Live Action G.I. Joe Movie 2008 Toy Fair Expanded Preview

[Devil King]

Originally Posted by General Hawk

I loved the Transformers film personally, and would be ecstatic if the Joe movie was 75% as entertaining as that one was.

Sadly, I think the Joe movie will only be 75% as entertaining.

I was never really a fan of transformers growing up, so I guess I'm one of those casual movie-goers that half the film was targeted towards, and I almost fell asleep watching it. It just wasn't a very good movie, transformers or otherwise.

[Dropshot]

I'm new around here, and well, I wasn't ever interested in GI Joe since i was 6, but with all the rumors coming from the movie it sounds appealing and since it is a sister brand to the TFs (which I have devoted my entire life to).

Since the first day I loved the Joes going international, you don't see many international Gi Joe fans due to the fact that they were too american; so this may give a new take on the franchise and bring new fans to it.

Second, my biggest fear about this movie since I'm not a fan and know little about the characters is Sommers as the director, I fear he can turn an exciting and adrenaline pumping film into an adventure film with cheese all over the place. I don't know exaclty why, but I want to be amazed by the movie and become a new age Joe fan.

[General Hawk]

I'm only a fringe Transformers fan myself, and really went into the Transformers film looking for mindless fun, and I got it in spades.

I am extremely choosy about what films I watch and what films I like, and I generally dislike the majority of what the Hollywood "hype machine" churns out, but Transformers was simple, mindless, action fun, and I loved it, even if it did nothing to expand my intelligence or make me think.

Sometimes that's all a movie needs to do.

Justin

[xFlintx]

Originally Posted by General Hawk

I'm only a fringe Transformers fan myself, and really went into the Transformers film looking for mindless fun, and I got it in spades.

I am extremely choosy about what films I watch and what films I like, and I generally dislike the majority of what the Hollywood "hype machine" churns out, but Transformers was simple, mindless, action fun, and I loved it, even if it did nothing to expand my intelligence or make me think.

Sometimes that's all a movie needs to do.

Justin

Quoted for Truth.

[WildWeasel]

Originally Posted by xFlintx

Quoted for Truth.

I second that!

[Gentleman]

I would gladly second that too... but then I think of films like Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Sure... simple, mindless, action fun is "sometimes all a movie needs to do" but that shouldn't stop the makers from making an "artistically worthy" piece from other standpoints at the same time. I gave you the perfect example: Raiders. Deep down, it is indeed an adventure film that is meant to entertain, but it is also a master class of film-making in many other aspects. You've got a flawless script with well balanced humor (which Transformers failed miserably at), great pacing, real sense of wonder and danger (again, 2 things where Transformers also failed. When the chick first sees Bumblebee, she's like: "oh, ok"), etc, etc. And of course... some great directing from the Spielbergo. Michael Bay somehow always manages to shit on his own movies towards the end. Sommers is more adventure-oriented, but he's bad.

SO...

no, I don't want a G.I.Joe film that is just pure mindless fun. I'm not saying it should be "Shakespeare", at all. All I'm hoping for is a well-balanced film. I don't even care too much about any possible changes of the mythos. I just want a solid film, period... and Transformers wasn't that. Could have been, but wasn't.

Just my opinion, anyways.

[Ash Talon]

"Simple-minded fun" always seems like an apology to me. Or it just translates to, "it's terrible, but I like it anyway."

Transformers was insulting to me as a human being. I walked out about an hour into it. Was I expecting high drama? No, but I wasn't expecting to be insulted on a human level.

I think Michael Bay truly hates human beings. To punish them, he continues to make terrible movies. And the self-hated that many people possess drives them to continue going to his movies.

That said, I have more faith in Sommers on GI Joe. Why? For one thing, he's not writing this movie. He's written all his previous movies, so this is a depature that hopefully means something. Also, Sommers at least can inject a little humor into his projects. There are parts of The Mummy and Deep Rising that are actually fun and humorous. Lastly, I can actually follow his action sequences. Bay just shoots everything in slow motion and in close-up, so I can't tell what's going on.

Of course, I've always preferred GI Joe to Transformers. I've actually never been that huge a fan of Transformers. Maybe this is why I didn't let my love for the property blind me to the awfulness of the movie.

[Ash Talon]

Originally Posted by Gentleman

I would gladly second that too... but then I think of films like Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Sure... simple, mindless, action fun is "sometimes all a movie needs to do" but that shouldn't stop the makers from making an "artistically worthy" piece from other standpoints at the same time. I gave you the perfect example: Raiders. Deep down, it is indeed an adventure film that is meant to entertain, but it is also a master class of film-making in many other aspects. You've got a flawless script with well balanced humor (which Transformers failed miserably at), great pacing, real sense of wonder and danger (again, 2 things where Transformers also failed. When the chick first sees Bumblebee, she's like: "oh, ok"), etc, etc. And of course... some great directing from the Spielbergo. Michael Bay somehow always manages to shit on his own movies towards the end. Sommers is more adventure-oriented, but he's bad.

SO...

no, I don't want a G.I.Joe film that is just pure mindless fun. I'm not saying it should be "Shakespeare", at all. All I'm hoping for is a well-balanced film. I don't even care too much about any possible changes of the mythos. I just want a solid film, period... and Transformers wasn't that. Could have been, but wasn't.

Just my opinion, anyways.

Exactly. I also love how people will defend stupid movies by saying, "it's for kids." So are all the Pixar movies, but they're amazingly good.

Raiders is a good example. Same with the original Star Wars movies. They touch on some deeper issues but only lightly. Overall, they're escapist entertainment. They're also very well done and are examples of the artform at its most entertaining.

There's no reason that a movie based on a comic book or toyline can't be as good as some of those films. There just needs to be an effort by talented people.

[Zefram]

Re: Transformers
It sucked because they made the models so rediculously needlessly complex that every minute of time the robots were on-screen it cost millions of dollars, so instead of focusing on a galactic civil war millions of years old between an ancient race of artificial beings with unique and individual characters, we get a couple "hot, edgy, sexy young stars", some army guys that are little more than set-pieces, some crap deus-ex machina plot device everyone is chasing after, and what should have been the main characters relegated to a line or two here and there. Then there's the scene in the backyard. Oh yeah, and the borderline racially offensive autobot is also the ONLY one who dies, rather pointlessly I might add. Even if I look at it as just a sci-fi movie, and not a TFs movie, it's mildly entertaining at best.

As for GI Joe, I'm reserving judgement until I see a trailer. Some leaks have me worried, but Snake-Eyes, Storm-Shadow, Scarlet, and Baroness ALL look increadible, so we have a LOT of potential for a really good OR really bad movie.

[steelbrig]

I'll reserve judgment until i see the movie.
like they always say, "the proof is in the pudding."