Yes, yes, I know…the temporary body of G.I. Joe: Retaliation isn’t even cold yet, and already we’re looking ahead. Or at least I’m looking ahead.
I will admit right off the bat that I quite often roll my eyes at fans who declare basic military movies to be the “perfect G.I. Joe film”. To me, G.I. Joe is about so much more than simple military action. There is so much more to it than Squad A infiltrates building and kills evil terrorists. There is a certain spirit, and a certain je ne sais quoi that it seems many people can’t grasp (especially based on what we’re seeing and hearing from Hollywood).
So it’s pretty rare that I’ll see a film or TV show that is wholly unrelated to G.I. Joe and think that it would be perfectly suited to represent the brand that I’ve known and loved for 30 years.
Consider this that rare moment.
Below I have embedded an Official Ghost Recon: Alpha “mini movie” that is apparently an official production of UbiSoft. No, there are no G.I. Joe characters within, but in my opinion, this is as close to a perfect “G.I. Joe” film sequence as I have ever seen. Make the uniforms a bit more distinct and representative of certain characters…dress the evil terrorists in trademark Cobra blue, and inject a bit more character into each player…and this IS G.I. Joe.
The perfect blend of military action and future-tech. Heavy on the firepower, heavy on the drama, but not overtly in your face violent. It’s not often that I see an unrelated video and immediately think it would fit G.I. Joe, but this is one of those times. I won’t spoil it for you, but there is even something that shows up 3/4 of the way through the film that almost seems like a too perfect Cobra weapon. This has to be seen to be believed, but it’s not family friendly, so wait for the kids to hit the sack. Big thanks to John Uy for bringing this to my attention.
Hey, Paramount, you watching this? This is how it’s done.*
For more information on this and how this film leads into Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, check out this feature on G4.
*This is not to insinuate that G.I. Joe: Retaliation isn’t also “how it’s done”…haven’t seen it yet, so I can’t judge, but this 23 minute film blew my socks off. 😉
First, I couldn’t agree with you more that this is how it “should be done.” IMHO, I think Hollywood tries to “wow” crowds too much. The “Wow” effect simply costs more money and takes away from a believeable story line. The screen writer create a story, the director tweaks it, then the Producer adds input, followed by the financial corporation’s input, and finally, the marketer adds their two cents. By the time, a movie goes from screenplay to opening day, the plot has changed, and so has the action lay-out. It’s sad, but more and more movies leave the story behind to zap the audience with the “Wow” effect. I think that’s what killed the GIJoe ROC— too much computer animation. I think what killed Retaliation was the storyline got lost in the “Wow” effect, so now it’s back to shoot more scenes, and…wait, let’s add one more “Wow” effect and make it in 3D. Perhaps Marvel Comics needs to develop the movie, at least with Spiderman, they were true to storyline and true to character.
When I saw this I said why Rise of cobra anything like this? Why don’t Hasbro concentrate more on where their audience are? their target audience are into gamings why not invest money on a good solid game like Ghost recon or Modern warfare? Here they could introduce more characters, customize their weapons, choose sides. Instead of investing in movies which rely heavily to directors and actors why not do an x-deal with ubisoft bring Ghost Recon into GI Joe mythos with action figures while they do the game.
A video game would be a great way to get G.I.Joe in to a larger market. I know it was talked about on WOJM as well. One of the concerns that was voiced was that they wanted to see the character, a Gears of War style game would settle this issue. Look at how diverse the GOW games have been and the various environments the game has taken place in over the years urban, on-board ship, subterranean, and aerial fighting as well.
I watched Inception again the other night, and the arctic bits are a badass little Joe movie. Throw Snow Job in there and make the villains a bit more distinctively Cobra-esque in their uniform designs and you’re good to go.
I watched this and this was badass. There have been a few movies over the years that I thought could have been a early attempt at a G.I. Joe film with some of the toys used and team aspect they had.
Creative minds behind this = geniuses
John Chu and Paramount = retards
From what we have heard from Hasbro the decision to convert the film was done to increase the profit margin and grosses on the film. In the Variety interview John Chu talked to Paramount in beginning about shooting the film in 3D but they did not want to put up the money. Its unfair to paint John Chu (and offensive as well) with the same brush.
