G.I. Joe: Retaliation

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March 29, 2013
Director honors 'G.I. Joe' lore with epic ninja sequence
Brian Truitt, USA TODAY
Producer says 10-minute action scene is one of the hardest he's ever been involved with.
No G.I. Joe lover's comic-book collection is complete without the famous "Silent Interlude" issue.
And G.I. Joe: Retaliation director Jon M. Chu is such a fan of G.I. Joe No. 21 — an action-packed tale written and drawn by Larry Hama from 1984 featuring the silent ninja commando Snake Eyes but with no dialogue, captions or sound effects — that the filmmaker took special care with an homage to it in the new movie.
With nary a word spoken in 10 minutes, the all-ninja sequence where Joe team members Snake Eyes (Ray Park) and Jinx (Elodie Yung) capture Cobra's Storm Shadow (Byung-hun Lee) and attempt to escape from a pack of Red Ninjas on snow-covered mountaintops is a showstopper. Ninjas rappel down wires, clash swords while running on the sides of mountains, and even fall to their doom spectacularly.
"It definitely was something that drew me to the script to get me excited about it," Chu says.
The crew spent over a month working on what producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura calls "one of the hardest action scenes I've ever been involved with" — and this is a guy who has worked on three Transformers films in addition to films such as Salt, Red, Doom and many others with gunplay and fisticuffs.
The trickiest aspect: having actors and stunt men flying on ropes and correctly timing the sword blows of one guy passing another.
"It's so much about balance and timing and rhythm. That's the part where you had to do it over and over again," di Bonaventura says. "People are rolling through the air — where are they going to land exactly so that when they land, they can strike a blow with their sword?"

Snake Eyes (Ray Park) faces off with rival ninja Storm Shadow (Byung-hun Lee) in a scene from "G.I. Joe: Retaliation."
Chu himself had to be a man of action behind the scenes when he feared that Paramount wouldn't let him have 10 minutes of a movie with no dialogue.
"Plenty of times, the studio would come and say, 'Can't Snake Eyes say one thing here? Wouldn't it be cool to have Snake Eyes maybe take off the mask once?' " Chu recalls. "And plenty of times we had to be like, 'What the (expletive) are you talking about? No! That's not what he is, you can't do that.'
"The journey to retain the honor of what 'Silent Interlude' is was a challenge."

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March 29, 2013
'G.I. Joe: Retaliation' Introduces A Whole New JoeSequel to 2009's 'Rise Of Cobra' does a tonal turnaround, giving fans a more faithful adaptation of the real American heroes.
By Brett White MTV.com
Director Jon M. Chu has not made a secret of his G.I. Joe passion, and now he has a film to back it up. "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" ditches the science-fiction camp of the previous film in favor of classic guts and glory. The result makes "Retaliation" a more grounded film, meaning that everyone turned off by "The Rise of Cobra" has another chance to enlist with a totally new take on the Joe squad.
It's not just the approach that's new this time out, either. Channing Tatum and a handful of others are the only actors reprising their roles from the first film, thus ensuring that "Retaliation" both looks and feels like a fresh start. The cast is anchored by Dwayne Johnson as Roadblock, with D.J. Cotrona and Adrianne Palicki rounding out the core Joes, and Bruce Willis added for extra cred.
So just how does "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" differ from "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra"? Here are the key changes that make "Retaliation" work.
Accelerator suits out, fatigues in
Fans weren't exactly thrilled that the people behind "The Rise of Cobra" felt the need to outfit the Joes in head-to-toe black suits more reminiscent of superheroes like the X-Men than combat-ready soldiers. The decision was even more confusing since most Joes wear uniforms not far removed from the actual armed forces (not counting Scarlett's ninja-gymnast get-up). In "Retaliation," however, the protagonists sport battle armor over traditional camouflage and fatigues, at times even mixing it up in nothing more than t-shirts, combat boots and practical pants. These heroes don't need science-fiction armor to get the job done.
No forced connections
By the end of the first G.I. Joe film, viewers needed a jumbo-sized diagram to make sense of the extensive connections between the Joe and not-yet-Cobra forces. Duke's ex-fiancée became the evil Baroness because of her brother Rex's manipulations. To further confuse matters, Rex was best friends with Duke, until a horrific accident destroyed their friendship and set Rex on the path to becoming Cobra Commander. "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" does away with all of that baggage and, for the most part, keeps it simple: The good guys are good and the bad guys are bad. We aren't given a reason why Ray Stevenson's Firefly has sided with Cobra, and we don't need one.
Ninjas, ninjas and more ninjas
What made G.I. Joe stand out from the other big action cartoons of the '80s was the franchise's ability to seamlessly mash up Eastern- and Western-influenced action. Gunslingers mixed it up side-by-side with ninjas in adventures that spanned the globe. Whereas the first film included this key ingredient in low doses, the sequel pours it on thick. The resident G.I. martial artists fight Cobra's legion of crimson-colored ninjas in a mountainside battle, in addition to a number of one-on-one grudge matches between Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow.
Gratuitous toy tie-ins
Even the most stalwart G.I. Joe fan can admit that the cartoon series existed to sell toys. New characters and vehicles were introduced at an alarming rate, meaning that kids would never run out of new things to bug their parents for. "The Rise of Cobra" was conservative in its usage of vehicles, but "Retaliation" isn't. Cobra has a fleet of H.I.S.S. tanks pulled directly from the cartoon series and they take flight in a variety of jet-propelled helicopters, while Roadblock tears up the road in a tricked-out dune buggy. If it's not constantly trying to sell you a cool new toy, it's not G.I. Joe.
Cobra exists
This is the big one; Cobra was too busy "rising" in the first film to actually do any damage. That left fans without Cobra Commander, a character as important to the franchise as Darth Vader is to Star Wars. But all that's changed in this film. Cobra Commander is center stage in his full, silver face-plated regalia, mounting an over-the-top scheme to take over the world. The Cobra logo is plastered all over this movie, popping up on briefcases, vehicles, lapel pins and flags. With a full-fledged Cobra army to fight against, the G.I. Joes finally feel like they did thirty years ago.

