Wow…this is a very cool, very in depth, very long video interview that Collider was able to do with G.I. Joe: The Rise of COBRA director Stephen Sommers. The full article is here, but I am also embedding the video below. A brief wrap up also, so click the “Read the Rest of the Story” link to check out the full article.
Just a reminder that GeneralsJoes is still planning to be in the house for the charity screening tonight, and will be Tweeting my adventures on the way down to Rhode Island starting at about 1:00pm Eastern Time. I’m making a trip of it, fully planning on hitting as many stores as possible on the way down through, just to take advantage of the fact that I’ll be out of the boondocks for one day. If you’re not following me on Twitter, think about it! I can’t promise an insane level of coverage like the guys at HissTank and TNI are promising…after all, I’m going to support a Hospital, see a movie, and have a great time, not necessarily to break down quotes, interview folks, and take a ton of pictures. But who knows what will happen?
Less than twelve hours until the Hasbro Charity Screening airs tonight in Warwick, Rhode Island… ever since I was eight years old, it’s been a dream to see G.I. Joe characters on the big screen, and there were times that I was convinced it simply would never happen.
Throughout the early 2000’s, G.I. Joe came back in a big way and was making a splash in the toy aisles, yet never once did it ever seem poised to be popular enough to warrant a multimillion dollar budget, big name Hollywood producers, and stars that Joe and Jane America would recognize. In fact, I’d argue that the property still wouldn’t be popular enough if not for the huge impact that Transformers made in 2007. Thanks to those pesky robots, G.I. Joe was able to get a clear path to production, and, for better or worse, we are on the verge of seeing our favorite property fizzle or go through the roof.
Sure, there are plenty of folks out there who will never consider this THEIR G.I. Joe, and they have every right to that opinion. But anyone who knows me knows that I’m a diehard Joe fan who stuck with the brand when a lot of other folks jumped ship, all the way through Sgt. Savage, G.I. Joe Extreme, the t-crotch times, and yes, even Sigma 6.
There have been a lot of ups and downs…ironically my biggest “down” time was probably during the Anniversary era, when everyone else considered it “the peak” of recent G.I. Joe memory, but in spite of those mountains and valleys, I’ve stuck with it, and now, I’m about ten hours away from finally seeing my favorite characters on the screen. The backstories are different, the specifics of many of the characters are different, but from everything I’ve seen the “spirit” of G.I. Joe still goes strong. So much more than simply a realistic military story, G.I. Joe has always had on foot firmly in the fantastic, and this movie appears to be no different.
Without spewing too much hyperbole, I don’t think I’ve been looking forward to seeing a film this much in a long, long time. The best thing is, I now know what to expect, and I’m still excited, and that’s not something I could boast even two weeks ago. This is a great time to be a G.I. Joe fan, in spite of what many folks would have you believe, and I’m ready to jump foreward with a property that might possibly reach the heights that it reached twenty-seven years ago.
Yo Joe!
IESB.net has a great interview with G.I. Joe: The Rise of COBRA director Stephen Sommers, covering many different angles and talking about all facets of the film, but near the end, he finally reveals Brendan Frasier’s role in the film. The quote in question is below:
“IESB: It will, the universe has been established and you don’t have to do too much of the origins anymore of who’s who you can just go right at it. Now, we all knew Brendan Frasier had a cameo and I tried to catch the name, who is he playing?
SS: It’s Sergeant Stone. There’s a half a dozen actors in the film that I’ve worked with before, at least 4 or 5 from the Mummy movies, I like to work with nice people. I don’t work with assholes. They are all nice, there are a lot of other actors I’d like to bring in, there are a lot more G.I. Joe characters to go!”
Some folks thought this was a certainty already as it was, but it’s nice to hear some final confirmation from the film’s director as well. Click here for the full interview.
The many military veterans and family members who were eagerly anticipating a special premier for G.I. Joe: The Rise of COBRA at Andrews Air Force Base got even more than they bargained for as cast members Channing Tatum, Sienna Miller, Rachel Nichols, and Marlon Wayans all made surprise appearences.
Read the full story at USA Today.
Country Music Television goes Hollywood and gives some nice publicity to the upcoming G.I. Joe: The Rise of COBRA motion picture. Focused on heavily on the CMT Insider feature for July 22nd, there’s some footage shown (though none of it new) and nice, brief interviews with Sienna Miller, Dennis Quaid, and Channing Tatum. Check it out here, or embedded below.
As release date nears, more and more reviews are starting to crop up for G.I. Joe: The Rise of COBRA, and surprise, surprise…most of them are positive. Here’s the latest round up:
“This said, I’m unable to keep my mouth shut about G.I. JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA – primarily because I’ve spent the last year and a half kicking the film, knocking Stephen Sommers (whose VAN HELSING I still regard as one of the most overwrought, self-indulgent pieces of pap to hit screens in many years), and negatively prejudging the capabilities of nearly everyone involved with this project.
I was wrong. I’m here to say it, and I’m happy to admit it. I was wrong.
G.I. JOE is big, OTT, intellectually challenged, and idiotic as they come – which could certainly describe nearly ever other Stephen Sommers film to date. But it’s also a helluva lot more fun than they are, and here’s why…”
Yeah, I’ll take that as hefty praise from someone who is absolutely not a plant, a blind G.I. Joe fanboy, or someone with mysterious alterior motives.
“Well, it’s time to let Sommers out of director jail, folks, because his latest film “G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra” is big, ridiculous, and way more fun than I would have thought possible. It is a summer movie, through and through, pure pulp preposterousness, and it is one of the most successful little-boy adventure movies I’ve seen in a long time.”
More good words… Also, movie ratings site RottenTomatoes.com finally has G.I. Joe: The Rise of COBRA on its radar, and it currently as a very fresh “83%” with 5 out of 6 positive reviews to show for it. Check those reviews out here.
I’m sure the bad words are coming, but until then, it’s just damn nice to see some positive buzz for a change, especially considering the fact that it’s coming from people who have actually, shock of all shocks, SEEN the film.