I'm of two minds about this one. On one hand, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this second G.I. Joe movie being a bit different, both visually and in terms of tone, from the last picture. So the last one was colorful and campy while this one is trying to sell itself as somewhat more serious and arguably more generic. Fine, no harm, no foul. On the other hand, as someone who LIKED G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, this new entry feels less like 'your G.I. Joe action-figure dramas brought to life!' and more like 'A G.I. Joe movie for audiences who are probably a little too old to reasonably have an interest in a G.I. Joe movie'. Part of the fun of the last film was seeing the characters that we all loved back in the 1980s (Baroness, Snake Eyes, Scarlett, Duke, Destro, etc) come to life in $175 million worth of candy-colored carnage (say what you want about those robo-suits, but the Paris chase is a fantastic action sequence). This time around, it's basically like someone made an admittedly stylish-looking action picture (that ninja cliff fight is about six kinds of awesome), cast some name actors (The Rock, Bruce Willis apparently playing himself), and some relative unknowns, suited everyone up except the two returning ninjas in generic battle gear, and then slapped 'G.I. Joe' on the marquee for marketing purposes. Will it be a 'better' movie than Sommer's initial entry? Perhaps, at the very least it hopefully won't shoot itself in the foot during its final 20 minutes in order to neuter its major villain. But, based on what we've seen, it feels less like a (as I know it) G.I. Joe movie than the first film. Having said all of that, I love that they are keeping the terrific cliffhanger of the first film. I like that the button gives Willis the joke, but Adrianne Palicki gets the comic reaction shot. Anyway, this one drops on June 29th, 2012. Then we'll know, which is of course about 50% of the battle.
Scott Mendelson
Scott Mendelson
