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G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra - Grading & Discussion

Grading

  • Total voters
    91
Star Wolf said:
darkwing_duck1 said:
Delta1 said:
Which law is that? Not 10 USC 772, especially after the Supreme Court looked at it in Schacht. Is there another law I'm unaware of?
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Not sure what the citation is, I just know it's a law and has been for a long time. It's even been discussed in various commentary tracks.
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Its in the US code but only applies when the intent of the filmaker is to denigrate the US armed forces. GI Joe would not fall in that category, Rendition in the Valley of Ellah maybe even Platoon would.
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Really? I've heard the producers of Stargate (series) comment on how they couldn't duplicate uniforms either, and they're far from being disrespectful to the military...oh well, learn something new every day...

OK, did some checking, and here's what I found (from one of those "answer my question" websites):

I know it illegal to impersonate a police officer but what about a soldier?

Yes. If you impersonate any military member by wearing a uniform, you are in violation of Title 18, U.S.C. Section 702).

If you impersonate a decorated soldier, you are in violation of the Stolen Valor Act (18 U.S.C. Section 704).

Technically, having the distinctive US ARMY, US NAVY, US AIR FORCE OR US MARINES tags on a fatigue shirt or BDU blouse that you purchased at the local surplus store is also a violation of the US Code.
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Several soldiers chimed in to confirm this answer.
 
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Is portraying a soldier in a movie really the same thing as "impersonating an officer"? I always figured that law meant actually going out in public as a police officer or soldier.
 
I finally got to see GI Cisco today and it really wasn't that bad IMO, in fact, I think I enjoyed it the most out of the summer movies this year (haven't seen Terminator Salvation...). Maybe it's that whole "low expectations" thing but I found it a fun ride.

Random Comments:

- I'm glad they made the Pit and the underwater lair way over-the-top.

- I could never get used to Snake Eye's lips, no wonder Scarlett never looked back

- The Baroness should be evil and have an Eastern European accent but that's just me. I know they changed a lot of characters but that's just my personal preference.

- Why do Stephen Sommers movies always have odd CG? I think part of it is that it often involves people. This movie it never ruined it for me but a couple parts were noticable.

- Do you figure Destro made the Firefox prototype for the Russians?

- They should have made Destro hard of hearing.
"What did you say this terrorist yoonit will be called?"
"Cobra."
"What?"
"Cobra!"
"What?"
"COOOO-BRRRRRAA!"

- Scarlett's motorcycle skills:eek:

- Marlon Wayans was way better in this than as "Snails", I thought they handled the comic relief well without killing it.

- Channing Tatum = John Cena + Mark Wahlberg

- I don't know if Eccleston should have just gone for broke and added a bur-r-r-r-r on top of that accent or not


captcalhoun said:
Thrall said:
-BRENDAN FRAISER AS MUTHAFUCKIN' FLINT!!
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sorry, he's not Flint, he's Sgt. Stone.
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I hearby declare that he was Sgt. "Flint" Stone.
 
Mr. Adventure said:
Is portraying a soldier in a movie really the same thing as "impersonating an officer"? I always figured that law meant actually going out in public as a police officer or soldier.
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Maybe because often times on location shooting in a city might confuse someone?

I don't know how since even an on location shoot has high security around it and cameras would be on the actor/actress in 'fake' officer attire.
 
I thought it was above average. Some nice callbacks to the series along with some stuff from the comics. I would have liked for them to show the Snake-eyes/Storm Shadow 'slice and snuff out the candle' test from the comics, where Snake-eyes deliberately loses so Storm-Shadow can save face in front of his family.

They came up with a new origin story for Cobra Commander that didn't really have me convinced, but it was ok I guess.

I could definitely see Brendan Frasier as Flint.

It's funny how they made it seem like such a big deal that Duke and Ripcord were becoming Joes when they seemingly tested miles above what the normal 'greenshirts' could have done.

Thought I might have spied Jinx (or whoever everybody seems to think is Jinx) so I enjoyed that.

