"G.I. Joe" Trailer Shows Us an Adaptation as Comical & Physics-Defying as the Cartoon (And That's Why We'll Like It)

By: Garrett Thomas Posted: May 1, 2009 Filed under: Trailers

One of the bigger laments of an adaptation is what gets changed or shifted around from the original. Modernizing can involve very small and simple changes, like making the spider that bit Peter Parker in Spider-Man genetically enhanced instead of radioactive to improve plausibility. It can certainly be a risky move if it's adjusting the entire ending of a film to achieve an easier and simplified plot device, as was in the case of Watchmen. In the more extreme cases, it can take one of your favorite heroes and shit all over them and attempt to make up for it by sliding some reshoots in a post-credit ending not everyone may see like was done in something-or-other opening this weekend. Anyways...

Modernizing, updating, making something more topical or realistic, they all have their pros and cons. They can polarize a fan base into either supporting the so called 'new and improved' or leave others feeling alienated because it collapsed under the heaviest of expectations. The prequel trilogy might not stack up against the original trilogy, Megatron might not shift into the gun that he once did, and god dammit maybe there's just not enough Hulk fans out there to create a franchise on the guy. It's all in one's perspective. It's with this perspective in mind that I watched the G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra trailer that just hit the web. My first impression is that it's going with what it knows: goofy action and adrenaline-fueled thrills. And isn't knowing half the battle?

You can also watch the trailer in High Definition.

This trailer tosses foreplay right out the window. One of the first scenes we see is the bad guy talking warhead-shop. There's no love present when we see Paris, specifically the Eiffel tower, get struck by some kind of bio-missle that releases material-eating smoke-goo. Then we get to see the real meat of the movie as we're introduced right away to the accelerator suits, as well as lots of vehicles flipping and things exploding. The movie's taking everything that is cool about Iron Man and Spider-Man and molding them together in an ass-kicking, missile-dodging joy ride.

When I originally saw the Super Bowl spot with the unexplained accelerator suits, I was on the fence. But just knowing that they are just throwing all this stuff our way leads me to believe they are staying close to the source material: Action. Explosions. COBRA. It's already so simple, why screw around with it at all? You can't take this to the Oscars in the adapted screenplay category, so the best way to go is to embrace the 'campy fun' factor. It's not supposed to be taken seriously; it's meant to entertain. And it looks to me Mummy-director Stephen Sommers might just accomplish this task, making this definitely one to look out for come early August.

[Source Myspace via Film School Rejects]