Do You Think The GI Joe Film Will Be A Hit? Why/Why Not?

**Magi** · 05-07-2009

We've seen the GI Joe trailer and read the spoilers online for months now with what you've read & seen online, do you think the GI Joe movie will make it big in the box office?
Ironically, I always wanted to see a live action movie based on GI Joe, but I'm not sure if the film will be a major success given all the liberties taken from the Marvel/DDP comics (IDW's GI Joe is still establishing its own identity) .
My major misgivings are:
1)GI Joe becoming an international , rather than American strike force. Its a shame GI Joe had to be politically corrected.
2)No references to General Joe Colton-the first GI Joe. I know I'm probably one of the very few fans who appreciated his commanding GI Joe: America's Elite (for me he was a more realistic CO than either Duke or Flint) . Still, its a shame he seems to be ignored.
3)Destro not wearing his silver mask or in his black outfit. He just looks like a run of the mill terrorist trying hard to copycat Tony Stark.
4)The Delta 6 Accelerator Suits. Keeping it as a Sigma Suit would've been more in pace with established continuity. Haviong the Joes in black is a downer as one of its most distinct looks is that each Joe has a specific outfit in the field.
5)All action , but no story-The trailer focuses on the action & sci-fi element-but not the military side of Joe. In the first Transformers film, we saw US Rangers use the V22 Osprey, the F22 Raptor anda slew of real life US military vehices. Not in the Joe film trailer. Besides, GI Joe should be more story /character oriented.It worked in the comics.
6)Cobra Commander's movie look. And the producers say that it'll be akin to the James Bond films of Sean Connery's era. I don't remember Ernst Stavro Blofeld of SPECTRE dressing like a Xindi council reject.
I really wish that the film stuck to the basic comic premise instead of focuing on the sci fi. It may work, bt I don't think it'll be considered a classic in the long term.
What do you fans think? Let us know ASAP. Thanks.

**Da_Last_2_Walk** · 05-07-2009

Just like the Transformer movie didn't follow the G1 cartoon, I can expect the G.I. Joe movie to be the same way.

I'll wait until I see the movie to pass judgment.

**Young Justice** · 05-07-2009

Originally Posted by Magi

We've seen the GI Joe trailer and read the spoilers online for months now with what you've read & seen online, do you think the GI Joe movie will make it big in the box office?
Ironically, I always wanted to see a live action movie based on GI Joe, but I'm not sure if the film will be a major success given all the liberties taken from the Marvel/DDP comics (IDW's GI Joe is still establishing its own identity).

I completely agree with you, but not in all liberties. I think some of them were good.

My major misgivings are:
1)GI Joe becoming an international , rather than American strike force. Its a shame GI Joe had to be politically corrected.

That's the one I liked it. I think being American is only key to some characters like Snake Eyes, Duke, Hawk or Scarlett.

Even with some of them you could make them half American, like maybe Scarlett being an European with an American father and working for the CIA before joining G.I. Joe.

Other characters could be turned into another nationality and still be faithful to the mythos:

- Recondo could be a French guy from the Alps who enlisted on the foreign legion to operate on the jungles of African countries once colonized by France.

- Flint could be either British or even Australian.

- Gung Ho could be a French soldier from the French Guyana.

- Spirit could be Canadian

The list goes on.

2)No references to General Joe Colton-the first GI Joe. I know I'm probably one of the very few fans who appreciated his commanding GI Joe: America's Elite (for me he was a more realistic CO than either Duke or Flint) . Still, its a shame he seems to be ignored.

I think Joe Colton was in America's Elite to take the job of Hawk who was in a wheelchair. Since Hawk in this movie will be the senior officer, there's no real place for Colton. Yet. Maybe in a sequel, Hawk gets to be paralyzed and Joe Colton could assume the role as commander of the Joes.

3)Destro not wearing his silver mask or in his black outfit. He just looks like a run of the mill terrorist trying hard to copycat Tony Stark.

That's one of the modifications I liked. I'm a fan of the grounded in realism concept of some of recent comic books movies. In that concept, Destro would be a international terrorist arms dealer who would use his legitimate identity as James McCullen XXIV, a weapons industry tycoon to cover his criminal activities.

Of course he would still own his metal mask. But it would be only a trophy. A symbol of the glorious past of the M.A.R.S company and the McCullen clan in the arms industry.

4)The Delta 6 Accelerator Suits. Keeping it as a Sigma Suit would've been more in pace with established continuity. Haviong the Joes in black is a downer as one of its most distinct looks is that each Joe has a specific outfit in the field.

I agree and disagree. I hate the accelerators suits. Too sci-fi. Too cartoony. But I liked the all black, Batman Begins-style armor suit. I think it would be realistic as a special outfit for commando infiltrations. But it would have to be a reason to exist. I would like to see the Joes wearing camouflaged fatigues for the jungles, or all white ones for the snow environment as well.

