G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)

An elite military unit comprised of special operatives known as G.I. Joe, operating out of The Pit, takes on an evil organization led by a notorious arms dealer.

Director:

Stephen Sommers

Writers:

Stuart Beattie (screenplay), David Elliot (screenplay),

Stars:

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Dennis Quaid, Channing Tatum

2 wins & 11 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje	...	Heavy Duty
Christopher Eccleston	...	McCullen / Destro
Grégory Fitoussi	...	Baron de Cobray
Joseph Gordon-Levitt	...	The Doctor / Rex
Leo Howard	...	Young Snake Eyes
Karolina Kurkova	...	Cover Girl
Byung-hun Lee	...	Storm Shadow
Sienna Miller	...	Ana / Baroness
David Murray	...	James McCullen - 1641
Rachel Nichols	...	Scarlett
Kevin J. O'Connor	...	Dr. Mindbender
Gerald Okamura	...	Hard Master
Ray Park	...	Snake Eyes
Jonathan Pryce	...	U.S. President
Dennis Quaid	...	General Hawk

Storyline

Two soldiers stationed in Kazahkstan (Captain Duke Hauser and his partner "Ripcord") are ordered to transport special warheads created by MARS, an arms' manufacturer controlled by James McCullen. When they are attacked by thieves (led by Anastasia DeCobray, with whom Duke has history), they are saved by a top secret, international special forces unit known as "G.I. Joe". The leader of G.I. Joe, General Abernathy (or Hawk) is on the trail of the thieves: an evil organization called "Cobra". While Duke and Ripcord train to join the Joes, McCullen ("Destro") is secretly working for Cobra and plotting to recapture his metal-eating "Nanomite" warheads. Duke and Ripcord (with help from Heavy Duty, Snake Eyes, and the rest of the Joes) must prove that they are Real American Heroes -- by stopping the launch of these warheads before Cobra uses them to take over the world.

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Plot Keywords:

gi joe | warhead | cobra | snake | captain | 

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Taglines:

When All Else Fails, They Don't

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for strong sequences of action violence and mayhem throughout

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA Czech Republic

Language:

English French Scottish Gaelic

Release Date:

7 August 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

G.I. Joe

Filming Locations:

Arctic

Box Office

Budget:

$175,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£1,708,760 (UK) (7 August 2009)

Gross:

$150,167,630 (USA) (30 October 2009)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Spyglass Entertainment, Hasbro

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color (DeLuxe)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ray Park was nervous about wearing the ninja suit and asked to practice with it at home so that he could be comfortable with it. He found the suit (composed solely of rubber with a metal visor) like wearing a rubber band, and had to put effort into moving in it.

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Goofs

When the icepack is blown above the Cobra base, large chunks of ice are seen sinking. Ice floats. However, the ice also has the metal tunnels in them, causing it to sink.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Bastille Prison Warden: James McCullen, you Scottish pig, you've been found guilty of treason for the sale of military arms to the enemies of our Lord, King Louis XIII, even whilst you sold arms to our Lord himself.
James McCullen - 1641: Your king is a vile bag of filth who murders his own allies. I should have charged him double.
Bastille Prison Warden: You tried to overthrow the Crown in conspiracy with its enemies.
James McCullen - 1641: Unlike your simpleton king, his enemies know that is the true McCullen destiny not simple to supply arms, but to run the wars!
Bastille Prison Warden: Do you ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

In the closing credits, the Sigma Six logo from the animated cartoon G.I. Joe: Sigma 6 can be seen on a patchwork metal object.

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Connections

Edited into The Rotten Tomatoes Show: Wolverine/Ghosts of Girlfriends Past/Battle for Terra (2009)

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Soundtracks

"Boogie Bumper"
Written by Scott Morris (as Scotty Morris)
Performed by The Charlotte Swing Band
Courtesy of Prime Entertainment Group
By Arrangement with The Orchard

User Reviews

What Transformers 2 should have been and sadly wasn't

I was very looking forward to the G.I. Joe film, not because I'm a fan of the toys or the animated series, but because I knew what to expect: tons of cool special effects and some really exciting action. And guess what? That's exactly what the film provides.

