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Stephen Sommers NOT Directing G.I. Joe 2

Krystal Clark — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 23:36:35 +0000

The live action G.I. Joe franchise will be missing a familiar face when the sequel comes around according to the Los Angeles Times. Stephen Sommers, who helmed the first film, won’t return to direct the second one. This is a shock considering back in August it was confirmed that he was on board, along with the original cast.

The majority of the actors from the first film were contractually obligated to appear in future sequels, but Sommers didn’t have that same luxury. Apparently agents representing other directors claim that their clients have been approached to take over directing duties because Sommers won’t be behind the camera. Paramount refuses to comment on the situation.

The first movie grossed $302 million worldwide, which gave the studio enough of a reason to bankroll another installment. They hired Zombieland scribes Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick to pen the screenplay for the follow up over a year ago, since then it’s been relatively quiet on the pre-production front.

G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra wasn’t groundbreaking in any way (read our review) but it wasn’t a boring embarrassment.

Who do you think should direct the G.I. Joe sequel? Are you even interested in seeing another movie from the franchise?

Stephen Sommers to Direct G.I. Joe Sequel

Krystal Clark — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 15:13:12 +0000

Films from the summer of 2009 were filled with excessive explosions, horrible plots, bad acting, and that’s just the tip of the ice berg. When it comes to those qualities G.I. Joe had them all but unlike Transformers Revenge of the Fallen, it was still interesting to watch. The film ended up making a decent amount of money at the box office, earning a green light for a sequel. According to The Wrap, director Stephen Sommers will return to helm the follow up regardless of rumors that he’s on the outs with Paramount.

If anyone can handle cheesy special effects and bad dialogue it’s Stephen Sommers. He might not be David Fincher or Christopher Nolan but you have to admit he’s good at his “type of directing.” On the actor’s front, Channing Tatum is expected to reprise his role as Duke the leader of the G.I. Joe team, which means we’ve got another showstopping performance ahead of us (rolls eyes).

G.I. Joe 2 is currently in development but no real details have been released regarding the plot. The first movie was definitely pointless, popcorn fun but unless they come up with something really interesting, I might have to sit the sequel out. It’s more of a wait until it hits DVD type of film. No offense.

What do you think of Sommer’s returning to direct G.I. Joe 2? Is it a good idea?

G.I. Joe Rise of Cobra: Movie Review

Krystal Clark — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 18:40:02 +0000

Should you go Joe? G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra, is the live action adaptation of the beloved toy, cartoon, and comic book staple from Hasbro. It’s an origin story that features the most well known characters from the franchise which includes Duke, Ripcord, Scarlett, Snake Eyes, Heavy Duty, Breaker, and General Hawk. Director Stephen Sommers laces the screen with nonstop action, paired with intertwined back stories and questionable motivations. So, should you check out G.I. Joe?

In the words of General Hawk, knowing is half the battle……

The Plot:

The entire plot revolves around chemical warfare. James McCullen (Christopher Eccleston) aka Destro, is a prosperous weapons manufacturer who has created a new technology called “nano mites.” A case filled with four missiles containing the mites are put in the care of soldiers, Duke (Channing Tatum) and Ripcord (Marlon Wayans) for immediate transport. Unfortunately Baroness (Sienna Miller) a leather wearing assassin figure, wants the case and will blow up a whole damn forest to get it. The majority of the film is spent with everyone chasing after the missile case to avoid the start of an all out nuclear war. You find out from various flashbacks that a lot of the good guys are closely connected to the bad guys, and in more ways than one.

The Good:

The Action: The action scenes were pretty impressive. One that sticks out in particular is the chase scene in Paris. Duke and Ripcord are running the streets of the city in their accelerator suits leaving nothing but destruction in their wake. Scarlett is close behind on a motorcycle, while Snake Eyes is riding the hood of a SUV, with cars being thrown at him!
Ray Park/Byung-Hun Lee: Park and Lee portray Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow, two surrogate brothers with a murky past. Snake Eyes doesn’t speak or show his face through the entire film, but he dominates his scenes. Storm Shadow does speak, and when he does you listen. Lee pulled off a calm, calculated coolness with his character that lets you know he’s not to be messed with.
It’s Entertaining: Just because a movie has a lot of action doesn’t mean you’ll enjoy yourself (ahem Transformers Revenge of the Fallen). The film isn’t perfect by a long shot, but if it’s goal is to produce an adrenaline rush to the masses it does deliver.