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March 29, 2013
'G.I. Joe: Retaliation' director's wait is over
BY CHRIS LEE, Los Angeles Times

KIRK MCKOY / LOS ANGELES TIMES

Director Jon Chu only gets slightly wild-eyed nowadays thinking back to last spring when Paramount Pictures dropped its "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" bombshell.
Little more than a month before Chu's $130-million action-thriller was set to besiege multiplexes last June, studio executives made a rare 11th-hour blockbuster scheduling switcheroo. They punted its release from a prime summer slot into the lower-rent movie real estate of March 2013.
FOR THE RECORD:"G.I. Joe": An article in the March 30 Calendar section about Jon Chu, director of the movie "G.I. Joe: Retaliation," reported the film's production budget as $185 million. According to Paramount Pictures, the studio that released the film, its production budget was $130 million. —The studio said those added months would allow 3-D effects to be added to Chu's movie (a sequel of sorts to 2009's "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra"), thus maximizing the new film's foreign box-office potential. But within hours of the announcement, Hollywood's rumor mill was operating full tilt with chatter about disastrous test screenings and demands for costly reshoots. And Chu, 33, began to wonder if his career would tank.
"Literally, my heart just sunk," he recalled. "What does this mean? You don't know if they're genuine about this or if it's an excuse to shut your movie down."
Inspired by Hasbro's cherished, kung-fu-gripped action figure, and costarring Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson and Bruce Willis as special-ops soldiers, "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" finally reached theaters in wide release this week. By several accounts, it's still very much the film that Chu envisioned when he pitched Paramount on the project in 2011 — a bombastic mash-up of ninjas, commando grunts and "Dr. Strangelove"-style geopolitical intrigue — albeit with 3,000 more "dimensionalized" shots than before and facing less-than-stiff competition in the movie marketplace.
According to tracking surveys, "Retaliation" should get off to a solid start, grossing up to $50 million domestically through Sunday, on par with the first-weekend haul for "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" four years ago. Both the studio and Chu acknowledge that pushing back the opening of "Retaliation" jaundiced expectations, but Adam Goodman, president of Paramount's film group, disputes that the delay amounted to a no-confidence vote for Chu.
"It's a vote of total confidence," Goodman said. "Strategically, we felt we'd have a better opportunity moving the movie to the date we have now. It wasn't a particularly popular move. But we will do whatever it takes to protect the longevity of these franchises. A well-playing 'G.I. Joe' doesn't work as much for us as a hit 'G.I. Joe.'"
Laying waste to any notion that a movie focused around ninja assassins should be mutually exclusive of America's military-industrial complex, "Retaliation" finds the Seal Team Six-esque Joe squadron outnumbered, outgunned and scrambling to regroup in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. The terrorist organization Cobra has kidnapped the president of the United States (Jonathan Pryce) and wiped out all but four of the Joes in an ambush.
Stung by the murder of team leader Duke (Channing Tatum), the remaining Joes (Johnson, D.J. Cotrona, Ray Park and Adrianne Palicki) enlist retired Gen. Joe Colton (Willis) to thwart an intercontinental ballistic missile attack that will enable Cobra's diabolical bid for global domination. Along the way, there's a ninja face-off pitting an Uzi machine gun against knife-blade throwing stars, and London gets decimated by a bomb-shooting satellite.
