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GI Joe lurches towards live-action filmdom (i.e. G.I. Joe live action)


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  • 2 weeks later...
FYI: some leaked GI Joe cast photos of: Hawk, Duke, Covergirl, RipCord, Scarlett, Storm Shadow, Baroness, & Snake Eyes.

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/news/articles/4435.asp

Wow, those look exactly like the pictures I linked to a page or so back.

Edit: And those Snake Eyes pictures, while initially looking good, get worse each time I see them. WTF is with the moulded-in mouth on his mask, and the baggy combat pants look asinine with the skintight upper. He looks like a cosplayer who only had enough money for half a costume.

Edited by bsu legato
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Storm Shadow...Much better. Keep the mask on.

Destro....where's his mask? How about showing us what they look like with the mask on before we seem them without it...

edit: And what's with Heavy-Duty's mini mingun?

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Destro....where's his mask? How about showing us what they look like with the mask on before we seem them without it...

Nice touch with destro's tie, looks like a mini of his medallion on it. Hopefully he will eventually put on the mask.

He does put his mask on, DESTRO the head admin of HissTank, has already seen it. I think we will see it at SDCC. Storm Shadow looks much better with a mask on. Reminds me of the v1 84 look smacked with the Reloaded look. Don't know if anyone caught this, but his swords are very similar in shape to the ones that came with the V1! Look at the curvature, and one was short, one was long, which is what we are seeing here.

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Anyone know why they couldn't use the Roadblock character and had to use Heavy Duty instead? Were there naming rights for RB expired so they had to use HD? Was HD even in the 80s cartoon, I don't remember him at all.

Also, here's a new pic of Breaker.

post-1065-1210263689_thumb.jpg

Edited by baronv
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Are those rimless glasses? What makes the Baroness the Baroness are the bookish rims. She's supposed to look like a lethal eastern european librarian, not some fashion conscious model for the latest in Donna Karen eyewear. The costumers seem hell-bent on changing the characters as much as possible while still vaguely resembling the original characters, rather than sticking with the iconic and making it work. Maybe they should take a cue from Iron Man.

What makes her even less recognizable as the Baroness despite her black leather is that *everyone else* is wearing black latex, leather, and plastic too. You can't tell the Joes apart from Cobra. Brilliant.

Oh, and what David said about black hair, too.

Edited by Sundown
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Since when did Sienna Miller be even considered a decent actress? There is actually talent and skill in this movie and she gets that role? All she is really known for is being with Jude Law.

Edited by kanedaestes
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Anyone know why they couldn't use the Roadblock character and had to use Heavy Duty instead? Were there naming rights for RB expired so they had to use HD? Was HD even in the 80s cartoon, I don't remember him at all.

Also, here's a new pic of Breaker.

Didn't Heavy Duty Appear in the DiC episodes? I do know he became pretty much standard from the 3D cartoons on.

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yah, i started to get that feel of "cosplay" looking at these photos. they need to dirty up, suits and weapons need to be weathered. remember street fighter with van damn-that-guy? they all looked so clean.

the baroness had thicker rims for glasses. and they need to get her some lipstick, red! hot rod red!

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Ok.

Here's my take on this... but first- a disclaimer:

I am not a very big GI Joe fan. I do like the action adventure aspect - but I find much of the premise unbelievable - FAR MORE unbelievable than alien transforming robots from another planet (seriously). But I won't dwell on that... unless someone wants me to...

On to the Joes:

1. One of the nice things about the cartoon from the 80s was that each Joe looked differently, and their look fit their function. I know that in "real" military outfits there is greater homogeneity in terms of how one looks - but I still would have prefered, if you're doing an outlandish film like GI Joe - be outlandish! Dress the joes up in differntiated uniforms. Most of the Joes look generic. The black uniform works on Snake Eyes - but don't make all the Joes look like Snake Eyes without the Mask....

2. This is NOT CAPTAIN POWER!! You guys remember Captain Power, don't you? Or better yet - PHOTON!

Yes - PHOTON!!

(how can you forget this gem??)

The GI Joes look like they should be in Photon.

The only Joe who looks like a Joe is Hawk. Sure - he looks kich, he looks banal, he looks ridiculous, he looks like he must have had to drink a lot of booze to agree to play a part in this movie - but he LOOKS LIKE HAWK - GOOD!

The others look like they're going to play Lazer Tag (Photon!) or "Power on!" with Captain Power.

