"Yo Joe!" G.I. Joe Discussion Thread

I mean, it's a teenage-level sci-fi/military action romp. What did everyone expect? Full Metal Jacket? It's based on a line of children's action figures. You're not going to get philosophical gravitas or high drama. You're going to get eye-popping action scenes and loads of escapist fun. Count me in!!

 

I get a "meh" feeling from the trailer. I might catch it at a matinee showing when it comes out

 

"Escapist fun" does not need to mean "throw quality out the window." Iron Man? That was escapist fun. Wolverine? That was escapist fun too. But Iron Man was a heck of a lot better.

 

I loved Iron Man too.

 

For the record, cinematic quality is of peak importance to me. Iron Man is a damn good recent example of a finely crafted action film that satisfies my urge to shout "YEAH!" in excitement at the screen, while I'm also enjoying the subtleties and aesthetics of the filmmakers' craft.

The director of GI JOE has previously made two excellent action films, The Mummy and its superior sequel. Based on that resume and what I've seen from the trailers, I have high hopes for GI JOE. If it fails to deliver a-la Van Helsing, which was execrable nonsense, I will be among the first to say so.

 

Same.

 

Noticed the novelization in the bookstore yesterday

 

the action sequence with the power suits was directly lifted from transformers the first movie.

it was sad.

 

I don't think it's "sad" at all. I think it looks like fun! "Power suits" as a concept are not exactly a novel idea, and the Transformers cartoon did not mark the first appearance of this motif/technology/plot element, regardless of whether it was your first experience with them.

 

I'm glad to read some positive opinions about this movie for a change! I haven't seen the TV spots, but I'll look out for them. Is there any new footage featured in them at all?

 

The MTV spot showed an extended scene from the Paris attack sequence. I really thought it flowed well, and gave me an indication this can really be a great popcorn flick.

I thought the power suits looked great -- there's a nice fusion of CGI and live-action footage.

 

That's not a new one. That's the Super Bowl ad.

 

It just looks like so much fun! Naysayers be darned: This looks and feels like GI JOE, and I'm paying 8.50 for a ticket on opening night, with the Snake Eyes action figure I bought in 1983 sticking out of my shirt pocket, end of story.

 

This does not sound good.

Sommers long ago pulled up all the slack that Deep Rising gave him. And then he just kept pulling until the rope snapped.

 

None of that article is substantiated by other sources. It could be complete hogwash designed to feed into fans' gripes about the trailer. Like the commenter noted, "How does this guy know what Paramount's test-audience track record is? Where did he get those figures?" Frankly, I don't believe a word of it.

At any rate, Sommers made mega-blockbuster hits with the first two Mummy movies, and can obviously handle action, CGI FX and light humor quite well. I'll make my decision the day I see the film whether it's good or not, and not before.

 

I agree. People were saying Transformers was a bomb and a piece of crap before it came out. I've been counting down the days for this to come out and no amount of whiny fans will ruin this movie for me.

Until I've seen the movie any and all reviews of the movie are going in the recycling bin of my mind.

Yo Joe.

 

To me, the quality of the movie is irrelevant because of Sienna Miller's role. I'll go to see her just like I saw Van Helsing to see Kate Beckinsale.

 

Jeffrey Wells is usually spot-on-the-money with his columns, however -- he's about as plugged-into-it and as connected as you can be in the industry as a writer, and his inside info turns out to be correct 95% of the time. If he puts up an article about there being trouble in G.I. Joe paradise, there's almost certainly something wrong.

And much of this comes straight from producer Don Murphy himself (or rather, from his website).

Then again, it can only truly be G.I. Joe if it is so bad, so campy, so bizarre, as to be mind-boggling. Otherwise, it'll just be a huge waste of time. Yet, Stephen Sommers' Van Helsing was the kind of bad that hasn't been done since Cool as Ice. A masterpiece of terrible. My perverse love for that movie knows no bounds.

 

Wells may be "spot-on", as you say, but that article is just quoting another person's report -- not Dan Murphy himself, but member pennamed "End Times". Wells himself asks the pointed questions: "How does this guy know what Paramount's test-scoring history is? Does he have all the stats? If so, how did he get them?" Wells further notes: "Someone needs to call around and verify and round this out.

I will continue to be skeptical of this report until it is corroborated. Even then, I'll hold out hope the movie will be good anyway, because many is the film that's been saved in the editing room.

BTW, there's an update on Wells' article now. While not exactly positive about the film, it still calls into question the validity of this "End Times" personage, who was reportedly lying about at least one thing, namely Sommers' removal from the film.

Update: Movieline's Kyle Buchanan posted a followup a few hours ago, the gist saying that "sources" have told him that Sommers is still on the film.

So I got in touch with my guy and here's what he said: "The bottom line is that you don't read stuff like this about a film that's working. The bad buzz around G.I. Joe has been swirling around for a long time. The studio knows it's a bomb and is trying to mitigate the disaster.

"Sommers' complete autonomy got them into this mess, but he doesn't have it anymore. He was petulant and demanding throughout the production and got his way at ever turn, until now. This isn't about his final cut nor anyone's respective 'vision' as they're now mightily endeavoring to get a version of this film together that's releasable and can get the biggest opening possible.

"One person at Paramount said it's the weakest major release since Escape From L.A. Any hopes for a new tentpole are completely gone."

 

Maybe the harder this film bombs, the quicker a reboot will happen.

Still ... I'm not giving up on Sommers' work though -- especially not based on the latest editorial posted in this thread. The article read like it was written by some angry movie blogger, and not from a journalist. There's no sources, and no info supporting the "Escape From L.A." claim.

I don't get the Sommers hate. I thought the first two Mummy films were spectacular, and Van Helsing was a little over bloated. Why doesn't this mention that Larry Hamma was brought in, and gave his approval.

I'll be the final judge, and I can't wait to see it.