Chu was hardly the no-brainer choice to direct "G.I. Joe"; after all, his filmography is distinguished by dance- and music-related movies — "Step Up 2: The Streets," "Step Up 3D," "Justin Bieber: Never Say Never" — and he boasts zero experience with action-adventure. But having grown up playing with G.I. Joes and possessing an encyclopedic knowledge of Joe ephemera, he sold Paramount by spelling out a vision for the movie that would effectively reboot the franchise and "connect all the G.I. Joe brands" — from the jingoistic, 12-inch action figure line launched in 1964 on through to the '80s introduction of G.I. ninjas.
Goodman began tracking Chu while he was at USC's film school and became convinced he was the right man for the job after Paramount released Chu's Bieber rockumentary "Never Say Never." (That film grossed nearly $100 million worldwide.)
"Based on our earlier conversations, I found it more surprising that Jon was doing movies about dance — I know him first and foremost as a fanboy," Goodman said. "I understood that this guy had a love for comic books and video games and things that are nostalgic in the best possible way. We had done a movie with him prior to this that he brought in under budget.... So giving him a movie of this scale wasn't any concern."
Chu shot "G.I. Joe" over 75 days in New Orleans and Vancouver, Canada, in 2011, with the script calling for Tatum's character to be killed off in the first act. During production, however, the actor blossomed into an A-list star, appearing in the trifecta of hits "The Vow," "Magic Mike" and "21 Jump Street."
Chu was in post-production when Paramount decided not to put "G.I. Joe" out the same June weekend that "The Amazing Spider-Man" was headed to theaters.
"They told me straight up, 'Jon, we're going to lose the opportunity to make this movie the best it can be if we don't do it in 3-D. The pressure is on with "Spider-Man." … We as a company don't have to release a movie just because we have to. We think we can have a better spot and give you the time for the 3-D you always wanted,'" Chu said.
Hollywood's chattering class began to speculate that Paramount had ordered Chu to reshoot the movie to emphasize Tatum; the director vigorously denies that any reshoots took place. Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura said his initial shock at the studio's decision gave way to accepting the potential upside of a $20-million 3-D conversion.
"Your first reaction when you hear that is, 'Really?'" he said. "The second reaction is, 'They're willing to spend all this money to make the movie bigger and better?' That's a good thing."
Before implementing the film's 3-D effects, Chu took a month hiatus last summer to direct a music video for Bieber and a TV commercial for Microsoft Surface. He says he returned to "G.I. Joe" with a renewed sense of purpose.
"Did I have to go home and stare at the ceiling for a couple of weeks? Yeah," Chu said. "And did I have to answer my family and friends? Like, 'Really, Jon? Really? C'mon.' Yes, that was really hard."
"But it was never, 'We'll take it from here. Thank you very much.' I never felt taken out of the process. They never made me feel like this is some ploy to kill the movie."
[For the Record, 5:16 p.m. March 30: A story in Saturday's Calendar section about Jon Chu, director of the movie "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" erroneously reported the film's production budget as $185 million. According to Paramount Pictures, the studio that released the film, its production budget was $130 million.]
chris.lee@latimes.com

