G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

[Ingmar]

Are we really defending Frank Miller here? Frank Miller? Jesus, come on.

[Sjofn]

Also, on the thing about the freak betraying them, Leonidas actually gave Quasimodo a good reason not to join, he didn't dismiss him at first glance.

Well, SORT of a good reason. They didn't actually fight in that formation past the very first fight. I understand why, of course, watching a bunch of men huddling behind shields for two hours is not exactly exciting, but I thought it was funny anyway.

Also, 300 is possibly the most braindead movie I have ever seen (probably also the gayest), and I think it's adorable anyone would find a meaning in it deeper than "SPARTANS WERE BAD ASS WOO."

[UnSub]

Are we really defending Frank Miller here? Frank Miller? Jesus, come on.

Worse - we're defending Frank Miller's storytelling subtlety. 

[Ironwood]

Every single time I see a new trailer or clip with the baroness speaking like she's from california, I did a little inside.

Ironwood, back me up here?

I haven't heard her yet. 

(I assume you died a little inside...)

[HaemishM]

Are we really defending Frank Miller here? Frank Miller? Jesus, come on.

Yes, now fuck off. I will defend just about any Frank Miller story, bar the Spirit movie and the Dark Knight sequel (Strikes Back I think it was).

[Hindenburg]

Well, SORT of a good reason. They didn't actually fight in that formation past the very first fight. I understand why, of course, watching a bunch of men huddling behind shields for two hours is not exactly exciting, but I thought it was funny anyway.

In the comic they never broke formation, IIRC. Leonidas also spends more time with Quasimodo there.

Yes, now fuck off. I will defend just about any Frank Miller story, bar the Spirit movie and the Dark Knight sequel (Strikes Back I think it was).

Hear hear. I'll defend them as works of raw awesome machoness, though, not as something with "deeper" psychological values worthy of scrutiny.

[Ingmar]

Are we really defending Frank Miller here? Frank Miller? Jesus, come on.

Yes, now fuck off. I will defend just about any Frank Miller story, bar the Spirit movie and the Dark Knight sequel (Strikes Back I think it was).

I think half of my confusion on this is that you of all people are defending him. 300 was hypermasculine, jingoistic bullshit with a generous side of racism. I don't know how to put it with out getting this sucked into the vortex of the Politics forum, but it just doesn't really seem like your thing.

[Murgos]

So, back on track, the G.I. Joe movie released to theaters today.  Anyone see it yet?

[Abagadro]

[LK]

That should be in the Funny Pictures thread.

[HaemishM]

Are we really defending Frank Miller here? Frank Miller? Jesus, come on.

Yes, now fuck off. I will defend just about any Frank Miller story, bar the Spirit movie and the Dark Knight sequel (Strikes Back I think it was).

I think half of my confusion on this is that you of all people are defending him. 300 was hypermasculine, jingoistic bullshit with a generous side of racism. I don't know how to put it with out getting this sucked into the vortex of the Politics forum, but it just doesn't really seem like your thing.

Frank Miller is one of my favorite artists/writers ever. Other than the aforementioned stinkers of his, I've liked all of his work. And again, you completely missed the entire fucking point of 300. You want to assume there is nothing underneath the surface of 300, that's your lookout, but IIRC, it has been stated by the author himself that there is more to that story than it appears.

[jason]

So, back on track, the G.I. Joe movie released to theaters today.  Anyone see it yet?

I saw it at a free screening last night.  It was better than Transformers, however I felt they spent too much effort on fan service (cramming in every character, vehicle and backstory, ever) and not enough of making a good solid story.  Would work better if it was an origin of G.I.Joe instead of the team already existing, thousands strong, and just showing us how Duke and Ripcord join (training montage!).

Overall, I enjoyed it and wouldn't be mad if I'd spent $10 to see it, but it definitely isn't a great film by any stretch.  I do hope that the inevitable G.I.Joe 2 is an upswing instead of Transformers 2's downswing.

[Slyfeind]

Not bad? That's good enough for me! YO JOE!

[Velorath]

I felt they spent too much effort on fan service (cramming in every character, vehicle and backstory, ever) and not enough of making a good solid story.

You think they crammed a bunch of characters and vehicles in as fan service?  It was all done for the toy line.

Edit: And now that people outside their select group are starting to see the movie, the score on Rotten Tomatoes has plunged 46% so far (was at 85% when I checked yesterday, and now is at 39%).

[Lantyssa]

YO TWEET!

[Oban]

I watched it earlier this afternoon and it was quite enjoyable.

Baroness Miller was amazingly hot, lots of things went boom, shoe horned back stories were not horrifically bad, obvious setup for future movies was obvious, plenty of bouncing boobies, limited shaky cam, loads of amusing ways that henchmen died and not too many awful jokes.

The last scene of the movie should have been left on the cutting room floor though.

[Evildrider]

Of course the movie has tons of intros and backstory.  Hell, the movie is about the Rise of Cobra and the formation of GI Joe.  Cobra doesn't even exist til like the end of the movie.

