August 31st, 2007 -- Written by John Campea
Looks like things are really moving forward full steam for the G.I. Joe movie. Just last week they confirmed The Mummy director Stephen Sommers as the director, and now they announced a writer… Stuart Beattie, the man who also penned the excellent “Collateral” as well as “Pirates of the Caribbean Curse of the Black Pearl” and the upcoming “30 Days of Night”. Not a bad little resume.
But regardless of how talented Beattie is as a writer (and I really enjoyed both Collateral and the first Pirates film), the harsh reality still exists that G.I. Joe will end up just being a kid friendly, PG13 and fully neutered action film whose sole purpose for existing it to launch and sell new toys. I have no problems with that in general… but when applied to a live action G.I. Joe movie, I just think fans should realistically prepare themselves for what they’re going to get… a true translation of the cartoon… not a grittier all out war movie like some have expressed a desire to see.
That’s not all to say that a G.I. Joe movie can’t still be good… it very well may be… all I’m saying is that it’s not going to be the G.I. Joe movie a lot of people think they’re going to get or are looking forward to. In Transformers, Megatron can litterally rip one of his enemies in half with his bare hands, and because they’re robots instead of human beings they can get away with that for a PG-13 movie. Can do that with non-robotic Joes.
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Pirates of the Caribbean Curse of the Black Pearl was PG-13
You say you liked it, but that means the PG-13 didn’t hurt it.
I think G.I.Joe has a chance
Hey there Calviin,
I think you missed my point. I’m not saying at all that PG-13 is a bad thing in and of itself… but swashbuckling pirates fighting imaginary CGI monsters is a TOTALLY DIFFERENT thing than…
A modern day military film with real modern day weapons, where a military group is fighting terrorism and shoot people.
I’m not saying G.I. Joe will be a bad movie… I’m just saying it’s not going to be what a lot of people are wanting it to be. It will be VERY VERY VERY tame as far as a war action film goes. You can show CGI monsters sword fighting on a pirate ship in a PG-13 film… you can’t show a guy jumping into a trench and shooting 2 terrorists in the face.
That’s all I’m saying
You bring up a good point, but honestly seems that a lot of the fans don’t nesscary want a gritty war flim. Though they may not also want a carbon coby of the cartoon. I honestly think they may be hoping for more a mixtre of the comics. It is a little hard to tell. I too hope it will be good.
Well, PG-13 is better than PG, and I think they could still do a good adventure with it. Casino Royale, Star Wars, M:I-3, and some other PG-13 flicks have some great action. Maybe they can still pull it off.
If human-vs-human death adn mayhem is the problem, they should move away from having cobra troopers or Vipers and just role with B.A.T.’s (Battle Android Troopers). If Cobra has an army of B.A.T.’s, then we could get alot of cool action with loads of enemy troopers getting shot, slashed, crushed, broken, and destroyed without the MPAA having a hissy fit. Then get some Crimson Guards in there for good measure, and fans might just role with it. I would.
I’m thinking (and hoping) it will be more like the cartoon.