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March 29, 2013
'G.I. Joe: Retaliation' an improvement on mindless predecessor
Irish Examiner
If at first you don’t succeed, churn out a sequel.
The original G.I. Joe film, subtitled ‘The Rise Of Cobra’, opened at the peak of the 2009 summer blockbuster season to a blitzkrieg of largely negative reviews.
Aimed predominantly at teenage boys with limited attention spans, the all-guns-blazing romp based on the popular line of military action figures stormed past $300m in worldwide box office takings.
Money talks louder than a flimsy script, weak characterisation and clumsy digital effects, so director Jon M Chu (‘Step Up 3D’) locks and loads for this bigger-budget sequel, which raises the action ante with eye-popping set pieces and bruising showdowns.
‘G.I. Joe: Retaliation’ is slicker and more entertaining than its predecessor, although the bar wasn’t set particularly high.
Screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick sensibly kill off swathes of their cast in the explosive opening sequence in order to focus attention on a handful of undernourished characters.
Once the dust settles, we learn that arch-villain Cobra Commander (Luke Bracey) is in stasis in a subterranean prison and his henchman Zartan (Arnold Vosloo) is installed in the White House, impersonating the President of the United States (Jonathan Pryce).
Zartan frames the G.I. Joes as traitors to the American cause and wipes out most of the brave men and women in order to clear the way for the rise of the Cobra terrorist network.
Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson), Flint (DJ Cotrona) and Lady Jaye (Adrianne Palicki) survive the bloodbath and quickly realise that the order to terminate must have come from the upper echelons of power.
“There’s only one man who could authorise an attack like that,” growls Roadblock, “and I voted for him.”
So the Joes march back to American soil and seek help from legendary retired operative General Joseph Colton (Bruce Willis).
Meanwhile, evil agent Firefly (Ray Stevenson) masterminds Cobra Commander’s escape and mute swordsman Snake Eyes (Ray Park) and ninja Jinx (Elodie Yung) travel to the Himalayas to capture heinous henchman Storm Shadow (Lee Byung-hun).
‘G.I. Joe: Retaliation’ is preoccupied with spectacle over substance but does deliver a few pulse-racing thrills and spills that make good use of the 3D.
The cliff-hanging Himalayas sword fight incorporates vertiginous shots of bodies tumbling to terra firma, and when Firefly unleashes a swarm of tiny mechanised insects, they buzz about the screen, apparently close enough to swat.
Johnson, Channing Tatum, Willis and co flex their pecs, discharge hundreds of bullets and perform gravity-defying leaps in the name of world peace.
Star Rating: 2½

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April 29, 2013
Review | G.I. Joe: Retaliation
by Keri Luna Spinoff Online
With its built-in legion of fans and larger-than-life characters and storylines, the G.I. Joe property would seem impossible to get wrong, but despite a good box-office performance, 2009’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra managed to strike the wrong notes.
Thankfully, director Jon M. Chu’s sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation learns from its predecessor’s mistakes, ditching the far-fetched science-fiction elements and getting down to the serious business of having a good time with the badass ninjas, real American heroes and treacherous Cobra villains.
Channing Tatum (21 Jump Street) reenlists in the Paramount Pictures franchise as Duke, accompanied again by the two characters that are downright impossible to get wrong: ninja warriors Snake Eyes (Ray Park) and Storm Shadow (Byung-hun Lee). They’re joined by wrestling superstar turned actor Dwayne Johnson as Roadblock and the legendary Bruce Willis as the original Joe, General Joe Colton. Villainous Cobra agent Zartan (Pirates of the Caribbean‘s Jonathan Pryce) also returns to wreak global havoc disguised as the U.S. president.
Retaliation taps into the nostalgia for its brand, providing fans that collected the Hasbro toys growing up with an opportunity to thrill to seeing real-life Cobra Hiss Tanks and Fang boats in action. That’s not to say audiences unfamiliar with the many iterations of G.I. Joe will be left scratching their heads, as the film offers a tactical mission brief that highlights the characters and their specialties, bringing everyone more or less up to speed.
There’s a mischievous, laughing abandon to the script by Zombieland writers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese that serves up a heaping portion of tasty American cheese with a generous side of explosions. Tongue planted firmly in cheek, G.I. Joe’s ninjas and soldiers fight together for truth, justice and four-quadrant appeal.
The considerable sum Paramount ended up spending to convert the film to 3D was money well spent, as Chu’s use of the format is restrained and unobtrusive. When it is used, it enhances the campy, over-the-top action, particularly in the frenetic ninja fight sequence, which employs zip lines, swords and shurikens in the Himalayas.
Johnson’s playful charisma and mega-watt smile are pitch-perfect, as is his comic timing. When Roadblock’s mysterious ninja ally Snake Eyes manages to get the drop on him, Johnson demonstrates why he’s so good at injecting new life into existing franchises with his impeccable delivery of two words: “Damn Ninjas.”
Willis could be brought up on charges for petty theft, as he steals nearly every scene he’s in. Walt Goggins (Justified) makes an-all-too brief, but hilarious, appearance as a high-security prison warden, and Pryce, as the diabolical American president, is having too much fun bragging that he’d just “hung out with Bono.”
Fun gizmos and weapons abound, whether it’s Roadblock’s high-tech gloves that melt wire, or the exploding bugs and motorcycle of the brutish Firefly (Punisher‘s Ray Stevenson), the gadgets channel all of the gonzo delight of the G.I. Joe brand. Is it ridiculous that Lady Jaye (Friday Night Light‘s Adrianne Palicki) has a DNA-sequencing transmitter cleverly disguised as a lipstick? Yes. Is it awesome and should Hasbro create a toy version for girls ages 6 and up? Yes, please.
The treat — the giddy fun of this movie — is that it knows and revels in what it is and has no illusions about what it is not. To put it in simple musical terms: Retaliation isn’t Radiohead, it’s delicious bubble-gum pop and should be enjoyed that way – in a crowded theater with the sound cranked all the way up.
Yo, Joe!