The Bad

The Special Effects: A lot has been said about the visuals in this film, but they weren’t that great. Some scenes were brought down by the cartoonish look of the special effects. The film is CGI heavy, so the graphics department should have brought their A-game. Its not as bad as the look in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but its not that much better.
Channing Tatum/Dennis Quaid: Whoever said Dennis Quaid was set dressing in this film was absolutely right! His talent is wasted, and his part is a lot smaller than expected. Every line he delivers sounds as if he’s reading it right off the page. It’s a trait he shared with co-star Channing Tatum, who will never be Duke in my eyes. Neither of these men embodied their character’s spirits, and almost appeared as if they were bored onscreen. In any given scene, you can visibly see Quaid thinking about what he’ll eat for dinner that night.
The Campy Catchphrases: There’s nothing wrong with throwing in a couple of signature catch phrases to bring back nostalgia. But do we really have to hear, “Knowing is half the battle,” “Go Joe,” Real American heroes,” and “When others fail we don’t” back to back? It seemed so forced when the actors delivered those lines. Instead of it being a sly wink to the audience, it’s more like a punch in the face!

Overall:

G.I. Joe is nothing more and nothing less of what I expected it to be. It’s a popcorn movie through and through. I enjoyed the action, the comedic moments, and the trip down memory lane. For that alone I would recommend this movie, but if you’re expecting it to be a serious take on the beloved series don’t bother. G.I. Joe Rise of Cobra doesn’t take itself that seriously, and neither should you.

Rating: 7.5/10

Early Reviews: G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra

Krystal Clark — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 01:00:07 +0000

I’m kind of surprised at the reviews that have been released for this Friday’s G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra. I haven’t been particularly excited to see the film, as many other people I know. Yet, something must be in the water, because a lot of the reviews I’ve read have been surprisingly……good! I’m not saying the movie is Citizen Kane, but it hasn’t rated as low as anticipated.

Check out some excerpts from the latest G.I. Joe reviews after the jump!

Here’s what some people had to say regarding the film’s questionable casting.

The casting worked 100% including Joseph Gordon Levitt and Sienna Miller who, based on early feedback, were the characters fans were most worried about. Ray Park as Snake Eyes was my favorite part of the movie. I swear I am going to get an Arashikage tattoo on my arm, he is so awesome.Some of the our readers chimed in early on regarding Marlon Wayans as Ripcord. Yes, I too cringed when that announcement was made. But guess what? He was great, his humor wasn’t over the top as it usually is plus he has one of the best lines of the film involving the famous G.I. Joe kung fu grip! [IESB]

There are perhaps just too many characters to take on board, but when it works well it’s spectacular. Sienna is cool and classy as the gun-toting Baroness, while Tatum has the square-jawed heroism to convince as the Duke. [Mirror.co.uk]

On the portrayal of technology in the film:

Now how “goofy” is the tech of the film? It really isn’t. As a geek, I read about as many military inventions and crazy tech as I can get my hands on. So their INVISIBLE SUIT – I read that story last year in the papers. The accelerator suits, the Army has absolutely been heading in that direction. Energy weapons? Yup, they’re working on it. So this NOT TOO DISTANT FUTURE – I give it to them. And as any dog tag wearing JOE freak will attest, there’s so much tech that didn’t exist in just about every episode. That’s what I loved. [AICN]

The action sequences and special effects:

The action shifts from dense forests, to subterranean facilities, to the streets of France, to underwater bases, to high-altitude jet fights and a number of places in-between. The major sequences are both intense and sufficiently humorous, laden with eye-rolling, though faintly charming, one-liners and a speaker-shattering, non-stop barrage of explosions, chases, shoot-outs and sword fights. The action is well paced and the effects – much like the cinematography itself – blend the tangibly real and the colorfully cartoonish in a way that captures the spirit of G.I. Joe. [IGN]

