'G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra' (PG-13)(out of four)

Somebody apparently got their summer blockbuster releases mixed up at Paramount.

That's because, for some odd reason, the studio behind "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" obviously decided that after a critical drubbing of what soon became the summer's biggest hit, made a bold decision: Don't screen its latest summer release -- "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" -- for movie critics.

It was a bad decision, first, because it frosted critics who had to begrudgingly shell out $8-$10 to give their take. Worse yet, it also enabled them to stretch negative press (in some cases justified, in others haphazardly so) over an entire week instead of potentially taking it in one shot on opening day.

The bitter irony is that by screening "Transformers 2" and holding back "G.I. Joe" from critics -- it implies that they don't have much confidence in the latter. To the average moviegoer, by sheltering the film from critics implies that it sucks. It implies that if it isn't worth it to show it them to write about, then it probably isn't worth seeing. It's probably as bad as a negative review.

How horribly mistaken the studio was. That's because "G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra" delivers the goods and then some. Sure, it's not as well-rounded as the studio's first summer hit, "Star Trek," but it easily bests "Transformers 2" -- a putrid clunker (and a clunker people paid lots of cash for, no less. So much for the bad reviews -- including mine).

Like "Transformers 2," "G.I. Joe" got its start as a Hasbro action figure, the first being 12-inch articulated soldier in 1964. By the early 1980s and the rise of the 3.75-inch action line, the characters were given identities and stories played out through comic books and cartoon shows.

Those same characters serve as a springboard for first live-action Joe adventure with "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra," a frantically paced, high-tech adventure that, unlike its "Transformers" movie and toy brethren, actually makes sense. Sure, it's not brain-surgery or Shakespeare, but Sommers, the director of "The Mummy" and "Van Helsing," has never been afraid to admit that the main thing he wants to accomplish with his movie is rip-roaring adventure.

And while he makes moves with a couple of the main characters that will certainly raise eyebrows among the diehard fans, the film should easily win over its target audience (anyone from age 7 into their teens) and for those who grew up on the cartoon Joe, it will reawaken the 10-year-old boys trapped in their adult minds.

"G.I. Joe," for the uninitiated, is a code name for an elite team of military operatives from 10 different countries from around the world that harbors the best in high-tech gadgetry and weaponry. Keeping connected to the cartoon series moniker that dub Joe a "Real American Hero," the unit is rooted in the U.S. and is led by Army General Hawk (Dennis Quaid), who reluctantly recruits two soldiers -- Duke (Channing Tatum) and Ripcord (Marlon Wayans) -- to thwart the terrorist organization Cobra's plans from launching high-tech warheads that literally disintegrate its target. Early on, they take out the Eiffel Tower in Paris -- and some major targets in the U.S. and abroad are in the crosshairs.

As you might expect, the visual effects are what drive "G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra," and while they're overwhelming at times (the action moves almost nonstop from start to finish) and at times are too video game-like (the aircraft desert scenes as planes enter Joe headquarters aren't nearly as polished as others), Sommers allows for some character development. It's by no means a deep character study, but through well-placed flashback scenes, we learn enough about most of the characters' motivations to give some weight to the story.

While Sommers trots the globe for eye-popping scenes on land, in the air, under the sea and in the desert, he's mindful not to leave his characters in the dust.

Since he's intent to hold intact the basic good-versus-evil storyline, the characters aren't entirely that complex, but the actors he's enlisted for the movie -- including Tatum, Quaid, Marlon Wayons, Christopher Eccleston (Destro), Sienna Miller (The Baroness), Rachel Nichols (Scarlett), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Heavy Duty) and Arnold Vosloo (Zartan) -- are more than enough qualified to handle their roles. And what the characters may lack in depth more than make up for it in presence, especially Miller and Nichols, who not only look stunning, but bring some sexy edge to their sass (and mix it up quite well in a hard-hitting fight scene).

Wayans, meanwhile, fits the bill by bring the movie its comic relief, while Eccleston clearly revels his villainy as the Scottish arms supplier destined to become Destro. Ray Park and Byung-Hun Lee handily bring some high-energy martial arts to the fold as Joe ninja Snake Eyes and Cobra assassin Storm Shadow, respectively, while flashbacks to their youth and martial arts origins give more dimensions to their characters.

True, while characters like the mysterious Cobra member known as The Doctor (Joseph-Gordon Levitt) are more cartoonish than others (Hawk is, too, to a lesser degree), you have to remember, this is at heart a comic book movie. If the characters aren't outlandish, heroic or villainous (even Darth Vader-ish, at one point), it kind of misses the whole point of why "G.I. Joe" was made into a movie in the first place.

While "G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra" is far from perfect, it's far better a movie than the critical mass who shelled out the money are making it out to be. It's not political. It's not jingoistic or, on the flip side, anti-American. It doesn't pander to please, or exploit anybody or anything. "G.I. Joe" is nothing but a movie that aims to entertain an audience that wants to escape.

If there's any lesson to be learned from "G.I. Joe," it's not from the movie, but from the decision makers who pulled the final triggers. And that would be, don't let the reaction to one movie influence how you approach the other. Let the other stand on its own merits. And for "G.I. Joe," and for what it sets out to do -- no matter how big, stupid, loud, shallow or whatever else some will undoubtedly declare it -- it accomplishes its intended mission. What better could you hope for?