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May 10, 2013
G.I. Joe: Retaliation Exclusive Blu Ray Steelbook
Credit: Ford via HissTank Forum
Amazon.de has an exclusive version of the Retaliation blu ray for sale. 
G.I. Joe: Die Abrechnung - Steelbook exklusiv bei Amazon.de 3D Blu-ray + Blu-ray + DVD Limited Edition: Amazon.de: Filme & TV
As it is a Paramount movie, it should be region free. Since it's Amazon, they do ship world wide. Once you check out, the price drops to 32.40 EUR, which converts to $42. So, it's a steep price, but it is a limited edition. The same case also went up for pre-order today on play.com (which only ships to the UK), and it already sold out it's 2,000 copies. 
Play.com - Buy G.I Joe: Retaliation (Entertainment Store Exclusive 2D & 3D Blu-Ray Steelbook) (Blu-ray) online at Play.com and read reviews. Free delivery to UK and Europe!
I would hope that Best Buy, Target or Wal Mart would get a similar exclusive, but it wouldn't be an official Steelbook here. Probably a Metalpack. Yes, there's a difference. I went ahead and pre-ordered it off Amazon.de (I don't speak German, so I just clicked on the familiar buttons). If I see the US is getting something similar, I can always cancel the pre-order. But this was the exact cover I was hoping that they'd make, back when the people that saw the movie at a Regal Cinema showed off that free poster they got.

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G.I. Joe: RetaliationReviewed by: Scott ChitwoodRating: 5.5 out of 10http://www.comingsoon.net/news/reviewsnews.php?id=102044
March 29, 2013
'G.I. Joe: Retaliation': How a High-Flying Himalayan Fight Scene Got Made
by Rebecca Ford THR
Director Jon M. Chu staged the scene with office furniture before shooting in the mountains of Vancouver for the astounding nine-minute scene that contains no dialogue.
When audiences walk out of the theater after seeing G.I. Joe: Retaliation, there is one scene in particular that will be a hot topic of conversation.
A nine-minute action scene featuring ninjas fighting on the side of the Himalayas is an extreme-action experience that is a definite highlight of the film.
While the scene in Jon M. Chu’s sequel does not feature any of the bigger name actors in the Paramount film – which stars Dwayne Johnson, Bruce Willis and Channing Tatum – it does display complicated choreography as Snake Eyes and Jinx go up against a group of evil ninjas using an intricate system of zip-lines to fly across the side of the massive mountain.
“That scene took months and months and months. Probably the longest shooting scene I’ve ever been involved with,” says seasoned producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, whose long list of films includes the Transformers franchise, 2010’s Red and 2013’s Jack Ryan.
The idea was first brought up as a part of the script for G.I. Joe: Retaliation, which was written by Zombieland writing team Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. It was a three-page scene featuring no dialogue.
The scene was, according to di Bonaventura, a direct homage to one of the comic books, Silent Interlude.
But taking what was written on the page and bringing it to life on screen would prove a bigger challenge for di Bonaventura and Chu.
Chu tells The Hollywood Reporter that he literally set up couches, chairs and lamps in a room to sit in as the mountains. Then he got HASBRO to send him over some ninja toys so he could stage the scene in front of his stunt coordinators and a mountain climbing expert.
“I showed them how they would jump off this couch and swing this way. And our mountain climber guy would say, ‘Well if they are going to swing, they need a mountain here because that’s their pick point,’” he says. “And literally we did that until we built the whole sequence.”
One the sequence was mapped out, Chu says they went to the mountains of Vancouver to shoot some of the wintery action.
“We had zip-lines a thousand feet in the air and stunt guys zipping along in skin-tight ninja suits,” he says. “They were freezing cold, couldn’t breathe in that altitude. It was craziness.”
Chu adds that due to the freezing temperatures, the stunt people had at first worn wetsuits under their ninja costumes, but it didn’t look right so they just had to deal with the cold.
Additionally, Chu shot more stunts in New Orleans against a large green screen, and combined that with CG to create the breathtaking scene.
But for Chu, the scene may never look for him like it does for the millions watching it on the big screen.
“When I look at the sequence, I just see lamps and chairs and stuff,” he says with a  laugh.Watch the featurette below to see some of the high-flying scene.

