Thursday, July 30, 2009

G.I. JOE: Rise (or Fall) of Cobra

I have a sinking feeling that G.I. JOE is going to bomb at the box office when it opens next week. Being a fan of the franchise as a kid, I was excited when I heard about this live action version last year. Unfortunately, what Batman did so right, it looks like JOE did all wrong. The power behind cartoon or comic resurgence is in the gritty, real life application of its characters. Fans like to experience the dark reality of these imaginary worlds. And from recent previews, it looks like JOE has gone the 12-year-old popcorn route instead. Granted, this worked for Transformers (which was actually somewhere in between), but I don't see it translating here. The one liners feel forced and the action looks like it's too rooted in fantasy. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Hopefully I'm wrong for the franchise's sake.

1 comment:

Amber Strahl said...

Yeah, mostly the re-emergence of this story makes me want to go back and watch the cartoon movie, not go to the theater. Transformers works because you got to see the transformers you grew up with in a live action movie with great special effects, not just actors with some resemblance of a GI JOE character. The preview of GI JOE looks as if it could be any action adventure flick that someone just came up with, not a great retelling of an old classic.