While no one was expecting Shakespeare, the first G.I. Joe movie back in 2009 was largely derided as a moronic action-fest with a couple of decent set pieces and a duff script. So the sequel has a lot to improve upon. Based on the first trailer for Retaliation, it seems they’ve decided to try to make things right by adding a healthy dollop of Team Bring It.
Mr The Rock is all over this initial promo, which, while it also allows Joe veteran Channing Tatum and franchise newcomers Bruce Willis and Adrianne Palicki a few lines (plus clearly eeevil president Jonathan Pryce), is heavy on the Dwayne Johnson action.
The plot this time around borrows a page from Mission: Impossible, with the Joes framed as an international menace and the White House under the control of Cobra. With most of the team wiped out thanks to the corrupt machinations of the infiltrated government (and a handy excuse to kill off most of the cast from the last film off screen), it’s up to Tatum’s Duke, Johnson’s Roadblock and the rest of the survivors to take back their country. How do they do that? With guns and swords and vehicles and sexy dresses and holding their breath in deep water holes as bullets fly in, of course!
With Zombieland’s Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick on script duties, we were hoping for something better for director John M Chu (who last visited Justin Bieber: Never Say Never upon the world) to work with. So far, the trailer doesn’t give loads of hope, as it mostly seems to be another round of standard action. The cliff-face scrap looks fun, though. And as Fast Five proved, many things can be made better by including The Rock.
Boots will meet asses when G.I. Joe: Retaliation hits the ground on June 22.