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G.I. Joe Retaliation: A GIF Reviewhttp://www.cinemablend.com/new/g-i-joe-retaliation-gif-review-36669.html
http://www.current-movie-reviews.com/42273/gi-joe-retaliation-review-great-action-takes-center-stage/

April 1, 2013
Jon M. Chu - G.I. Joe: Retaliation has different tonehttp://www.contactmusic.com/news/g-i-joe-retaliation-has-different-tone_3583267

'G.I. Joe: Retaliation' has a different tone to the original movie, reveals director Jon M. Chu. 'G.I. Joe: Retaliation' has a different tone to the first movie.
The film's director Jon M. Chu - who takes over the reins from 'G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra' helmer Stephen Sommers - has revealed that although the upcoming blockbuster is a sequel, it also acts as a reboot to the franchise following lukewarm reviews for the first movie.
He explained to BANG Showbiz: ''That was a delicate balance. Both the challenge and advantage that we had going into 'G.I. Joe: Retaliation' was that we had a great movie before us, but it was a different tone movie than what I knew of 'G.I. Joe' and I wanted to get in there and have fun with it.
''In the tradition of 'G.I. Joe', every few years it gets reinvented whether it's the toy line, the cartoon, the comic book, or even the movie itself. To have the opportunity to be part of that tradition and reinvent it with the amazing cast that we have, that gave us a huge advantage.''
The film's star DWAYNE 'THE ROCK' JOHNSON also praised Chu for bringing ''great passion'' to the director's chair.
He added: ''That spirit of trying to elevate 'G.I. Joe' was easy because we have a filmmaker who's new to the brand of 'G.I. Joe'. I love Stephen Sommers, who directed the first movie - he gave me my break in Hollywood with 'The Mummy Returns' - but we have Jon Chu, who loved 'G.I. Joe', and had a great passion and deep connection with 'G.I. Joe'.
''Plus, we also have a studio in Paramount who does franchises very well, from 'Transformers', 'Star Trek' and 'G.I. Joe'. They realised there was room to elevate 'G.I. Joe' and make a better movie the second time around.''

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'G.I. Joe: Retaliation' Offers Easter Eggs For Die-Hard FansThe franchise's latest installment managed to work in a few nods to the classic Joe cartoons and comics between explosions.By Brett Whitehttp://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1704645/gi-joe-retaliation-easter-eggs.jhtml

G.I. Joe: Retaliation Movie Review
Reviewed by: J.A. Hamiltonhttp://flix66.com/movie-review-g-i-joe-retaliation/

