lieutenant in the organization, the Baroness wants the artifact to use it as a weapon, and is willing to give Kenta and his forces plenty of weapons to assist in it.
Throughout Snake Eyes, the conflict between G.I. Joe and Cobra is teased in the background. Tommy and his ally Akiko (Haruka Abe) reveal that the Baroness and Cobra arranged for a terrorist attack in Japan to target one member of Parliament, killing numerous civilians in the process. Scarlett is also introduced avoiding spies who work for Cobra, suggesting the conflict between the two organizations has spread all across the world and operates both in the open and in secret. The conflict at the heart of the franchise is still clearly raging, but by placing it in the background as this silent war that's been going on for years (confirmed by the revelation that Snake Eyes' father had actually been a member of the Joes), the film gives it an epic and long-running edge that previous versions of the fight lacked.
It's also notable that the Joes and Cobra are not as well-known as they appear to be in other incarnations, which more openly focused on the conflict. Instead, the Joes largely operate in secret to the public, while Cobra appears to be a loose alliance of nefarious forces, with Kenta casually betraying the Baroness when the situation calls for it without any fear of true repercussion from her and her allies. It all positions the fight as a factor of a larger world, not necessarily overwhelming the story of Arashikage's internal drama but giving it the background to come up against.
It's a clever way to introduce the global war at the heart of the G.I. Joe franchise and tease the possibility of it spilling into other films, and allows the characters in Snake Eyes to not be overwhelmed by the scope of the war. Instead, that scope gives the world a greater sense of weight behind it.
Directed by Robert Schwentke, Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins is currently playing in theaters.
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