In an action movie, kinetic energy and fight scenes matter as much as dialogue, so it makes perfect sense that the new G.I. Joe movie is centered around a character who never speaks. SNAKE EYES: G.I. JOE ORIGINS tells the story of the black-clad ninja Snake Eyes, played by Ray Park in the first two toy-inspired movies. But this new movie will vastly expand the big-screen vision of the character — and will allow him to open his mouth.

Henry Golding (CRAZY RICH ASIANS, THE GENTLEMEN) steps into the ninja's all-black garb. While some of the detail about SNAKE EYES is as unknown as the truth about a cult of assassins, we know that, with Golding in the role, we'll see a lot of the lead character's face. As for the rest — well, here's everything we know about SNAKE EYES.

SNAKE EYES: G.I. JOE ORIGINS is set to open on July 23, 2021. That puts it in theatres about eight years after the release of the last movie in the series, G.I. JOE: RETALIATION, in which Ray Park played Snake Eyes for the second time.

This first SNAKE EYES trailer immediately sets the movie apart from the other G.I. Joe films. It is far more character-focused for one, and also far more accurate to the comics and animation that made those characters popular in the first place. Plus there's the appeal of Henry Golding and several hints of great action.

Ever since Hasbro launched a revamped line of G.I. Joe action figures back in the early '80s — accompanied by a Marvel Comics series and soon an animated TV show — Snake Eyes has been one of the driving characters. He's powerful and mysterious, and that combo has driven a serious fandom for the character.

It was the Marvel comic book series, and in particular the work of writer Larry Hama, which gave Snake Eyes a backstory. In that series, which canonized many details about the character, Snake Eyes was a recon specialist in the war in Vietnam, where he served alongside multiple future Joes. A helicopter crash disfigured the soldier and destroyed his vocal cords. After recuperating from his injuries, Snake Eyes trained as a ninja with the family of a teammate, Storm Shadow, whose allegiances ended up being somewhat different from those of Snake Eyes.

While things are different for the new movie, all this backstory is clearly the underpinning for the story in SNAKE EYES.

Henry Golding stars as the man behind the mask. Andrew Koji plays the ninja Storm Shadow, while Indonesian action master Iko Uwais appears as their shared sensei, Hard Master. Having Uwais in the movie is reason enough to be excited about SNAKE EYES. (Uwais also starred in THE RAID and its sequel, and appeared in MILE 22 and — all too briefly — STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS.)

Meanwhile, Úrsula Corberó ("Money Heist") plays the Cobra officer Baroness, and Samara Weaving (READY OR NOT) appears as the G.I. Joe character Scarlett.

Robert Schwentke, who made the Bruce Willis action/comedy RED in addition to the second and third movies in the DIVERGENT series, directed SNAKE EYES. The script is by Evan Spiliotopoulos, who wrote the live-action BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and the recent CHARLIE'S ANGELS. They're working with cinematographer Bojan Bazelli, who created absolutely amazing images for movies like THE RING, A CURE FOR WELLNESS, and PETE'S DRAGON.

SNAKE EYES opens on July 23!

All images courtesy of Paramount Pictures.