Initial reaction upon viewing the third theatrical trailer for G.I. Joe: Retaliation is that… there wasn’t a whole lot of new angles to this thing. Of course, that’s expected. We’ve already seen a few domestic and international trailers, and a few TV spots. At this point it’s going to be tough to get new footage out there without starting to reveal key components of the story.
However, we did a few cool new snippets of action.
- The opening scene of Jinx and Snake Eyes walking across the mountain and hooking their grappling hook was something we hadn’t seen before. We also know at this point that they are heading into a battle with Storm Shadow. One assumes that they probably win this battle and that it’s Storm Shadow they are carrying in a glorified “body bag” as they swing away from the Red Ninja.
- Scenes with the ambush on G.I. Joe and the president are all taken from previous trailers, though they’re cut somewhat differently and more quick-paced, leading me to believe this trailer is more focused on action than plot exposition.
- We see a President with a sense of humor, poking some fun at North Korea, and the opening of the weaponized briefcase is a bit more elaborate than we’ve seen in previous footage.
- London’s destruction seems more developed and a bigger focus here as well, with several shots of the country exploding from various different angles.
- Fantastic scenes of Cobra invading domestic soil seem to be a bit longer as well, with an extra unfurl of the Cobra flag over the nation’s capital, and what feels like an extra second of the HISS Tank menacingly rolling down the street. My eyes might be playing tricks on me, but it felt like these scenes were a bit longer here than in previous trailers.
- The Roadblock/Duke exchange about needing a new catch phrase kicks the music up a notch and we get a series of very well-cut scenes with some new footage. Cobra Commander striding towards the camera is an excellent one, as is a great shot of the Cobra helicopter flying away from the camera with some thrusters in back.
- We see the Ripsaw tearing stuff up with rocket launchers, and SPOILER ALERT!!11! Cobra’s Mass Driver satellite gets nuked in orbit (it’s the only way to be sure). These all feel like scenes that we have not witnessed previously.
- Trailer closes with some more Bruce Willis/Joe Colton wise cracking, but focusing on his retirement with some nice Lady Jaye/Colton head-bashing mixed in.
Overall I thought it was another great trailer. I’m not sure if Jon Chu himself is directly involved in the editing of the trailers (I suspect he is) but if so, his background in dance choreography and action mixing with music helps immensely in selling these films. Loved the music, loved the transitions, loved the chosen action sequences. No this trailer did not give us a wealth of new insight about the film, but with some added footage and some tweaked editing, it was a really fun 1:44 of G.I. Joe, and it feels like it’s been way too long since we had that. Check out the embedded trailer below, and a gallery of screen shots at the bottom.
Below are some screen caps…I do apologize, they are not of the best quality, but did reveal some neat details I hadn’t necessarily seen before. Do with them what you will.
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The Vosloo/Pryce face transition was extremely cool. Love how they did that.
That was very cool! I’m glad to see IMDB got it right when they listed Vosloo’s involvement. I think there was a question mark over that originally wasn’t there?
Well, the question is if he’s making an actual cameo or if they just built his face into the 3D model for the effect.
Am ready and willing.
Looking good.
Superior trailer in comparison to the previous ones.
That looked really cool. I actually read an article about something similar to the Cobra satellite in Popular Mechanics awhile ago. I think it was called kinematic bombardment or something like that. The idea behind it is that you drop a tungsten rod onto the target and the sheer velocity from falling from space provides the kill mechanism. The rod has no actual explosive charge in it.
That’s interesting, I dig the Popular Science/ Mechanics. Just knowing this makes that Cobra weapon I just saw more believable to me.
It’s been a common theory for a while now – there’s an issue of Warren Ellis’ (awesome) Global Frequency that deals with exactly that type of weapon, and that was in 2004.
I’m still excited. I’ll admit i’m a little nervous about the changes made and fear what they will do to the overall plot and feel of the movie, but i’m still expecting it to better than ROC. Sadly, most of the net doesn’t not seem that way, on the boards, and even on sites like IGN even brings up the delay as having destroyed their excitement or as a bad sign on the quality of the movie,
Unfortunately, like some voices I have heard, I don’t feel that there’s anything in this new trailer that says the wait has been worthwhile. 3D conversion aside, there’s nothing really enticing in this trailer, after the build-up from last year.
That’s an awful feeling to have, as a viewer going into this movie, prior to its release in March. I was stoked before…..now I’m feeling very indifferent to it. I’ll see it, because I’m a GIJOE fan, but I have zero expectations that this is going to provide any boost for the property.
I think its a demonstration of a property that is considered to be “marketable” but not “important” enough to have critical decisions like 3D conversion made well-in advance, so the movie comes out on its original time-table. Would a Star Wars movie, or a Superman film be pushed back 9 months , just one month from release for 3D conversion???
No way in hell.
GIJOE is a glossed/sexed/violenced up “children’s film” that no-one but some toy-nuts really care much about. The bandaids they’ve been slapping on this thing for the past 6 months have been to try and recoup their investment into it, throwing muck at the walls and hoping something sticks. Personally, I’m not expecting anything better than ROC.
I’m not expecting worse, but better………..I don’t think will be in the cards.
I hope……….I really, really hope that some test screenings of this new cut come to light in the next couple of months and turn the tide on this thing for me. I’d love to have my fears be unfounded.
Still excited. Not sure the movie is going to be great, but I’ll still go see it in the theaters the first weekend.
i cant wait for this movie, i hope flint is as involved in this movie as he shud be & not a wasted character like cyclops in the x-men movies