Tag Archives: snake-eyes

DDOY Review: GI Joe: Retaliation

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If there is one thing that can be said of GI Joe: Retaliation is that it effectively wiped the memory of GI Joe: Rise of Cobra from my long term memory.  From this point forward there is no further need to revisit the horror that Stephen Sommers had wrought: Accelerator Suits, Ripcord, or that ridiculous Duke/Baroness back story.  Director Jon M. Chu delivered the GI Joe movie that my inner 9 year old self always wanted.

GI Joe: Retaliation -- SO FULL OF AWESOME

Let’s just start with the fact that Retaliation had goddamned ninjas fighting on the side of a mountain, and it was awesome.  Cobra Commander actually looked like Cobra Commander (no more Joseph Gordon Levitt behind a silly transparent mask and respirator).  And let’s not forget about the fact that there were honest to goodness real life versions of GI Joe vehicles in this one: AWE Strikers, Cobra Fangs, Water Moccasins and HISS Tanks!

Retaliation is the closest in tone to GI Joe: Resolute, the 2009 animated mini-series penned by Warren Ellis (which is a very good thing). And much like that mini-series, what made this movie enjoyable was the fact that the GI Joes actually did what they are supposed to do .. use high tech gadgets on covert missions all in attempt to thwart Cobra’s plan for world domination.

From here on out the discussion will be mildly spoilerish ….

  • I love, love, loved Snake Eyes’ & Jinx mission to recover Storm Shadow from the mountain fortress. Which was a huge call back to Larry Hama’s GI Joe #21 the Silent Issue.
  • Of course Cobra Commander’s plan for ruling the world was overly complex and super expensive.  How does Cobra have the capital for this kind of thing?
  • I have to agree with Rob Bricken of io9, that The Rock was born to be in a live action GI Joe movie.
  • I really dug RZA as the head of the Arishkage Clan, and the turning of Storm Shadow onto the Joe’s side (for now).
  • Hey Paramount is it possible to get a Snake Eyes & The Ninja Force spin off? MAKE IT HAPPEN.
  • Despite being one of my favorite Joes, Flint was pretty much useless throughout the film.  He was the Joe’s parkour/free running specialist … and specialist in not following orders.

GI Joe: Retaliation earns an Official DDOY Rating of ★★★★stars if only for the fact that it’s so good at making me forget that Rise of Cobra ever happened and for the prodigious use of ninjas.

Ray Park Returns as Snake Eyes for GI JOE 2

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Despite it’s flaws, I genuinely enjoyed GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra. It was a decent concept that ultimately got bogged down in Stephen Sommers-isms (which I’ve already discussed here at length).

With the announcement that Jon Chu would be taking over directing duties on the sequel, I was encouraged by his thoughts on the franchise. In an interview that was posted at Slashfilm regarding a new project, Chu had these sentiments to share regarding his experiences with GI Joe growing up:

I think it’s not just another action movie. Maybe the first one was that, but we’re really trying to break it down and take the shine off and show that my Joes were the ones in the mud, the sand and the trees and in the epic worldwide adventures. Each one had individual talents. So we really want to bring the experience of what I grew up with playing with these toys. What it feels like so that kids now can be reintroduced to the Joes and experience it in a different way. This is like down and dirty Joe for me.

I especially like that he emphasized the indivudal talents of the members of the Joe team. If I had a gripe, it would be that GI JOE: TRoC stripped Duke, Hawk, Scarlett, Snake Eyes, & Heavy Duty of their individuality … which is what made the toys great to begin with.

And even better news, Ray Park confirmed on Twitter that is coming back as Snake Eyes in what is being tentatively titled GI JOE 2: Cobra Strikes.

rp_GIJOE2

[News Credit] The Terrordrome

A New GI Joe: The Rise Of Cobra Spot, Now With More Snake Eyes

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I spied this new TV spot over at The Terror Drome for GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra, and even though I’ve trashed this movie relatively nonstop for the last 6-8 months it looks like it may be tolerable after all.

We get some new group shots, and Snake Eyes looking entirely bad ass, and of course those horrendous Accelerator Suits. With just under a month to go I’m sure we’ll be seeing a bigger marketing push to go along with the new toys that are taking over toy aisles all across this great nation of ours.

On a slightly related note, I caught The Mummy on SyFy in the past week and I forgot how much I enjoyed that flick. I’ve been holding Stephen Sommers in contempt since that travesty that was Van Helsing. Just maybe he can deliver the fun and action in GI Joe: ROC? We’ll have to wait and see, as this hits theaters on August 7th.

Snake Eyes Is Gonna Go All Arashikage On Philadelphia

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I’ve been rather critical of late in regards to the apparent lack of effort that Wizard was pouring into their annual show here in Philadelphia. It has been well documented that there has been some massive upheaval in Wizard’s corporate offices, which I have touched on before. Not to long ago here on DDOY I pleaded for Wizard to step up their game.

Ray Park Special Guest Wizard World Phillu

Well in the last couple of days they actually have. Today it was made official that Ray Park, most famous for portraying Darth Maul and the real life Snake Eyes will be a special guest at this year’s Wizard World Philly.

The flame war over on Wizard’s message board has been contained so to speak, with only several pockets of dissention remaining. Good job guys, I’ll give credit when credit is due. However, let’s step it up on the Exclusives, that issue of Lazer Man isn’t too enticing.

Snake-Eyes Remains The Ultimate Badass

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Harry over at AICN landed a pretty sweet exclusive, the first official image of Ray Parks as Snake-Eyes from the forthcoming GI JOE movie due in 2009. Confirmed by none other than Larry Hama himself, the film version of Snake-Eyes resembles that of Version 2, or rather simply acknowledged within the fanboydom as “The Visor”.

Click on the image for a larger, almost hi-res version

Ray Park is Snake Eyes in GI JOE

My thoughts … GI JOE was nearly as important in my young life as Transformers was (and still is). As a kid I read a good number of the Marvel comics and watched both the Sunbow and DIC versions of the cartoon.

Snake-Eyes has always been one of my favorites, how can he not be? He’s a silent commando-ninja … and he was banging Scarlett. They pretty much nailed the look and it looks to be a faithful interpretation of the comic, cartoon, and action figures. Now what I really want to see is Cobra Commander. Are we getting the hood, helmet … or maybe battle armor?

So, you children of the 80s … what do you think?