There is a GI Joe movie in the works. I was a huge fan of the 80’s cartoon, the Marvel comic book and the toys of the same name. I would say out of all of the afternoon cartoons it was easily my favorite. I really got into the comic book first. It was a great read, until they started following the goofy cartoon storylines (Serpentor anyone?).

When I heard that a GI Joe movie was being made, the first thing I thought of was, who is going to play Snake Eyes? He is arguably the most popular GI Joe character of the bunch. I had read a while back that they cast Ray Park in the role of Snake Eyes. Most of you may remember him as Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode I. Good choice, I think. Park is a martial artist by trade just like Snake Eyes. Pictures of the costume were recently released to the internet and it looks like they are sticking with the “version 2″ costume for Snake Eyes. The coolest one in my opinion. One thing of note is that in the comic book the red insignia you see there is actually a tattoo that Snake Eyes shares with Storm Shadow. I hope they elaborate on that in the movie, its one of my favorite GI Joe story lines. Another great Snake Eyes story comes from issue 21, aka “The Silent Issue.” but I doubt they will make a movie sans dialog.

Besides Ray Park as Snake Eyes, they have cast most of the major (and minor) characters. There were so many good guys and bad guys, I’m not sure how they can cram all of them into a 2 hour movie. The casting seems to be spot on, but I have a feeling most of the minor characters will just get glanced over. On the Cobra side of things it seems like they have all of the big guns, Destro, Baroness (played by noted Pittsburgh hater Sienna Miller), Zartan and Cobra Commander. It was also reported that part of the movie storyline will focus on Destro. He’s an interesting character, so it could make for a good movie plot.

It will be interesting to see which story lines they actually go with. I read recently that the stories will be pulled from the comic book from the 80’s. That being said, I have sneaking suspicion that the whole thing is going to be one huge mess. The whole project stinks of last summer’s other 80’s cartoon translation, Transformers. I didn’t love Transformers, but I didn’t hate it either, so maybe that is where I will have to level my expectations for the Joe movie.

As a side note, I can’t possibly post anything about GI Joe with out putting a link to the hilarious GI Joe PSA parodies on YouTube. Not sure why, but this is my favorite one.

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The new Hulk trailer came out last night. Not sure what I really think yet. It worries me a bit that there hasn’t been as much promotion for Hulk as there has been for Iron Man. The Hulk looks ok in the trailer. I think he still looks a bit rubbery to the point of looking like clay-mation. Hopefully they can clean that up before June.

As side note, you Toronto Film Fest guys might notice a Toronto hot-spot in the final seconds of the trailer.

I’ve posted the trailer here, but make sure you check out in HD to get the full flavor.

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Is anyone else as pumped as I am for Iron Man? When talking about movies based on comic books, I like to use the first Spiderman movie as my benchmark. As a fan of Spidey, I could find no flaws in the execution of the movie and it definitely lived up to my expectations. The more I see Iron Man stuff, the more I feel it will do the same. It may even raise the bar for all superhero movies to come. The Batman relaunch did wonders for that franchise and the sequel looks even better, but right now I would have to put my money on Jon Favreau and company as far as superhero movies go.

From what I have seen in the trailers, it looks like the film was perfectly cast and the costume(s) look perfect. The few minutes of action that I have seen looked perfect. I really don’t think this movie will disappoint. Also with rumors swirling of possible tie-ins to the upcoming Hulk movie leading to a possible Avengers movie, I am beyond hyped.

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