ShoWest: First Look at New G.I. Joe Footage

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ShoWest: First Look at New G.I. Joe Footage

Source:Edward Douglas

April 1, 2009

Before the ShoWest screenings for DreamWorks' drama The Soloist, exhibitors were given a special treat with an extended trailer for Stephen Sommers' G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, opening on August 7. One assumes that the special footage shown would be close to what we'll see in front of either Star Trek and/or Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen this summer.

The footage, which the audience was told still didn't have final visual FX or music, opens with quick glimpses of the various members of the crew doing things, such as Snake Eyes (played by Ray "Darth Maul" Park) leaping down from a tower. There's a voice-over by Dennis Quaid's General Hawk talking about how their unit technically doesn't exist, similar to the Super Bowl spot. "We answer to no one on, and when all else fails, we don't." To that, Channing Tatum's Duke responds, "I want in."

The next segment deals with the accelerator suits we've seen in some of the commercials and footage as they're explained to a couple of the Joes--I believe it was Duke and Marlon Wayan's Ripcord--who are then seen running through the streets of Paris in them, chasing after a Humvee retrofitted with gear such as some sort of forked plow that morphs out from its front bumper. It actually wasn't very clear whether they're chasing it or being chased or a little bit of both, but it shows what the accelerator suits are capable of, even if one would assume there'd be more FX involved down the road.

The next scene begins in the desert where an Arab on a camel sees three shapes moving underneath the sand traveling towards (presumably) The Pit, the team's base buried deep under the desert sand. A bore drills through the side of the cliffs surrounding the base and then another and a couple more, and one of the drill bores opens up to show Sienna Miller's Baronness sitting on board what is revealed as the M.A.R.S. Mole Pod.

The footage gives a little more background and set-up for the shot in the original teaser of the Eiffel Tower being attacked by some green substance, as Christopher Eccleston's Destro explains to what looked like Joseph Gordon Levitt's Cobra Commander--not wearing the hood but with the metal face plate covering his lower face--that "M.A.R.S. Industries" has developed some sort of nanobots that can eat through metal, and we see a member of Cobra burst into a board room with a rocket launcher, firing it towards the window and it flies over a rooftop where Duke and The Baronness look up to see the rocket fly overhead. A couple enjoying a romantic day by the side of the Eiffel Tower are startled by the rocket which hits the side of the Eiffel Tower and a green substance (which we now are the nanobots) starts eating away at the metal of one of the supports as the tower starts toppling downwards crashing through a nearby bridge over the Seine. We get a brief glimpse of Ripcord reacting to what we just saw.

The rest of the footage involved a lot of quick images including brief glimpses of Byung-hun lee as Shadow Storm, as well as a brief snippet of one of his fights with Snake Eyes, we see a shot of Jonathan Pryce as the President, we see what looks like the Joe's Firebat jet being hit by the same nanobot substance, and The Baroness yells at Duke that "this only gets worse" as we see the two of them fighting on the rooftop we saw earlier and she fires a rocket at him. The footage ends with the RV we saw earlier being hit from the side by a train, and it flips through the air as Duke and Ripcord jump through the air and crash through the windows of the train, similar to the shot from the earlier teaser.

As is always the case with these presentations, the studio and filmmakers want to get as much story and characters into these presentations as possible without giving too much away, and this pseudo-trailer involved a lot of quickly cut images that gave the attendants an idea of the look and feel of the film without taking too much away from the experience. It's fairly obvious that as the title suggests, the movie will be an origin story of sorts of how the evil terrorist organization Cobra came together, similarly to how J.J. Abrams' Star Trek shows the early days of the crew of the USS Enterprise.

Not being an enormous fan of the whole "G.I. Joe" mythos, though generally being knowledgeable, the footage offers enough of what made them so popular, making one optimistic that Joe fans will be able to enjoy at least something in this movie, although going by Sommers' past movies--Van Helsing, the first two "Mummy" movies--one might be slightly concerned that this is another movie where there's a lot of cool images and action and FX that doesn't deliver on the story and acting. Then again, this one is written by Stuart Beattie of Collateral and the "Pirates" trilogy, so one holds out hope that the movie will retain much of what made Larry Hama's comics and the cartoon series so beloved. Hopefully, Paramount will release some of this new footage to the fans soon enough that they can voice their opinion.

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Posted by: good stuff on April 1, 2009 at 13:02:02

NICEEEE

Posted by: Martialfaith on April 1, 2009 at 13:03:19

This is going to be Awesome!!!!!......
Ahem.... I mean ... i hope?

Posted by: WC Avenger on April 1, 2009 at 13:16:18

Meh. I'm still not excited by this one. And not looking forward to a wooden Channing Tatum "performance".

Posted by: The Tick on April 1, 2009 at 13:22:40

SPPPPPPPOOOOOOOOOONNNNNN....definatley gonna be better than DBE, saw it and that was terrible.

Posted by: Honest Fan on April 1, 2009 at 13:25:50

Nice stuff... gotta love the Joe.

