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Fails the Bechdel test

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

2009. Directed by Stephen Sommers, written by Stuart Beattie and David Elliot and Paul Lovett.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

1 / 3

Fails

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    5 women characters. 2 of them speak.
  2. No 2. Who talk to each other
    Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other.
  3. No 3. About something besides a man
    Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.

Poster for G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

The film

Two soldiers stationed in Kazahkstan (Captain Duke Hauser and his partner "Ripcord") are ordered to transport special warheads created by MARS, an arms' manufacturer controlled by James McCullen. When they are attacked by thieves (led by Anastasia DeCobray, with whom Duke has history), they are saved by a top secret, international special forces unit known as "G.I. Joe". The leader of G.I. Joe, General Abernathy (or Hawk) is on the trail of the thieves: an evil organization called "Cobra". While Duke and Ripcord train to join the Joes, McCullen ("Destro") is secretly working for Cobra and plotting to recapture his metal-eating "Nanomite" warheads. Duke and Ripcord (with help from Heavy Duty, Snake Eyes, and the rest of the Joes) must prove that they are Real American Heroes -- by stopping the launch of these warheads before Cobra uses them to take over the world.

Released
07 Aug 2009
Genres
Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Rated
PG-13
IMDb
5.7 / 10
Metascore
32 / 100
Awards
4 wins & 16 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Ripcord 150 lines, man
  2. Duke 146 lines, man
  3. Scarlett 94 lines, man
  4. Mccullen 81 lines, man
  5. Ana 65 lines, woman
  6. Breaker 62 lines, man
  7. Hawk 50 lines, man
  8. The Doctor 40 lines, man
  9. Heavy Duty 33 lines, man
  10. Decobray 15 lines
Full cast, 47 people
  • Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Heavy Duty
  • Christopher Eccleston as McCullen / Destro
  • Lee Byung-hun as Storm Shadow
  • Joseph Gordon-Levitt as The Doctor / Rex
  • Sienna Miller as Ana Lewis / Baroness
  • Rachel Nichols as Scarlet
  • Ray Park as Snake Eyes
  • Jonathan Pryce as U.S. President
  • Saïd Taghmaoui as Breaker
  • Channing Tatum as Duke
  • Arnold Vosloo as Zartan
  • Marlon Wayans as Ripcord
  • Dennis Quaid as General Hawk
  • Grégory Fitoussi as Baron de Cobray
  • Leo Howard as Young Snake Eyes
  • Karolína Kurková as Cover Girl
  • David Murray as James McCullen - 1641
  • Kevin J. O'Connor as Doctor Mindbender
  • Gerald Okamura as Hard Master
  • Brandon Soo Hoo as Young Storm Shadow
  • Christopher Akers as G.I. Joe Security Tech
  • Fabrice Baral as CNN Reporter
  • Michael Benyaer as Flight Control Technician
  • Peter Breitmayer as Dr. Hundtkinder
  • Michael Broderick as Screaming Man
  • Elena Evangelo as White House Staff
  • Mark Hames as White House Staff
  • Jacques Frantz as Bastille Prison Warden
  • Wayne Lopez as G.I. Joe Security Tech
  • Kellie Matteson as G.I. Joe Control Room Technician
  • Burton Perez as Bravo Soldier
  • Bob Rumnock as M.A.R.S. Lab Worker
  • Robert Russell as Bastille Prison Priest
  • Ashley Sommers as Little Girl
  • Michael Sommers as Neo Viper Secret Service
  • Gunner Wright as Secret Service Agent
  • Duncan Bravo as Foreign General
  • Charles Howerton as Foreign General
  • Robert Almodovar as Foreign General
  • David Jean Thomas as Foreign General
  • Ken Thomas as Apache Navigator
  • Frederic Doss as Apache Navigator
  • Buzz Covington as Apache Helicopter Pilot
  • Ron Thompson as Apache Helicopter Pilot
  • Brendan Fraser as Sgt. Stone (uncredited)
  • Larry Hama as NATO General (uncredited)
  • Martin Chan as G.I. Joe Soldier (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 5 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 9% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 199

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers
ScenesWomen's linesMen's lines
1 to 5011
6 to 10035
11 to 15028
16 to 2003
21 to 25343
26 to 30021
31 to 35796
36 to 401028
41 to 45843
46 to 5002
51 to 55533
56 to 60611
61 to 65115
66 to 70031
71 to 75023
76 to 80015
81 to 8542
86 to 9024
91 to 9507
96 to 10003
101 to 10518
106 to 110220
111 to 115031
116 to 1201016
121 to 125316
126 to 130027
131 to 13504
136 to 140038
141 to 14516
146 to 15003
151 to 155014
156 to 160017
161 to 16503
166 to 17001
171 to 175013
176 to 18003
181 to 18509
186 to 19006
191 to 19507
196 to 199410

The evidence

  • Straight from the script
  • Counted from the script and the credits

Tap an exhibit to open it.

Exhibit A: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 9 are women's.

67 lines from women, 706 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

5 women and 36 men in the cast. 2 women and 20 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 105 of 854. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 104 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

  • First line by a woman
  • Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 10% of the words (1,354), men 90% (12,483). Women have 9% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.

Exhibit D: the test the other way

Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.

Conversations between two named characters

Exhibit E: behind the camera

4 of the 19 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 20% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Stephen Sommers (man)
Written by
Stuart Beattie (man), David Elliot (man), Paul Lovett (man)
Story by
Stuart Beattie (man), Stephen Sommers (man), Michael B. Gordon (man)
Produced by
Lorenzo di Bonaventura (man), Bob Ducsay (man), Brian Goldner (man)
Shot by
Mitchell Amundsen (man)
Edited by
Bob Ducsay (man), Jim May (man), Kelly Matsumoto (woman)
Music by
Alan Silvestri (man)
Production design by
Ed Verreaux (man)
Costumes by
Ellen Mirojnick (woman)
Cast by
Nancy Bishop (woman), Ronna Kress (woman)

The crew, department by department

  • Other crew

    10 women, 50 men, 11 not listed

  • Art

    5 women, 8 men, 10 not listed

  • Sound

    1 women, 17 men, 3 not listed

  • Visual Effects

    2 women, 9 men, 8 not listed

  • Production

    6 women, 10 men, 1 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    5 women, 6 men, 5 not listed

  • Camera

    0 women, 6 men, 2 not listed

  • Writing

    0 women, 6 men

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit F: how old the stars were

Women: 28 on average. Men: 39 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Sienna Miller 27, Rachel Nichols 29

Men

Joseph Gordon-Levitt 28, Channing Tatum 29, Ray Park 34, Saïd Taghmaoui 36, Lee Byung-hun 39, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje 41, Christopher Eccleston 45, Jonathan Pryce 62

Exhibit G: the money

It made 1.7 times what it cost.

Budget
$175 million
Box office
$303 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 199 scenes and 854 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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