5)All action , but no story-The trailer focuses on the action & sci-fi element-but not the military side of Joe. In the first Transformers film, we saw US Rangers use the V22 Osprey, the F22 Raptor anda slew of real life US military vehices. Not in the Joe film trailer. Besides, GI Joe should be more story /character oriented.It worked in the comics.

Amen.

6)Cobra Commander's movie look. And the producers say that it'll be akin to the James Bond films of Sean Connery's era. I don't remember Ernst Stavro Blofeld of SPECTRE dressing like a Xindi council reject.

I didn't liked the looks of Cobra Commander as well. The one characters who has his face disfigured is Snake Eyes. Period. Cobra Commander has other reasons to with to take over the world. I would use this simple look: A normal guy, in a old fashioned General outifit, who happens to stay in the shadows so we can't see his face. In the field, why not use the classic no face metal mask?

I really wish that the film stuck to the basic comic premise instead of focuing on the sci fi. It may work, bt I don't think it'll be considered a classic in the long term.

Completely agree. Now what about:

- RipCord being an African American, instead of making him be Stalker for instance?

- RipCord being the comic relief of the team!?

- RipCord being romantic involved with Scarlett?!?

- Duke being the guy who left Baroness in the altar?!?!?

- Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes as childhood friends?!?

- Storm Shadow lame white outfit.

**HardaTaq** · 05-08-2009

Will it be a hit? Sure. Will it be a hit amongst Joe fans such as ourselves? Hard to say.

There are always going to be the handful of fanboys who absolutely hate it because it's not 100% following stories set in place by cartoons/comics/etc. and they seem to be the people who love bringing everyone's experience of the movie down by infecting the internet with page after page of hate-articles. It happened with Transformers, Fantastic Four, Spiderman, Batman, etc. You just have to expect it. However, you should always remember to make your own inferences especially in this situation. Don't go in to the theater expecting them to fulfill your every Joe fantasy, because you'll only leave disappointed.

Personally, I think the movie will be extremely fun to watch. The cast is fine, there should be some decent special effects, and I'm sure the plot will work well enough. For those with children, maybe it will make it will get them interested, and be their gateway into the wonderful world of Joe-dom.

**Inzane** · 05-08-2009

I hope those accelerator suits don't sink this movie...

**Beach Head** · 05-08-2009

After seeing that horrid trailer with those suits and them dodging missles I know this movie will suck badly. I could care less about the change in storyline. The movie just doesn't look too convincing. The creators of The Mummy movies are behind this so we all know what to expect. EWWW

**Magi** · 05-10-2009

Originally Posted by Young Justice

I completely agree with you, but not in all liberties. I think some of them were good.

That's the one I liked it. I think being American is only key to some characters like Snake Eyes, Duke, Hawk or Scarlett.

Even with some of them you could make them half American, like maybe Scarlett being an European with an American father and working for the CIA before joining G.I. Joe.

Other characters could be turned into another nationality and still be faithful to the mythos:

- Recondo could be a French guy from the Alps who enlisted on the foreign legion to operate on the jungles of African countries once colonized by France.

- Flint could be either British or even Australian.

- Gung Ho could be a French soldier from the French Guyana.

- Spirit could be Canadian

The list goes on.

I think Joe Colton was in America's Elite to take the job of Hawk who was in a wheelchair. Since Hawk in this movie will be the senior officer, there's no real place for Colton. Yet. Maybe in a sequel, Hawk gets to be paralyzed and Joe Colton could assume the role as commander of the Joes.

That's one of the modifications I liked. I'm a fan of the grounded in realism concept of some of recent comic books movies. In that concept, Destro would be a international terrorist arms dealer who would use his legitimate identity as James McCullen XXIV, a weapons industry tycoon to cover his criminal activities.

Of course he would still own his metal mask. But it would be only a trophy. A symbol of the glorious past of the M.A.R.S company and the McCullen clan in the arms industry.

I agree and disagree. I hate the accelerators suits. Too sci-fi. Too cartoony. But I liked the all black, Batman Begins-style armor suit. I think it would be realistic as a special outfit for commando infiltrations. But it would have to be a reason to exist. I would like to see the Joes wearing camouflaged fatigues for the jungles, or all white ones for the snow environment as well.

Amen.

I didn't liked the looks of Cobra Commander as well. The one characters who has his face disfigured is Snake Eyes. Period. Cobra Commander has other reasons to with to take over the world. I would use this simple look: A normal guy, in a old fashioned General outifit, who happens to stay in the shadows so we can't see his face. In the field, why not use the classic no face metal mask?

Completely agree. Now what about:

- RipCord being an African American, instead of making him be Stalker for instance?

- RipCord being the comic relief of the team!?