Storm Shadow looks great. I hope this is a movie about the personalities behind the Joes rather than a generic Yo Joe vs. COBRA! two hour episode - because honestly it was Snake Eye's past in Vietnam and the whole tangled web of pain and government lies that made GI Joe (the comic book from Marvel) half decent and half interesting...

The cartoon was joke (except when Zartan formed that rock band- We're Cold Slither you'll be joining us soon! A band of Vipers playin' our tune!

The only redeeming feature of GI Joe's counter-rock band was that it had skin tight dressed chicks in it - but let's face it - Scarlet and her ladies were no match for Zartan - heck - they lost to JEM even! (Jem is amazing Je-eem!)

If this movie takes itself somewhat lightly and surprises us with great character development for the like of Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow, Destro and the like - it'll be good.

If it's just a romp round of laser tag - it'll be bad.

Really interested in seeing how they pursue this...

VFTF1

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The only Joe who looks like a Joe is Hawk. Sure - he looks kich, he looks banal, he looks ridiculous, he looks like he must have had to drink a lot of booze to agree to play a part in this movie - but he LOOKS LIKE HAWK - GOOD!

No, he looks like Flint.

Storm Shadow looks great. I hope this is a movie about the personalities behind the Joes rather than a generic Yo Joe vs. COBRA! two hour episode - because honestly it was Snake Eye's past in Vietnam and the whole tangled web of pain and government lies that made GI Joe (the comic book from Marvel) half decent and half interesting...

I hope so too, I'm not too fond of the cartoon, nostalgia aside.

If it's just a romp round of laser tag - it'll be bad.

We have clips from behind the scenes up on the frontpage of hisstank.com.

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Well - just watched the clip on Hisstank...

and that actually looks good - insofar as I didn't see a blue screen being filmed for fifteen minutes and then some guy name d Ed telling me that him and Larry have been working on CGI cars being tossed in the sky for the last ten years....

Also - I guess they really are going all out to make GI Joe an international brand - which makes sense, given that with a movie like this, you can't just call it GI Joe in the USA and re-brand it as Action Force elsewhere...

I am curious how they balance out the politics... although if they stick to universal rights as coincidentially happening to be what America stands for then I think it could gain broad sympathy rather then get laughed at by most folks...

The real key will be how they treat COBRA. Who will Cobra be? What will be their motivation? If they go the way of Ironman - and show how the military industrial complex, seemingly "necessary" for the defense of freedom, actually just exists to perpetuate war - and that ultimately there is no systemic solution to the problem of evil, but rather the heroism of individuals making the right choice in tough circumstances is all we can hope for - then it'll be a winner.

I guess what I'm getting at is if they are intent on making GI Joe realistic - which appears to be the case- and international - aka appealing to a global audience rather than "merely" nationalist/American - then it's a challenging job and will be interesting to see how they handle this...

The problem is - I always admired most of Cobra - I didn't see them as terrorists. Zamot and Tomax were nice guys who went into business. Destro and the Baroness were fabulous aristocrats with noble family traditions. Heck - I even felt sympathy for Major Bludd, what with the bad eye, and the squeeky voice.

Dr. Mindbender was a great scientist and a wonderfully Faustian character.

The Dreadknocks were the ultimate badasses and counter-cultural rugged individualistic rough riding icons.

GI Joes on the other hand usually boiled down to being boy scouts.

In the comic books - the Joes were fleshed out a bit better - but as I mentioned before - I mainly enjoyed the Joes as people who were hurt by the government and the entire shamble of Vietnam - who couldn't turn back from their path as warriors/hunters/etc and who had old scores to settle.

Cobra Commander as a bitter and resentful little man determined to stick it to the system was also spot on...

The point here is that COBRA is not really a terrorist organization as much as it is a shaddy business organization - kind of like the mob. They really never used terrorist tactics in GI Joe.

I mean -seriously - Cobra used standard 4th Generation warfare tactics. They would face GI Joe with conventional forces and usually stroll around in full regala rather than mixing in with the civilian population as is the wont of terrorists.

If anything, Cobra might have financed or armed terrorist groups as a result of their arms dealings, or worked with them smuggling drugs and the like...

But of course you could just legalize drugs and there would be no multi-million dollar illegal drug cartels with ties to terrorists - so I hope Cobra isn't shown as the evil drug smuggling organization...