Posted by: boobies on April 1, 2009 at 13:31:22

This movie is going to suck. Doesn't anyone remember "The Mummy"? that was the same director and that was one of the biggest pieces of crap I've ever seen

Posted by: I like to drink water. on April 1, 2009 at 13:32:39

"
Meh. I'm still not excited by this one. And not looking forward to a wooden Channing Tatum "performance". "

...Were you expecting shakespear in a pure action film?

Posted by: CBH on April 1, 2009 at 13:33:23

I'm nervous as hell about this film. See, the original cartoon was great because every character had his/her own identity, very easy to discern them apart. Now they all look like Snake eyes even the bad guys do. And whats with no mask on Destro?

To me, the show was great because it featured awesome vehicles on both sides with huge fight scenes the involved very bad aim. I'm afraid this will be very much like Mission Impossible...good ideas but too small in presentation.

Posted by: the jon boy on April 1, 2009 at 13:38:54

beginnning of a franchise
origin story of cobra and joes
as long as its fun and not too real
ill be a happy movie goer
can cobra be taken seriously if they dont win at the end?
if more movies are to be made

Posted by: ico on April 1, 2009 at 13:57:30

The Mummy (the first one) is one of my favorite movies but after the Mummy Returns and Van Helsing, i'm starting to think Sommers is a one hit wonder.

Posted by: Oerwinde on April 1, 2009 at 13:59:39

After seeing the Cobra Commander design, I have no faith left in this movie.

Posted by: wayne on April 1, 2009 at 14:05:53

Shadow Storm?

Posted by: papaSmurf on April 1, 2009 at 14:16:55

what the smurf, the GI Joes and Transformers are cool again. I better get my Smurf together and smurf the smurfin' smurf. Oh yeah this movie will tank guaranteed.

Posted by: Anton Ego on April 1, 2009 at 14:18:51

this project makes me laugh

Posted by: Mr. Artist on April 1, 2009 at 15:12:34

I don't know. After all the previews, I still don't know. So I guess I'll just go see it or wait till dvd & figure it out then.

I've washed my hands of any concern for this movie until I actually see it.

Posted by: DannyRand on April 1, 2009 at 15:23:35

I think they're trying to pull off another transformers, which ain't gonna happen. I'm not the biggest Michael Bay fan (Con Air, the Rock, Armageddon, THE ISLAND, lol) but I think he would have done a far better job with this. He has an awesome relationship with the US Military, I'm still amazed by those aircraft carrier shots he got in Transformers. He would have gone for an ultra-patriotic, over-the top military movie which would have kicked ass, even if you're not american like me.

GI Joe is kind of a ridiculous franchise to make into a movie, and like Transformers I think 90% of the directors in Hollywood would do a bad job with it because its so hard to take seriously. Summers looks like no exception. Everyone DOES look like snake eyes, Marlon Wayans shouldn't be allowed on a movie set after White Chicks, let alone an action movie. Channing Tatum should stick to playing football players or whatever the f**** he does. The only thing I like is Sienna Miller as the Baroness, at least we'll get some footage of her looking hot with guns that someone can use in a Fan-made Avengers trailer as a badguy or something.

Posted by: DannyRand on April 1, 2009 at 15:24:59

*not american, like me (I'm Canadian).

Posted by: PhenomenalOne on April 1, 2009 at 15:33:25

"Marlon Wayans shouldn't be allowed on a movie set after White Chicks"

Have you seen Requiem for a Dream? He was great in that film.

But I can't wait for this film. The problem with everyone here is that they set their hopes too high for this movie. When it finally comes out, they're bound to get crushed in some way. I suggest everybody stops their complaining and just reserve all judgment until it actually gets released.

Posted by: brandon_SHH on April 1, 2009 at 15:43:53

Umm...you guys who are HARDCORE fans should see the action figure of Cobra Commander if you think this movie is gonna be awesome.

It's the most ridiculous outfit I have ever seen...looks nothing like Cobra. Instead it looks like a Power Ranger villain. This movie is gonna be all hype but won't live up to it at all. The opening day will be good but after that...major upset.

Posted by: Hellboy on April 1, 2009 at 16:04:17

two words... Stephen Sommers...
this movie is gonna suck so bad!

Posted by: munch on April 1, 2009 at 16:05:57

Pork-chop sandwiches! Get the f$#@ outa here!

Posted by: JSG on April 1, 2009 at 16:09:43

Haha, "Shadow Storm"

Posted by: Crispydude on April 1, 2009 at 16:34:18

Whoever designed the new look for Cobra Commander is an idiot. It looks like garbage.

Posted by: Frostbyte on April 1, 2009 at 17:13:42

I was moderately supporting this movie until I saw the Cobra Commander design. Where do I even start in describing how craptastic that is? I always withold judgement on a movie until I've actually seen it, but that design is so, so bad that now I'm not sure I'll drop the $10 to go see it.

Posted by: fansasmic on April 1, 2009 at 17:21:47

I'm just excited to see snake eyes on screen, I mean the movie could just be him kicking ass the whole time and strom shadow coming in and fighting, then maybe some random boobage and id pay 10 bucks to see it. maybe three times.

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