Thanks to Phil from YoJoe, I was directed to a better quality version of the third G.I. Joe: Retaliation trailer, so I pulled more screen caps down, much better quality than the ones I got yesterday. I even noticed a nice little image of the Ripsaw firing some missiles at what looks like a HISS Tank that I hadn’t noticed before.
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.
At least that’s the report from Ethan at First Showing (that Tweet was posted yesterday, hence the “tomorrow” timeline), and given the sneak peek at the trailer last night on ET, that sounds like good intel to me. I would imagine it will debut on YouTube, possibly on Machinima’s channel, since they’ve been a pretty steady partner of G.I. Joe: Retaliation over the past twelve months.
It would also make sense as well, since I’m going to be on the road for business, and both Paramount and Hasbro seem to like breaking news while I’m away from my computer.
Jerks.
Regardless, I’ll do whatever I can to post info from the Trailer and geek out with the rest of you Joe fans as close to noon as humanly possible. To go along with the trailer, there is a video on YouTube of the Entertainment Tonight trailer “sneak peek” from last night, which features a tiny bit of new footage. There seems to be more London destruction, a more elaborate sequence of the Cobra briefcase opening up, and possibly a few other little items. Check out that YouTube video below, and then be glued to the web today at noon for the latest G.I. Joe: Retaliation trailer!
Sadly, they did not include the actual G.I. Joe: Retaliation trailer teaser with this interview as they did during the show last night, but the interview itself has been posted on ET.com for your viewing pleasure.
It’s not a real serious look at the film, but Johnson is always entertaining.
I’m going to try very hard not to be melodramatic, but I will say over the past few days there has been a lot of thinking, analysis, and a lot of talking out the recently revealed issues with the G.I. Joe: Retaliation film. From a fandom perspective, we were all so geeked out and so fired up about what we saw in the trailers, it was easy for us as a collective group to ignore any potential that the film might not live up to our lofty expectations.
I think we were all so certain this film couldn’t possibly fall below the standard set by G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, when word started coming out that early screenings revealed some potential issues with the film’s quality, combined with the nine month delay and rumors of product recalls, the sudden chaos brought by all of the combined changes has thrown the fandom for a loop. There has been quite a bit of discussion, and yes quite a bit of rage out there, and frankly, it’s hard to say it’s not justified.
But I’ve been doing quite a bit of introspection myself over the past couple of days, and as folks have come to expect from the site, I’d like to offer a rosier outlook than many have been discussing (here on GeneralsJoes certainly included).
Yes, the film is being delayed. Yes, quite a bit of product will not see store shelves in 2012. But, no this is not the end of the world. Read on to read my thoughts.
