GI Joe: Rise of Cobra (SPOILERS)

BB Shockwave · Post by **BB Shockwave** » Sun Aug 09, 2009 7:32 pm

Being tired AND lazy (but at least honest), I just copy-paste what I wrote on TFW2005...

Just saw it with my brother on friday...

I never was a huge Joe fan (I read all the TF crossovers and some comics) but man - while Bay gave us barely recognizable chunks of metal, Sommers delivered an excellent movie with a good plot, memorable characters and a lot of respect to the 80's original!

Certainly there have been a lot of changes, but overall they stayed true to the roots.

The actors were great, especially liked the Baroness and of course, it's always nice to see Arnold Vooslo - it surprised me that he was Zartan. There were some interesting cameos by Dr. Mindbender (hope to see him in the sequel), Sgt. Stone (Brendan Fraser), even Johnatan Pryce as the USA president!

And although I never collected GI Joe, I now feel the urge to get some of those sweet-looking vehicles... especially the new Night Raven.

I think it really shows that they invited Larry Hama as a counselor - every character is fleshed out well with small flashbacks or just good lines. Makes you wonder what Bayformers could have been if they asked Simon Furman or Bob Forward to help out the scriptwriters...

And I must say I loved Cobra Commander, new origin and all - I just realized at the end of the movie that we didn't even see Cobra as an organisation act - the battle was against Destro and his Iron Grenadiers. Yet, by the end of the movie, Cobra Commander has pretty much won, he controlled the threads from behind the scenes and by the end, he has an agent masquarading as the US president, he has Destro at his control, and at least 15 super-soldiers somewhere in the world who will do his every bidding. Yeah he's a prisoner - but one word from the "president" can arrange his escape. That's what I call genius..

This movie was indeed the "Rise" of Cobra, and I for one, can't wait to see the sequel and how Cobra will look (Rattlers, Vipers, Terrordome, Major Bludd...).

Unlike a certain "Revenge" of the Fallen, where (as the parody well put it), the barely shown or fleshed out title character has his non-specific revenge for... something.

Seriously, in GI Joe, even a minor character like Breaker had more characterization then most of the Transformers in ROTF. Makes me feel uneasy to be a TF fan.

I find it odd that two of the movies I was the least looking forward to this year (Terminator Salvation and GI Joe:ROC) turned out to be my favourites, while two movies I have been looking forward to (ROTF - ok, I admit, with very few expectations - and Up!) have been sorely dissapointing.

I now cannot wait for 9 and Avatar - I also discovered with surprise that the plot and even the aliens of Avatar are strikingly similar to one of my favourite RPGs, Albion (from Blue Byte).

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 9:25 am

When you said "tired and lazy" I expected you to be talking about the film. I can't judge it till I've seen it (which will be when the DVD comes round) but the trailers look pretty cheesetastic.

And why is Destro a Manc?

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 10:55 am

spiderfrommars wrote:And why is Destro a Manc?

Because of Chris Ecclestone's range?

He's actually pretty close to "Hollywood Scotsman". He's at least managed to do away with the shouty aspect of his usual type-acting, concentrating on keeping the faux-Scottish accent to the degree where he forgets to make the lines believable.

It's an awful, awful film. The dialogue is appalling, the acting ranges from passable to ridiculous, the special effects budget all went on the Eiffel Tower sequence, meaning that all the green screen stuff is blurry and awful.

The plot is riddled with holes, there's clunky exposition that renders certain scenes completely pointless.

But, despite all that, it still manages to be light-hearted fun. Clearly not taking itself seriously.

I loved it.

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 1:18 pm

I'm hoping Sienna Miller in a leather catsuit will make up for a lot of the drawbacks...

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 1:26 pm

It certainly takes the edge off.

So does Rachel Nichols.

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 5:09 am

Fantasy's review of it is awesome:

http://www.darkfantasy.org/fantasy/?p=4719

Post by **Best First** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 9:37 am

i thought it went on a bit to be honest (the review). I was having a look around whilst trying to write a review of Merc with a Mouth 2 for you. Anyway should get it to you tomorrow.

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 1:30 pm

The Last Autobot · Post by **The Last Autobot** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 7:27 pm

Great movie!

Snake Eyes was clearly superior to Storm Shadow in almost every sense (and I found Storm pretty annoying).

I loved Baroness.

But

Cover Girl was a real and total waste.

BB Shockwave · Post by **BB Shockwave** » Fri Aug 14, 2009 10:05 am

She wasn't named, so she might have just been Hawk's secretary (correct me but isn't the real Cover Girl a tank driver?).

She can appear again in the sequel, played by a different actor, methinks.

The Last Autobot · Post by **The Last Autobot** » Fri Aug 14, 2009 6:59 pm

BB Shockwave wrote:She wasn't named, so she might have just been Hawk's secretary (correct me but isn't the real Cover Girl a tank driver?).

She was named in the novelization, in the credits and everywhere, but I dont recall If she was in the actual movie (and yes she was a tank driver in the comics).

A couple of things about the movie:

For not feeling anything and all I heard many Neo Vipers screaming while being shot/dying.

And I preferred this movie in terms of "comedy scenes" a lot more than ROTF.