Last night before the screening of THE SOLOIST at ShoWest, Paramount announced they had a special treat before the movie was about to start. They had about four minutes of footage from GI JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA to show off to everyone!
I was trying to write as quickly as I could in the pitch black but it wasn’t easy. Here are some notes on what we saw:
– It started with a monologue by Heavy Duty giving the crew a speech about how they do what no one else can do and blah, blah. He then gets Duke and Ripcord outfitted in these metal suits that will allow them to be a) protected and b) move in superhuman fashion. So basically Iron Man suits (though they’re not nearly as cool looking).
– We see Duke and Ripcord out and about in their suits giving chase and being chased. It’s not explained but these suits apparently increase their agility and strength because they’re hopping all around and doing gymnastics and shit.
– There was a brief shot of Cobra Commander though not with that Davy Jones type mask you’ve seen on the toys. Destro was talking to him and explaining this new Nanobot technology. He explains that it was designed to cure cancer but they’re redesigned it to eat metal.
– In Paris you see a guy bust through an office building with a rocket launcher and he kicks the door down to a conference room with a window that overlooks the Eiffel Tower. He shoots the rocket and it explodes into the tower with a burst of nanobos that start eating away at the metal. Ripcord says “holy shit!” or something to that effect as it starts to collapse.
– There were a lot of quick cuts so bear with me as I try to get most of it to you… Baroness is driving a big metal drill and comes blasting through a wall and climbs out of the machine. Scarlett uses her badass new crossbow, which is nothing like the old comics. Lots of fight scenes with Duke and Baroness and later on Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes. Tons of cars flipping over and crashing into shit.
– It ends with a Baroness voiceover saying that it’s only going to get worse and she fires something at Duke, who’s standing on some glass room and he gets blasted toward the camera. Then we see another shot of a big car getting blasted way up in the air and doing a flip right at us.
The footage looked kinda ridiculous and even a Paramount exec said afterward, “That’s not the GI JOE I remember.” But despite all that, it did look kinda cool. If you can go in and remind yourself it’s going to be nothing like the comic or cartoon (which isn’t to say the action doesn’t look cartoony, because it does), I think you’ll have a good time. I’m interested to see how this all works into a plot but so far the over-the-top eye candy part they’ve got down pat.