[Slyfeind]

Oh what was that final scene? 

[Oban]

Oh what was that final scene? 

[jason]

Of course the movie has tons of intros and backstory.  Hell, the movie is about the Rise of Cobra and the formation of GI Joe.  Cobra doesn't even exist til like the end of the movie.

Not entirely correct... at the beginning of the movie, G.I.Joe already exists and has thousands of members and has undertaken many super secret missions that most of the world is unaware of.  When the movie starts, G.I.Joe has existed for at least 4 years, conceivably longer.

[Fordel]

Are they actually called G.I. Joe?

[Abagadro]

So the Eiffel Tower gets blown up and there is a training montage. Are you sure they didn't just remake Team America?

[Oban]

I laughed so hard at the action sequences in Paris, so many of them were straight out of Team America World Police.

I fully expect to see a special edition box set containing G.I. Joe and Team America World Police coming out around Christmas time.

Oh, and please do not bring your kids to see this movie.  Some of the deaths are really brutal, and i have to say I am amazed this movie did not get an R rating.

[NowhereMan]

I think Ripcord was probably the most element of this film for me. When did the idiot/slapstick comedy buddy comedy thing become a requirement in all action films? Why does someone get into the most elite military unit on the planet because they happen to be friends with someone who's really, really good and why the hell do you then send them straight into front line missions with millions of lives at risk using equipment they apparently don't understand?

On the other hand the whole underwater base/submarine battle thing was 100% GI Joe and great popcorn flick stuff, if only they could have avoided the temptation to flesh all the characters out and give them compelling personal stakes in things. They're soldiers and there are millions of lives at risk, it seems overkill to create romantic tensions so that everything going on can be extra special compelling for one of the onlookers/participants.
Sorry for the derail, we can go back to discussing the subtle irony of Frank Miller and issues of patriotism in cinema: Should American flags be bigger and explodier?

[NowhereMan]

I think Ripcord was probably the most element of this film for me. When did the idiot/slapstick comedy buddy comedy thing become a requirement in all action films? Why does someone get into the most elite military unit on the planet because they happen to be friends with someone who's really, really good and why the hell do you then send them straight into front line missions with millions of lives at risk using equipment they apparently don't understand?

On the other hand the whole underwater base/submarine battle thing was 100% GI Joe and great popcorn flick stuff, if only they could have avoided the temptation to flesh all the characters out and give them compelling personal stakes in things. They're soldiers and there are millions of lives at risk, it seems overkill to create romantic tensions so that everything going on can be extra special compelling for one of the onlookers/participants.
Sorry for the derail, we can go back to discussing the subtle irony of Frank Miller and issues of patriotism in cinema: Should American flags be bigger and explodier?

Edit: Oh yeah, I'm pretty sure no Scottish people speak 'Celtic'

[Ironwood]

Half of them do.

The other half, Rangers.

[Oban]

Edit: Oh yeah, I'm pretty sure no Scottish people speak 'Celtic'

Hahaha...

Gaelic is an official language in Scotland and is spoken by pretty much everyone in the Outer Hebrides.

[Azazel]

AfAIK GI Joe was marketed in Europe as "Action man."

Oddly, the movie is out in Europe as GI Joe 

Action Man is quite different to GI Joe, though they are related. AM was never a simple rebranding though.

[Riggswolfe]

I saw it and I enjoyed it. It was better than anything Sommers has done since the first Mummy. Ripcord wasn't nearly as bad as I was afraid he would be. I went in expecting to hate every scene he was in but he was mostly tolerable. I think it's because Sommers or someone told him to keep the mugging to a minimum so he mostly acted, at least as much as a Wayans can.

BTW, to answer Nowhereman's question


Also, I liked their version of Cobra Commander though I must say



ETA: About the "Celtic" part. I'm pretty sure she said Gaeliic the first time but changed it to "Celtic" after he didn't understand her.

[AutomaticZen]

I saw it tonight.

It was much better than it had any right to be. Decent action film. The more you care, the worse it'll be. And the worse scenes were in the trailer.

I was actually disappointed that it wasn't horrible.

[NowhereMan]

Edit: Oh yeah, I'm pretty sure no Scottish people speak 'Celtic'

Hahaha...

Gaelic is an official language in Scotland and is spoken by pretty much everyone in the Outer Hebrides.

Ok but I hadn't ever heard people refer to the language as Celtic before, I was under the impression that referred to racial/cultural things while Gaelic was the name of the language.

[Comstar]

Much better than Transforrmers 2, though I would have liked a comment from the news report like "..hundreds of people killed in Paris by American soilders..." in the background at some point.

[Oban]

Ok but I hadn't ever heard people refer to the language as Celtic before, I was under the impression that referred to racial/cultural things while Gaelic was the name of the language.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_languages

[Tannhauser]

Everyone knows that if you have a Scot in your film he/she must be immediately nicknamed Scotty.  And be a drunk.  And excitable.

[K9]

And yet no Hollywood movie has depicted Iron Bru.