If there's something G.I. Joe is, it's an action movie. But unlike movies like Transformers 2, Sommers' motion picture actually succeeds at providing with wall-to-wall action. Unlike Michael Bay, he doesn't insert explosions every three seconds, and doesn't seem to have the need of shaking his camera like a madman so that the audience doesn't have a clue of what's happening. Yes, there is a lot of action in this movie, but it is of the comprehensible sort, meaning the viewer actually knows if his favorite characters are in danger and also has the opportunity of enjoying and being marveled by the special effects instead of watching balls of fire and tons of CGI that doesn't make sense. Sommers' approach to action is almost "old-fashioned", and I thanks him for that. Of course, that doesn't mean that all of the action sequences work beautifully; some of them are a little tiresome actually. There is no denying, though, that the Paris action set-piece is quite awesome, both in terms of special effects, and in terms of how excited and tense it made me feel.

Now, regarding the special effects... yes, they are by no means perfect, and yes, the film does have a sort-of artificial look from time to time, but it's nothing serious. Sommers always inserts a lot of computer-generated effects and other extravagances in his movies, and although these kinds of tricks have improved in quality during the last couple of years, it's always hard to make them look 100% realistic if you're inserting them virtually everywhere. (The movie doesn't have an infinite budget, after all.) Nevertheless, because the film doesn't take itself excessively seriously (unlike Revenge of the Fallen), these kinds of "mistakes" are allowed. I even accepted a final "revelation", which occurs during the last few minutes of runningtime, and which includes a "new" (and very cheesy) Darth Vader-looking bad guy. Why? Because I accepted the fact that this is a "toy movie", and that nothing (expect maybe some of the characters) should be taken too seriously.

Performances are what should be expected from this kind of movie. Not particularly strong, but not bad either. The standout is Sienna Miller, who is almost unrecognizable with black hair and dark glasses. (She looks really hot, though.) She seems to be having lots of fun playing the bad guy, and thus manages to create a very memorable and entertaining character. Rachel Nichols is cute and believable as Scarlett, and Marlon Wayans is great as Ripcord; he can be funny and dorky from time to time, but because he's also a pretty good soldier and because he's never too goofy, one can take his character (kinda) seriously. His flirting with Nichols was great, not only because it was fun, but because it was - for a lack of a better word - awesome to see an inter-racial romance making an appearance in a big-budget Hollywood blockbuster. Christopher Eccleston is effective as a megalomaniac villain, and despite their small parts, the likes of Dennis Quaid (always reliable, that bloke), Brendan Fraser and Jonathan Pryce (!) are memorable. The one disappointment, though, is Channing Tatum, who as Duke is almost as wooden as Hayden Christensen's Anakin Skywalker. He looks good during the action sequences, but that's about it.

The main reason, though, of why G.I. Joe is so much superior to Revenge of the Fallen (I know I'm comparing both movies a little too much, but it's almost unavoidable) is that the former actually has memorable and fun characters worth rooting for, while the latter has virtually no characters, and instead provides with a gazzilion CGI robots who look virtually all the same during the confusing action sequences. I like the fact that each Joe is given a back-story through flashbacks (the most interesting is definitely the one concerning Snake Eyes and his rival, Storm Shadow), and I also like the fact that, despite having very archetypical personalities, each character is instantly recognizable and played with style. The screenplay might not be particularly smart (although it's a million times wittier and organized than the one for Michael Bay's picture), but it accomplishes what it sets to do: provide with nice and entertaining characters, a plot that actually makes sense, and action sequences that don't feel repetitive or dull.

So has Stephen Sommers and his creative team managed to fulfill expectations? Well, considering buzz for the movie a couple of months ago was horribly negative, it won't be hard for the filmmakers to please their audience, but even if expectations had been higher, I don't think viewers would have emerged disappointed from theatres. I can say I was a Joe virgin before watching the movie; I knew nothing about the characters, the plot or the role of the "Cobra" organization in the series' mythos, but after watching the film, I am now more interested in everything related to it. Needless to say, the movie does do a really good job at presenting the characters and the plot to newbies, and I'm sure that for die-hard fans, it is a very entertaining and visually-pleasing way to revisit their favorite characters. With its comprehensible action, cool special effects, effective performances and mildly-interesting plot, G.I. Joe is one of the better big-budget action extravaganzas I've seen in some time. In short, what Transformers 2 should have been and sadly wasn't.