The only thing I can think of that would be very good is if COBRA is actually shown to be PART OF the government - that is - part of the system that GI Joe is. It would be really cool if GI Joe has to fight its' own government - cleanse its own base - again...

The Baroness being chased in Prague...an SUV in Prague...well - at least she's easy to spot! "Which SUV sir??!!?" "The only one in the whole damn country man!"

Although it's "Paris"...oh boy...I dunno... still got a bad vibe about this. To boot - the writers have a HUGE CHALLENGE HERE.

Can they pull of a credible story?

VFTF1

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Cobra has definitely used terrorist tactics in the GI Joe comics, including bombing civilian buildings and the like. Much more so in the Devil's Due comics then in the Marvel ones... but still. The "terrorist organization" however was a buzword from when many people especially little kids watching a cartoon didn't clearly have a perception of what it really meant, it sounded cool so they used it.

I agree though... the way that Cobra and MARS are protrayed will shape this movie.

Let's go over the different versions of Cobra Commander...

Marvel/Devil's Due: We've got Cobra Commander a used car salesman, who lost his brother in a car crash and blamed Snake-eyes who was the son of the other car's driver. He started running Cobra as pyramid scheme and eventually turned it into a large organization determined to sieze as much power as possible.

Cartoon: A scientist who belonged to an ancient snake people called Cobra La, who was sent to raise a mighty army and crush human civilization. Ignoring the movie... a meglomaniac who comes up with different plans to rule the world for no apparent reason.

GI Joe Reloaded: Say what you like about reloaded this is where I think Cobra really shines as an organization. Again a used car salesman, whose wife leaves him and who's business is repossessed by the IRS, Cobra Commander considers himself a patriot and wants to fix the US. to this end they sabotage companies, kill senators to replace them with new ones under their payroll and manipulate many key events, before finally showing their face. Again the key to this version of Cobra is that they believe they are making America strong, and putting it back on the right track. This belief, this mindset makes for a truly chilling organization that you can believe as a terrorist organization.

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See - this is why I prefer Cobra:

I always prefer people who are trying to FIX the system (even if they are misguided and wrong) to people who only exist to OBEY they system.

Be that as it may - the Cobra-La backstory was also somewhat interesting :)

VFTF1

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Heretic.

ehh... considering how unrealistic the cartoon was to start with, I don't mind the Cobra-la story arc that much... What really stops the GI Joe movie from having any impact are a few lines added after the fact.

"he's slipped into a coma"

"don't worry Falcon, we'll do everything we can for Duke"

"...and duke's come out of his coma"

"Doc says Duke is going to be AOK!"

<--- remove those four lines and the movie becomes half decent and actually has some impact.

I mean we would have felt a lot more for Falcon when he cocked that shotgun "I've got a right" "what you've got is an order GI Joe!"

Still won't forgive them for making of my favourtie characters say "lalalalalalalala" over and over again though.

Edited by lord_breetai
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Actually - the bit about Doc saying Duke is ok was added long after the movie was finished.

They added it because of all of the terrible reviews of Transformers the Movie going on and on about how mothers had to leave the theaters with their little tots crying because Optimus Prime had died.

Ergo Hasbro ordered them to add in a line about Duke being in a comma and being a-ok.

so it was meant to have the impact you want. The "Think about the Children!" crowd just won the day - again.

OH - AND RE: Those pictures of Scarlet:

IT'S THE BOOOOBBY DUCK ATTACK!! GI-JOE STYLE!!!

VFTF1

Edited by VFTF1
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Actually - the bit about Doc saying Duke is ok was added long after the movie was finished.

Oh I know all the lines I put in were added after, that's why I said they were tacked on after the fact. And I know the reasons... I'm saying it would have been a decent movie if they hadn't changed it.

The story of how Falcon dosn't really mature until he looses his big brother, is pretty touching. Take that away and the whole movie crumbles.

Edit: I don't think kids should be lied too... I think they should be told in entertainment that people die in war.

But then what do we expect? I've seen an animated Titanic movie where the box proudly proclaimed "child friendly ending ensures no one dies and everyone is rescued"

Edited by lord_breetai
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I've seen an animated Titanic movie where the box proudly proclaimed "child friendly ending ensures no one dies and everyone is rescued"

Wow. That's absurdly funny :)

I agree with you about how children shouldn't be lied to; especially in war movies. But apparently there's big demand for lying in the USA :)

VFTF1

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