G.I. Joe director fired???

[Harvey]

If the rumor is true that Sommers had total control of this movie, then everyone who signed off on that should be fired. So The Mummy being a surprise hit caused his stock to rise, but then to follow it up with The Mummy Returns and Van Helsing? Did no one notice his escalating problems?

Despite weak critical response, The Mummy Returns was actually more profitable than its predecessor. And although Van Helsing wasn't quite as profitable (nor well received by critics) as Sommers' previous two films, it still made 300,000,000--nearly twice its budget--and certainly grossed more in ancillary sales (television, DVD, etc.). Even The Scorpion King, which he scripted and produced, was a modest financial success.

In short, Sommers' creative success or failure means little to studio heads who see that his films have grossed a lot of money in the United States and abroad.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

This coming from a guy who loved and watched GI Joe as a kid, this new movie looks GODAWFUL. And I have absolutely no desire to watch battlebots blowing the shit out of parked cars and skyscrapers. If I wanted to watch that, I'd go watch Transformers.

 

[Newski]

Sommer's is a great director..... He knows how to make some of the most gleefully stupid fun films.....He works in a genre I like to call "Preposterous Adventure." It's over the top, doesn't take itself too seriously, and promises pure spectacle.

Stuart Baird is a terrible director, but I've loved his work on movies like "LadyHawke" and "Demolition Man." The guy's a great damn cutter, if you pay attention to things like that. So, while I know this rumor is not true, kinda wish it was.

We have the best director of hilarious campy crap, with a damn good editor of hilarious campy crap.


GI Joe may be the most awesomely bad movie of all time... The greatest intentionally so bad it's good film. And that's pretty hard, considering the current champ is 'Street Figher' with Raul Julia.

 

[God Magnus]

This coming from a guy who loved and watched GI Joe as a kid, this new movie looks GODAWFUL. And I have absolutely no desire to watch battlebots blowing the shit out of parked cars and skyscrapers. If I wanted to watch that, I'd go watch Transformers.

What "battlebots" blowing up parked cars and skyscrapers? Most of the destruction you describe is done with either hand held weaponry or weaponry mounted onto vehicles - which is definitely within the confines of what one could consider "G.I. Joe". If you by "battlebots" you mean the suits, in all the footage I've seen all it does is help them move faster and avoid said weaponry.

I know it sounds like I'm defending the hell out of the movie, and I suppos in some way I am, but it's more like I'm wondering why the armor suits seem to be the only element that bugs people. A while back people were worried about the all black outfits too, I know, but I'm more bothered by Baroness not having an accent than Joes in suits.

 

[exodus]

Is it even possable to fire a director after the film is done?

Ridley Scott was fired after principal photography was finished on Blade Runner. It's not uncommon for a director to be kicked out of the editing room and the studio (or producer) to take over post-production when they don't like the way things are going.

Wow, I never knew that.

Thanks for that tidbit of info.

 

[Harvey]

Is it even possable to fire a director after the film is done?

Ridley Scott was fired after principal photography was finished on Blade Runner. It's not uncommon for a director to be kicked out of the editing room and the studio (or producer) to take over post-production when they don't like the way things are going.

Wow, I never knew that.

Thanks for that tidbit of info.

I believe he was re-hired sometime later as well, but I could be mistaken. He was fired for either going over budget or over schedule, if my memory is correct. The information comes from one of the documentaries on the Final Cut.

 

[Jayson]

This coming from a guy who loved and watched GI Joe as a kid, this new movie looks GODAWFUL. And I have absolutely no desire to watch battlebots blowing the shit out of parked cars and skyscrapers. If I wanted to watch that, I'd go watch Transformers.

What "battlebots" blowing up parked cars and skyscrapers? Most of the destruction you describe is done with either hand held weaponry or weaponry mounted onto vehicles - which is definitely within the confines of what one could consider "G.I. Joe". If you by "battlebots" you mean the suits, in all the footage I've seen all it does is help them move faster and avoid said weaponry.

I know it sounds like I'm defending the hell out of the movie, and I suppos in some way I am, but it's more like I'm wondering why the armor suits seem to be the only element that bugs people. A while back people were worried about the all black outfits too, I know, but I'm more bothered by Baroness not having an accent than Joes in suits.

The biggest problem with the suits, at least for me is that the black leather,amour stuff has become a cliche by now. The early years of GiJoe was somewhat realisitc, at least for a cartoon and comic book, but eventually got more over-top and silly. They should have been inspired to do a good comic-book movie like Batman,X-Men etc instead of some crappy brainless throwaway movie that doesn't even look like a good popcorn movie because even the best popcorn movies aren't 100% stupid.

Jason

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Stephen Sommers (He of the immensely fun The Mummy, but the utterly forgetable "Everything After That") was handed his walking papers and pick up shooting and last minute editing is being handled by a name all too familiar here:










Stuart Baird










Yes, that Stuart Baird.

Whether or not the rumor is true, that part of it makes a lot of sense. Baird was an accomplished editor before he tried to launch his directorial career, and this wouldn't be the first time he's been called in to try to save a troubled film in the edit - he did that job on one of the "Mission Impossible" features, for which he was promised the director's job on a "major picture."

Man, was he pissed when he was offered a "Star Trek" movie instead.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

This coming from a guy who loved and watched GI Joe as a kid, this new movie looks GODAWFUL. And I have absolutely no desire to watch battlebots blowing the shit out of parked cars and skyscrapers. If I wanted to watch that, I'd go watch Transformers.

What "battlebots" blowing up parked cars and skyscrapers? Most of the destruction you describe is done with either hand held weaponry or weaponry mounted onto vehicles - which is definitely within the confines of what one could consider "G.I. Joe". If you by "battlebots" you mean the suits, in all the footage I've seen all it does is help them move faster and avoid said weaponry.

I know it sounds like I'm defending the hell out of the movie, and I suppos in some way I am, but it's more like I'm wondering why the armor suits seem to be the only element that bugs people. A while back people were worried about the all black outfits too, I know, but I'm more bothered by Baroness not having an accent than Joes in suits.

I know seeing the preview, when the missiles are being fired at the "Joes" in their suits, performing their Matrix-bullet time twirling shit, I'm pretty sure the entire movie complex could hear my heavy sigh. I was pretty excited when I heard a GI Joe movie was being made, but after I saw this preview (and discovered it was made by Stephen Sommers) my expectations have gone pretty much to the bottom.

Edit: Also, the black costumes aren't a problem for me. Hell, I didn't mind the X-Men movies having black costumes. I even like Dennis Quaid as an actor, but this movie just reeks of suckness.