The pacing:

GI Joe rarely pauses for anything so gauche as character development or real plot development. Hell – it barely pauses, period! From the film’s oddly historical prologue, the screen is either filled with brooding, scenery chewing, flashbacks or the kind of epic action set pieces normally reserved the ending of a James Bond film. In fact, that’s easily the best way to describe the film – imagine the climax of just about every Bond adventure, and then edit them all together into one hyperkinetic sequence. [AtomicMPC]

The Overall Verdict:

If your movie tastes run to guns, explosions, special effects, hunky soldiers, evil villains and beautiful women in super-tight outfits then look no further – GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra is for you! [Mirror.uk.co]

Bottom line it worked great. The cast looked great, the costumes looked good on screen, the weapons were awesome and the story moved along pretty smoothly without any major plot holes. There were enough references and cameos to keep die hard G.I. Joe fans happy. But if this film is your first encounter with the Joes, no worries, it did a great job introducing the core team to newbies. [IESB]

The bad buzz this film’s been generating all summer might fall on deaf ears. We’ll see what happens when G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra opens in theaters this Friday on August 7.

Do you think G.I. Joe will be better than expected this weekend?

New Clip of G.I. Joe on StephenSommers.com

Mali Elfman — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 22:42:47 +0000

Stephen Sommers, the director of the next summer blockbuster to hit theaters, G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra, has launched an official site at StephenSommers.com which has an exclusive clip from the Paris chase sequence, an exclusive Webisode documenting the visual effects approval process, an interview with the director, and behind-the-scenes looks at all of his past films.

You can check out all of the other stuff on the site, but the “cool” chase scene is below…

Wow. So plowing and most likely murdering innocent victims is okay. Great message to send to kids. And glad to see that Sienna Miller is still a blond even with the dye job.

The film will be in theaters August 7th.

New G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra Photos

Krystal Clark — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:30:32 +0000

Some promotional stills from this summer’s least anticipated movie G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra have been released. The film is directed by Stephen Sommers, and will debut in theaters next month on August 7. Similar to Transformers, G.I. Joe is based on a popular Hasbro toy line that spawned an animated and a comic book series. The live action version stars Dennis Quaid, Channing Tatum, Marlon Wayans, Sienna Miller, and Rachel Nichols.

Check out the full G.I. Joe gallery after the jump.

Images courtesy of Latino Review.

I’m getting such a cheesy vibe from this movie, what about you?

What do you think of the latest photos from G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra?

New G.I. Joe TV Spot and Posters

Krystal Clark — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:00:34 +0000

Another TV spot has been released for the Stephen Sommer’s film, G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra. The movie opens August 7th and stars Channing Tatum, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Sienna Miller. I wish I could say that I’m excited about this but I’m not. I’m pretty sure the studio is picking up on the general public’s lack of interest, because they’ve also put out five new promo posters for the film simultaneously.

Check out the video and the gallery after the jump.

The cheesy dialogue, bad special effects, and horrible armored suits have repelled me once again. And yes I did hear the infamous phrase, “real American heroes” strategically placed in there. Here are the five news posters for you to inspect, they feature Duke, Ripcord, Baroness, Snake Eyes, and Storm Shadow.

Images courtesy of First Showing.net

As you can see Duke is featured wearing the “super suit” that makes them look like human Transformers. I don’t like it at all. As you may have heard in the trailer when all else fails, they don’t but I’m not sure sure about that. This movie looks like an epic fail in my book. Excuse me if it appears that I’m being too hard on these guys, but G.I. Joe should be one of the easiest things to adapt, it’s based on the armed forces. Its not as if you really have to go above and beyond logic for the audience. They took something that could have been practical and great and made it campy and fantastical. When will they learn?

What do you think of the new posters and TV spot for G.I. Joe?

