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7/01/2017

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) - Sommers tries to fire up Hasbro's second, less interesting movie venture



A sexually suggestive, fire-and-ice-color-schemed concept define this character-filled poster for Stephen Sommers' G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

A team of international, secret super-soldiers, the G.I. Joes, get their work cut out for them, when a new so-called nanomite weapon gets stolen by its very evil, Scottish manufacturer.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, based on the Hasbro comic strip series which began in 1942 and the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero action figure toyline (1982-94), is written by Stuart Beattie (I, Frankenstein (2014)), David Elliot and Paul Lovett (Four Brothers (2005), both), with Michael B. Gordon (300 (2006)) and director Stephen Sommers (The Mummy (1999)) contributing story elements. 
The completely idea-vacuumed Joe universe only becomes less engaging from the fact that is consists of an enormous ensemble of characters who are all one-sided and colorless. Channing Tatum's (Stop-Loss (2008)) cheating 'hero' characters takes the cake. Marlon Wayans (The Ladykillers (2004)) and Byung-hun Lee (The Influence/In-peul-loo-eon-seu (2010)) have charm and improve matters some.
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is a huge-budgeted monstrosity; SPOILER in its almost constant barrage of mostly CGI-based action, the scene of the destruction of the Eiffel Tower of Paris was, to my eyes, a spectacle. But it can't change, however, that this is a braindead dud.

Related posts:

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 







Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 175 mil. $
Box office: 302.4 mil. $
= Big flop
[G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra premiered 27 July (Tokyo) and runs 118 minutes. The film had been in development for about a decade and only moved into production following the success of Hasbro's first feature franchise, Transformers (2007). Shooting took place from February - June 2008 in California, including Los Angeles, the Arctic, the Czech Republic, including in Prague, in Tokyo, Japan and Paris, France. The film opened #1 to a 54.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent its first 4 weeks in the top 5 (#1-#2-#3-#5) and grossed 150.2 mil. $ (49.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were South Korea with 15.9 mil. $ (5.3 %) and the UK with 10.3 mil. $ (3.4 %). Roger Ebert gave the film 1.5/4 stars, translating to a star harder than this review. The film was nominated for 6 Razzie awards, winning one for Sienna Miller as Worst Supporting Actress. Though the huge-budgeted movie didn't recoup its costs theatrically, it undoubtedly sold plenty of tie-in merchandise. In its first week of home video release in North America, it grossed 40.9 mil. $ from sale of 2.5 mil. discs. A 2013 sequel, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, was also critically panned but made more financially smart, grossing 375 mil. $ on a 'mere' 93 mil. $ budget. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is rotten at 35 % with a 4.6 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra?

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