Director: Jon M. ChuStars: Dwayne Johnson, Channing Tatum, Bruce WillisMovie: 6/10Overall: 6/10
With Zartan posing as the President, G.I. Joe is wiped out down to a handful of four as Cobra Commander is rescued by Storm Shadow and given the power to destroy the world.  It’s up to Roadblock, Lady Jaye, Flint and Snake Eyes to make things right.
G.I.Joe was my favorite cartoon as a kid, hell, I still watch the animated movie once a year and can recite every word.  For this reason I find the JOE movies a little harder to review.  I view the franchise in the same light I view the MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE script I read a couple years back—that got shelved.  There’s the way I want to see it hit the big screen, and then there’s the inevitable way it will hit the big screen.  I used to think getting something was better than nothing in this regard, but then BATMAN FOREVER came out and I quickly ate those words.  Now, I try to have fun and enjoy what I get (X-MEN ORIGINS WOLVERINE is a fine example of this).  G.I. JOE: RETALIATION has many issues, but as an action film based upon my favorite cartoon, I can’t really complain…much.
I found the story intriguing upon viewing the initial trailer—I mean, it’s awfully ballsy to kill off G.I. JOE down to a handful of soldiers.  This works and it doesn’t work.  The call itself makes sense as Zartan’s still rocking the President’s meat suit, but from it spawns a ton of questions that never get answered.  The initial strike force they dispatch is clad full of ‘henchmen type’ soldiers, rather than the named ones we meet in the first film, so where did they all go?  What happened to the JOE base in the desert?  They say Duke’s leading the Joes now, so what happened to General Hawk—and for that matter, I hated that they killed Duke off.  It’s the equivalent to making Jim turn on his team in MISSION IMPOSSIBLE.  These are two things that just wouldn’t ever happen in these universes.
Okay, so let’s get past all that for a second and move on to Cobra.  One of the best aspects of the film came from the always cool Walton Goggins as the smooth talking Warden of a secret prison facility (housing both Destro and Cobra Commander) that’s supposed to be impenetrable as well as inescapable…unless you’re Storm Shadow.  I like the whole cryosleep pod deal, but why didn’t the process work on Storm Shadow?  I get this jailbreak had to happen, but I wasn’t thrilled by their decision to just leave Destro behind—or for Cobra Commander to say, “Sorry Destro, you’re out of the band.”  Ouch, and sadly, the rest of Cobra Commander’s limited dialogue suffers from the same level of cheese.
What does work is the addition of The Rock.  The guy’s just awesome, pure and simple.  He reinvigorated the FAST & FURIOUS franchise first, and now he’s rocked the JOE universe as well.  I wish the same could be said about Bruce Willis, but it can’t.  What a waste.  D. J. Cotrona’s Flint was nothing like his cartoon counterpart, however his parkour tactics made the action sequences better so I can live with it.  Adrianne Palicki’s Lady Jaye was also a welcome addition to the team —two words: red dress.  Ray Park’s Snake Eyes felt terribly underused, which is a shame seeing as how he’s probably the second most popular JOE next to Duke and Sgt. Slaughter.  Why they even bothered to add Jinx to the mix is beyond me.  She said maybe two words the entire film.
G.I. JOE: RETALIATION is riddled with unexplained questions, catch 22′s and a myriad of ridiculousness under the skin, but on the surface it’s a heck of a fun time at the movies.  I know I seem like I’m coming down hard, but for anyone who isn’t a fan of the cartoon or bathed in nostalgia, these are issues that will clearly stand out.  Don’t get me wrong, visually this was a feast, from the vehicles down to the fine details like fixing Snake Eye’s mask and getting Cobra Commander’s right.  I loved seeing Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow team up—it would be like seeing Sub Zero team up with Scorpion—but the reasoning is unbelievably terrible.  I loved the ninja scenes in the mountains (aside from the atrocious RZA), but the whole Zartan/Storm Shadow backstory makes absolutely no sense…much like the idea of putting a red button on the control console for your end game weapon that self-destructs said weapon by simply pressing it.  No code entry sequence guys?  It’d be quite a shame to press that button by mistake.  At the end of the day I liked the movie, and I’d be interested in another.  I just hope they put some more thought into the next one rather than just slapping a bunch of random stuff together and winging it.

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May 25, 2013
Source: Jon Chu via instagram