Stephen Sommers Not Fired From G.I. Joe

Krystal Clark — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 23:40:11 +0000

Sometimes Hollywood reminds me of my days back in high school. All it takes is one person or statement to be released into the world and we’ve got a big elaborate story for everyone to gossip over. This is exactly what’s been happening with the film, G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra. Various websites have been reporting that the film’s director Stephen Sommers had been axed from the movie half way through it’s post-production. The story was posted everywhere and got so big that Paramount and producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura had to step in to clear things up.

Lorenzo di Bonaventura spoke to LatinoReview about the status of Stephen Sommers involvement with G.I. Joe, and clarified if there was any truth to the rumors. According to him, “It’s very unfair to Steve, it’s completely untrue he was never asked to leave or been fired or any of that. That’s ridiculous.” The rumor generated when a user on the Don Murphy Forum posted that Sommers was axed due to an overwhelmingly negative response by the audience at a recent test screening for the film. The user went on to say that the director was “locked out of the editing room,” and another editor was brought in to make some revisions.

Bonaventura says that nothing that dramatic or out of the ordinary occurred during the editing process for the movie. Here’s his response to what really happened behind closed doors.

Nothing that doesn’t happen on every other movie, which is that you constantly work and work and work and you make it better and better. We had a delay on visual effects so we waited a long time to finish the movie but that’s the only thing. I don’t really know why that would be interpreting it negatively but I guess it was.

He also went on to respond to the claim that the film tested bad. There have been some conflicting reports that say it did pretty good, and that it even tested as well as the first Transformers.

Well listen, we tested very well and I don’t compare the movies because they are different movies, but you know I think its really destructive for a director…It hurts a guy’s career when people go around talking about that he was fired or he didn’t do a good job and truth is he did a really good job. People are going to enjoy the movie and the test audiences enjoyed the movie.

As for Sommers job, it’s apparently not in any danger and all is well. The article goes on to confirm that not only is he still on board, but he definitely has final cut on the film.

In my opinion stuff happens all the time during and after film production. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some type of disagreement, but I don’t think it’s as extreme as everyone’s made it out to be. I’m less concerned about the idea of Sommers being fired, than the idea that the film tested as well as Transformers. I think not. G.I Joe looks horrible! The Transformers’ trailer and film look great. There are a lot of instances where you will see a great trailer for a bad film, but rarely vice versa. I don’t trust that statement in the least.

What are your thoughts on the Sommers, G.I. Joe drama? Do you think the film will be as good as Transformers?

US G.I. Joe Trailer Now Out

sergiosoto — Fri, 01 May 2009 21:10:09 +0000

The US trailer for G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra was released today, and although my colleague had a few nice things when the French version (which is the same as this one, only with subtitle) I have nothing positive to say about it.

It’s got all the cliches and markers of an action movie, i.e. things blowing up, technologically enhanced people, attractive women, fights, skydiving, “actors,” ninjas, and every other over worked notion that comes with an action movie. This seriously just looks like a Steven Seagal movie with a budget. This sorry excuse for a movie was directed by Stephen Sommers (The Mummy Series, Van Helsing). Set for release on the 7th of August, I hope this movie tanks so that Sommers cannot pain us with these insulting pieces of garbage.

Watch the trailer below…

What can you really expect from a movie that is based off an action figure? That’s on par with the Garbage Pail Kids movie, and that one was based on trading cards.

New International Trailer for G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra

Kara — Fri, 01 May 2009 01:30:25 +0000

The official international trailer for Stephen Sommers‘ (The Mummy, Van Helsing) new movie, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, was released today. The trailer is actually not too shabby. The movie could actually be an okay popcorn movie, which was more than I expected. Definitely bring your little sibling to this film, it has a lot of things blowing up in a cartoon-like way and people running around in crazy mechanical suits.

It’s hard to tell who’s who under all those rubber suits, but the film stars Channing Tatum, Marlon Wayans, Dennis Quaid, and Sienna Miller.

Check out the trailer below…

The ending is actually pretty crazy and over-the-top, so I will give it points where it deserves them. Overall, it’s still got a lot to prove.

What do you think of the trailer?

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Stephen Sommers NOT Directing G.I. Joe 2

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G.I. Joe Rise of Cobra: Movie Review

The Plot:

The Good:

The Bad

Overall:

Rating: 7.5/10

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