In an effort to show off the 3D of G.I. JOE: RETALIATION, the film will now screen four minutes of footage ahead of HANSEL AND GRETEL 3D, much like STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS did in front of THE HOBBIT. I don’t know how much that will help out ol’ HANSEL AND GRETEL, though, as it’s prospects are weak. In addition, we have a peek at some of the new footage (below) and some new bits of info on the film.
Coming Soon recently sat down with director John Chu and producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura to discuss the upcoming G.I. JOE: RETALIATION, the nearly year-long delayed sequel starring Dwayne Johnson, Bruce Willis, Adrianne Palicki, Ray Stevenson, Ray Park, Byung-hun Lee, Channing Tatum, and D.J. Catrona, bringing to light a number of details that we’ve speculated on for months, namely the rumor that the film was being delayed to add more Channing Tatum. “That was a crazy time,” Chu says of the delay. “I didn’t want to answer any of the crazy rumors that were happening. The reality was the 3D…”
“We didn’t go and reshoot anything,” Chu continued. “I’m not going to say what happens to Channing in the movie, but there wasn’t any of that crazy stuff. We just ignored it. It was funny, though, when that new trailer came out. Everyone was like, ‘Oh! He’s in it way more!'”
The trailers we’ve seen thus far have indicated a greater presence of the “silent-but-deadly” crew and di Bonaventura addressed that, saying, “One of the biggest complaints about the first movie was that there wasn’t enough ninjas. That’s one of the reasons one of the major storylines in this one is only about ninjas.”
Chu elaborated, saying “That was where it all sort of started. Obviously, ninjas are a really big part of the movie and we thought that that would make it unique from other franchises to have both the military and the ninja side. We wanted to make sure we were doing something really, really different with ninjas that we had never done before. Because they have masks on and they don’t talk anyway, it was the perfect sort of place. You could tell a story with their fighting.”
The prospect of seeing a proper Snake-Eyes (Ray Park) and Storm Shadow (Byung-hun Lee) showdown is something of legend for fans of the ’80’s cartoon and comic. Chu, a self-professed fan and child of the ’80’s, sought to emulate the classic “silent issue” by Larry Hama by having the nearly 10-minute fight scene without any music or dialogue. “…we had score, a long time ago. Then we just played it once when I was with the sound effects guys without the music just to hear the effects. It was so awesome we were like, ‘We need to have their whole fight without music!’ We brought it in and tried it and knew people would freak out a little bit, but it was so awesome we just had to do it.”
On top of the ninja battle is a massive tank battle with Dwayne Johnson vs. a bunch of Cobra H.I.S.S. tanks. “It’s really cool in 3D… This is just a fun ride. You go and you get to experience this sort of mash-up of all these genres. In a way, ‘G.I. Joe’ was mash-up before mash-up ever existed.”
Get your ninja on:
I don’t know about you, but my confidence is kind of soaring after this. My hope is at its peak to see a proper translation of my ’80’s heroes in all their cheesy glory.
G.I. JOE: RETALIATION brings the nostalgia back into your heart (maybe) on March 29, 2013.