That was fun! Thanks for sharing:)
Between projects like this, and the fan films I’ve seen, I’m beginning to think Paramount are the ONLY ones who can’t do Joe right.
That was outstanding!!! Really enjoyed it, thanks for posting it Justin. Who do you guys think? Flint as Ghost Leader, Breaker, Lowlight and Beachhead?
Yeah, this is nice, it’s well done………..but it’s NOT GIJOE.
Its not what Hasbro has been telling us what GIJOE is for the past 30 years, this is what some fans have in their heads of what they think GIJOE is, or can be…..but its not. GIJOE is loaded with dumb, over-wrought stories and very, very few “realistic” stories. GIJOE is NOT Blackhawk Down, and is actually about as far from that as a military fantasy can get. The Joes are several steps away from the “rough men” of stories like this, and Cobra…..well, COBRA is about as much of a farce as it is an enemy….this is what Hasbro has laid out for us for all this time.
I just cannot get behind something like this as being what “should” be GIJOE, because its not. It is still very good though.
I don’t think this style would work for a G.I. Joe film as a whole, but having something like this as a “meet the team” style opening sequence would be fantastic.
there used to be a GI Joe mod for the original ghost recon PC video game
The supreme irony of this post is that if you look at the design of the G.I. Joe Retaliation Joe Trooper figure (the ones with the brown cloak), it’s clear that whoever designed it took some cues from the early pre-alpha renders and cinematics of Ubisoft’s “Ghost Recon 3: Future Soldier” that were going around the ‘net a couple of years ago.
I started watching the movie thinking it was only a few minutes long, saw it was over 20 minutes and thought I’m not going to finish this, it’s just too long….I was wrong, very entertaining all the way through! I can see this being a GI Joe movie. You have the real military like combat coupled with slightly futuristic tech that still has a close basis in reality. That’s what GI Joe has been since 1982
Yeah this is it. This is to The Rise of Cobra what Resolute was to Sunbow. The effects were great, the combat was just right, and the sci-fi stuff was very believable, unlike the “accelerator suits”. Someone needs to smack John Chu over the head with this. If he’s a fan of Joe, especially the comics, he’ll appreciate this. I’d pay to see this movie, and I’ll pick up the game for sure.
Seriously? A video game? This is a point-and-shoot exercise you realize. I see what you are saying, but I think a better article would have been to suggest that a G.I. Joe VIDEO GAME should look something like this. That’s where you went wrong 😉
That was pretty intense considering it seems to be an extended advertisement for a video game!
Also I see some negative comments towards Jon Chu which isn’t fair imo since we haven’t seen Retaliation. We also don’t know how much influence Hasbro and Paramount have on the film.
The combat sequences here are almost perfect for a GI Joe style movie. We can only wish that future GI Joe productions are this good. Instead we’ll get some over the top Snake Eyes in a black rubber suit, absurd comic book style plots, and silly ninja fight scenes.
I don’t see why Hasbro hasn’t teamed up with a software company to produce a GI Joe game. They could simply use the most recent Call of Duty engine, or another similar game. Its a much safer endeavor, and far cheaper to use an established engine. Hard core games might just view it as an expansion pack, but they would buy it anyway, and it would be a great way to introduce the word of GI Joe to a wider audience. It would be really cool if you were able to pick your team from the Joe roster and choose which character you were actually playing based on the mission.
Holy crap. That was amazing. Juut slap a gi.joe title card in there at the end, and you’re set. Damn. The movie we’ll never get. I could even see the potential for cool playsets.
Yeah, this is how GI JOE should be like. It’s the right dose of action, shootouts, military and sci-fi elements. Put the characters into this type of storyline and it would be the ultimate Joe adventure.
I loved it, thanks for sharing. For it be Joe it is missing a few things imo. The characters look to simliar to each other, Joes need to stand apart a bit more and a be a little less heavy in the realism. Again though, this looks great and has me interested in the game now.
Interesting. I’ll have to watch this later, but I got into Ghost Recon a couple of years ago while searching for something that would feel more like G.I. Joe than the movie did. I’m terrible at the video game, and the first novel sucked (not by Clancy), so this may finally be what I’ve been looking for.