Custom vehicles were nice, especially the Night Raven which was not too far off the original.

Massive assault again the Cobra hidden uber-fortress was straight from the series. Very nice.

Effects seem nice but they could have done the Scarlett motorcycle stuff with stunt people and it would have been more believable.
 
i thought only Duke did really well in training. i got the impression that Ripcord's scores weren't really good enough and Hawk only let him in to keep Duke and for security reasons...
 
Star Wolf said:
Its in the US code but only applies when the intent of the filmaker is to denigrate the US armed forces. GI Joe would not fall in that category, Rendition in the Valley of Ellah maybe even Platoon would.
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And that restriction was chopped out by the Supreme Court decades ago (the aforementioned Schacht). There is absolutely no legal restriction on the use of the uniform of the US Armed Forces in films or plays--except maybe certain decorations or appurtenances. I haven't read the Stolen Valor Act. But it wouldn't surprise me that, even if Stolen Valor criminalized the use of the MoH in films or plays, the Supreme Court would declare that clause unconstitutional based on their earlier ruling.

Again, no legal restrictions on the wear of the uniform in films or plays. Anyone who tells you otherwise is mistaken or having fun with you.
 
Captain Craig said:
Mr. Adventure said:
Is portraying a soldier in a movie really the same thing as "impersonating an officer"? I always figured that law meant actually going out in public as a police officer or soldier.
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Maybe because often times on location shooting in a city might confuse someone?

I don't know how since even an on location shoot has high security around it and cameras would be on the actor/actress in 'fake' officer attire.
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One of Chief Bratten's last acts in Los Angeles is to try to forbid retired officers from hiring themselves out in LAPD uniform as movie set security
 
I went into this just expecting a live action version of the cartoon from the 80's. I, like a few people in here, did watch the 80's cartons along with the G1 transformers. But the funny thing is I remember most of the Transformers story but I only remember the basic highlights for GI:JOE.
Anyways. I didnt expect a Dark Knight style story with deep characters. I gave it a above average for it remaining tru to the original (mostly)..
 
I finally saw this movie on dvd.

I didn't like it that much. It was still much better than Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, because I could at least tell what the hell was going on during the action scenes in this movie.

Can a movie have too much action? For such a big budget movie, The CGI backgrounds were pretty shoddy and there were way too many of them. It was worse than the Star Wars prequels. The power suits felt like something out of Iron Man. There was also too many flashbacks. None of the actors really stood out. I think it's important that blockbusters like these have very talented actors to carry it when the script isn't that great.

What did I like about the movie? I thought Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow were pretty cool. Ray Park seems like he was born to play badass characters that don't talk. Baroness and Scarlett are babes. Some of the actions scenes were well done, like the chase through Paris.
 
As I stated before I like that it was actually what it set out to be...it was the first movie in a linear trilogy that set up and introduced the concepts of the franchise. I really don't know what people expected when they saw the movie. The ending was pretty near perfect and Joseph-Gordon Levitt's performance as Cobra Commander was great. I enjoyed Dennis Quaid as General Hawk. Channing Tatum is in no way shape or form Duke. Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow were awesome, so was Scarlett who in one of the tie in books I think is Canadian.
 
Ah okay...surprisingly that's the only other source that says that. I believe it's mentioned in the coffee table book her nationality but it's "classified".
 
I saw this when it was in the theaters, mainly because a friend visiting from DC wanted to see it. Stupidly, I took him to one of the nicer, Hollywood theaters in town so we wound up paying a lot for tickets. Oh well. The movie was fine in the 'dumb action flick' sort of way, but the Alan Silvestri score elevates it a little in my opinion ... but beyond that, meh.

While I disagree with Admiral Young's take on Dennis Quaid (it felt like he was reading off cue cards and deliberately trying to be cheesy), I am in total agreement that Channing Tatum was just God-awful as Duke.


Also:

necrodcopy.jpg
 
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