- RipCord being romantic involved with Scarlett?!?

- Duke being the guy who left Baroness in the altar?!?!?

- Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes as childhood friends?!?

- Storm Shadow lame white outfit.

Thanks, Young Justice. My thoughts on your queries -in order:
1)100% agree! I would definitely prefer seeing Stalker and his being a Ranger, and as Hawk's right hand man -I understand its gonna be Cover Girl and even I know from the comics that if Hawk has a girl Friday , its Scarlett.
2)I hate the notion of a 'comedy relief' character. GI Joe should be dead serious if the film's gonna compete w/ Star Trek, Terminator, Salvation, TF 2 and Angels & Demons. I appreciate Clutch's sense of humor, ditto Scarlett's, but to have a Joe just for the laughs is pushing it.
3)Rip Cord with...Scarlett?!? That's dumb! I can understand Scarlett with Snake Eyes, or even Duke-have to keep the cartoon fans happy=- but Rip Cord? Give me Clutch any day. Even Tunnel Rat from Sigma Six.
4) A big NO WAY! I'll be frank, I'm not a real Duke fan. While Ican respect him the Marvel run, the Sigma Six cartoons, and GI Joe Reloaded, I just hated the way DDP made him a manipulative black ops guy .
That said, Duke's leaving the Baroness at the altar's crazy. For all of DDP's' miswriting of the character, Larry Hama made damn sure that Duke is, first and foremost an honorable man.
(speaking of the Baroness, I don't thinks she's even European in the movie)
5)SE & SS a childhood pals seems to have been lifted from the Sigma Six cartoon. And its odd that they opted for it. I really would have preferred a serious by the book interpretation of GI Joe. (Ironically, Sean Connery's 007 films,w/c the Joe film brass brag as the GI Joe movie will emulate are noted for closely following the original novels by Ian Fleming-specially From Russia With Love & Thunderball).
6) I agree totally. Storm Shadow's outfit just looked lame. I expected better,and it doesn't help one bit that SE's mouth is clearly etched on his facemask.
I can understand why Brandon Frasier was wary of cameoing as Gung Ho. He even told Dominic Lau in VIP Access that :" Let's face it, the guy's a reject from the Village People!"
On the bright side-for what its worth, there seems to be no Billy, Lady J, Flint, Roadblock or Muskrat involved.
(if Falcon & Jinx ever show up, I hope its Linda Park as Jinx, Ben Affleck as Falcon, with Jonathan Frakes tossed in as Joe Colton. Rachel Taylor from the 1st Transformers film can be GI Jane. Just a thought.)

**CobraLALALALA** · 05-11-2009

Let me say this:

I've thought the movie looks really bad and agree with almost everything stated in this thread. I also thought the same thing about Dragon Ball. I figured OMG look at that crap. I watche dit anyway, and it was pretty darn good.

So I'm not gonna jump to conclusions, it might all work out. I try not to know too much about a movie before I see it.

**mightybuck** · 05-11-2009

i think it will do well, but maybe not "transformers" well. as a big budget summer action movie, i'm sure it will make some decent money, but it is coming out rather late in the summer and that will hurt it's money making potential. the trailers seem as if they would appeal to casual fans or those who aren't familiar with gi joe, with the exception of those stupid suits.

i'm a fairly objective person when it comes to things that i like. i can understand the pros and cons of this movie, and i must say from what has been released in trailers, posters, etc. (i.e. stuff that most people would see without searching extensively on the internet), those suits are the only bad thing so far. unfortunately this latest trailer makes them appear to have a significant role in the film and that could make a minor problem into a major one.

my younger brother, who recognizes a few characters and has seen the fensler PSAs but doesn't have much more knowledge about the franchise, was pretty excited about the movie. he saw the first trailer earlier this year and thought it looked nice. he saw the second trailer a few days ago and thought it looked ni- wait a minute. what are those guys wearing? they look like cheap iron man rip-offs. that's not gi joe! if the suits had been left out of the movie, it would've been fine.

if these guys want to alter the continuity we know and love, that's fine. it's probably not going to be as good (as should be expected since we're comparing about 90 minutes to years of comics and cartoons. it's not a fair fight.) but we should at least give it a chance. some of it might be alright.

CC's helmet looks wonky but it's an origin story and for all we know he may not have it in any sequels. he's probably not going to be in the movie for very long anyway. besides, shouldn't we be focusing on something of substance like how well his character is portrayed? i'm a little let down with his appearance, sure, but i'm still eagerly anticipating seeing him on screen.

the joe team becoming international isn't an issue with me because it's kind of stupid to have it the other way. gi joe is already a fictional unit comprising the best of the best from america's various military branches, why not just make it some international military unit and pull the best of the best from all over the world? the old way feels very self-centered and egotistical and if you want a current (ish) movie like that, just watch "team america: world police".