https://www.fathomevents.com/events/GI-Joe-The-Movie
Click on the link above to see the promotional event.
Hello folks. I have come back from a screening of the 35th anniversary release. The auditorium was about a quarter full which was fairly impressive. It didn't have the ambience or audience that was of the Transformers the movie showing back in 2018. However, this showing was displayed in a big screen. So lets get the negatives out of the way first.
Negatives
- Was shown in a full-screen format. While this was the original aspect ratio, this screening was severely lacking on a wide-screen projector. What made it worse was that you can see the 2 matte lines each on both sides of the screen.
- The video quality looked more like it was from the 2010 dvd release.
- The audio was probably the worst aspect of this release. It is very monotone and clearly you only hear it in the front portion of the theater. Had this been in surround sound, the intro would had been a spectacular broadcast. Overall, the movie would had sounded better in surround sound. Missed opportunity here.
- First half of the film felt very slow or un-interesting to me. Once again, it was to introduce the new characters but it just felt very flat to me.
- Not entirely this movie's fault but thanks to the lackluster receipts of Transformers the movie, this movie was lacking an ost. Something the TF the movie ended up getting and it turned out phenomenal.
- Maybe he wasn't popular yet, but I felt Snake-Eyes got the shaft in this film. I'm pretty sure for people who are seeing this film for the first time, and are familiar with the live-action films, will recognize him when they see him but he didn't appear or did much in this film. Don't expect him to talk still, heh.
- Storm Shadow I do believe shows up in the very beginning of the film I just noticed, never shows up again for the remainder of the film. I mean, what's up with that?
Positives
- It's on the big screen finally.
- The last half still re-ignites child hood memories for me. Especially the beatdown Sgt. Slaughter gives Nemesis enforcer towards the end. It's still an enjoyable moment.
- It doesn't do the original joes or cobra members a disservice as TF the movie did by killing off the old line. However, the film does feel a bit oversaturated with characters. This can cause a lot of confusion for new timers. It really has this feel where you should know all the characters by now. They do their best to call everyone out by names but not everyone. You do not hear Lady Jaye's name or Scarlett's called out once. Not even Snake-Eyes etc. Might as well throw in Storm Shadow since I'm sounding smart at the moment. But maybe this is the reason why Snake Eyes is barely in this film because of too many characters being focused on. Well, also because he is being phased out at this point.
- At least they tried to add a bunch of old-timers where TF the movie, you never saw Gears, Skyfire, and some others etc... ever again.
Somewhere in the middle *some spoilers*
- The new Cobra La enemy is kinda scary for it's time, especially they use some giant creatures at their disposal. They are ugly looking as Roadblock called out it's air force. Though I do like the Nemesis Enforcer look.
- Cobra Commanders Transformation is still freakish as of today. Not to mention, the vision sequence where every man, woman and child would revert to mindless animals had the Cobra-La mutating spores did its job. This was made for kids? There was a serious dark tone to this film and if they killed off the original line as they did in TF, would you still say this was made for kids?
- Duke (supposedly) dies. No doubt but thanks to Optimus Prime's death and backlash to the TF movie, the creators of this show scrambled to keep the scene but also add to the dialogue to cheapened his death err.... injury. As a result, it feels clustered at times. I mean, look at him, he passes out and everybody gets very emotional. Then Falcon at the end simply thanks his big brother whom is Duke at the end in a moving manner but the scene clearly indicates that Duke is already gone. They do add lines in the film to indicate he went to a coma and his come around, but it doesn't have this feel as you watch the subsequent sequences I just explained. However, I heard that the Japanese release does keep the death scene intact.
Final words:
The movie is not bad itself but the presentation was disappointing. The video could had used more polish and a wide-screen showing. The audio was the biggest perpetrator here. Could had definitely used surround sound and more bass. That oomph factor was lacking. But at least we can all agree that it was time G.I. Joe got its big screen release due. Let's not forget it has nostalgic value. Well, till next time.