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June 10, 2013
G.I. JOE: Retaliation Bursts Onto Blu-ray Posted by MediaConnection 
Dwayne Johnson and he and Channing Tatum star in G.I. JOE: Retaliation. Based on Hasbro’s popular G.I. JOE brand, the film will be available on Digital two weeks early on July 16 th. From Paramount Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, G.I. JOE: RETALIATION also stars action legend Bruce Willis as the original G.I. JOE, as well as Adrianne Palicki, D.J. Cotrona andJonathan Pryce.  In director Jon M. Chu’s heart-pounding thrill ride, the G.I. JOE team not only faces off against its mortal enemy COBRA, it is also forced to contend with threats from within the government that jeopardize its very existence.
The G.I. JOE: RETALIATION Blu-ray/DVD combo pack with UltraViolet™ comes fully loaded with declassified special features that take viewers behind the lines to explore the action and the characters, what it took to bring the film to life and more. The film will also be available in a Blu-ray 3D/Blu-ray/DVD combo pack or as a single disc DVD.
In addition, both the Blu-ray/DVD and Blu-ray 3D/Blu-ray/DVD combos include a limited time offer to receive a FREE set of personalized dog tags.  Consumers can visit a dedicated website and enter their unique code along with personal information to receive their own high-quality, collectible dog tags (see insert for complete details).
The Blu-ray releases available for purchase will be enabled with UltraViolet, a new way to collect, access and enjoy movies.  With UltraViolet, consumers can add movies to their digital collection in the cloud, and then stream or download them – reliably and securely – to a variety of devices.
G.I. JOE: RETALIATION Blu-ray/DVD Combo PackThe G.I. JOE: RETALIATION Blu-ray is presented in 1080p high definition with English 7.1 Dolby TrueHD, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital and English Audio Description and English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles.  The DVD in the combo pack is presented in widescreen enhanced for 16:9 TVs with English 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and English Audio Description and English, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles.  The combo pack includes access to a digital copy of the film as well as the following:
Blu-ray
Feature film in high definitionCommentary by director Jon M. Chu and producer Lorenzo di BonaventuraSpecial FeaturesMission Briefing—A look at pre-production, previsualization, storyboards and more.Deployment— As filming begins we take a closer look at the stunts, costumes and more.Two Ninjas—Focus on two G.I. JOE favorites, SNAKE EYES and JINX, and the filming of the Dojo sequence.The Desert Attack—An in-depth look at the filming of this pivotal action sequence.COBRA Strikes—Highlights of the villains featured in the film.The Lone Soldiers—Behind-the-scenes as ROADBLOCK, FLINT and LADY JAYE go on the run.The Monastery—An examination of the Himalayan escape sequence.Fort Sumter—An all-access view of the epic climax.Deleted ScenesDVD
Feature film in standard definition G.I. JOE: RETALIATION Blu-ray 3D/Blu-ray/DVD Combo PackThe G.I. JOE: RETALIATION Blu-ray 3D combo pack includes all of the above, as well as the film in high definition and 3D on a disc presented in 1080p high definition with English 7.1 Dolby TrueHD, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital and English Audio Description and English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles.
G.I. JOE: RETALIATION Single-Disc DVDThe single-disc DVD is presented in widescreen enhanced for 16:9 TVs with English 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and English Audio Description and English, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles.  The disc includes the feature film in standard definition.

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June 12, 2013
JAPAN: 'G.I. Joe: Retaliation' Topples 'Oblivion' As It Inches To $250M Overseas
Source: Box Office.com
G.I. Joe: Retaliation opened in Japan last weekend and took a comfortable lead at the top of the box office. The action film's $2.1 million opening represents a 46% improvement above its predecessor in the same market. The Japan release helped G.I. Joe: Retaliation get one step closer to the $250 million overseas milestone. The film has currently grossed $243.6 million outside of North America. Oblivion dropped 54% to come in second place in its sophomore frame. The Tom Cruise sci-fi vehicle grossed $1.5 million over the weekend and reached a Japanese cume of $8.4 million. That takes the overseas total of Oblivion to $279.7 million, with only $88.5 million of that figure coming from North America. 
Source: Box Office Mojo

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Source: Box Office Mojo

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July 5, 2013
'Olympus Has Fallen' most rented movie in hotels
Nancy Trejos, USA TODAY 
An action flick about an attack on the White House scored big in North American hotels in June, according to the latest top 10 list of most-rented Hollywood movies in hotel rooms.
Olympus Has Fallen, starring Gerard Butler and Morgan Freeman, was the No. 1 most-rented movie in June, according to hotel entertainment provider Sonifi, formerly known as LodgeNet.
Tom Cruise's science fiction vehicle Oblivion was the runner-up. Another action movie, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, rounded out the top three.
Dispatches brings you the top 10 movies list each month, based on Sonifi's analysis of rentals in the 1.5 million rooms it serves. The company provides in-room entertainment to hotels such as Marriott, Hilton and Holiday Inn.
The full Top 10 list:Olympus Has FallenOblivionG.I. Joe: RetaliationThe CroodsIdentity ThiefThe Call42AdmissionJack ReacherRedemption
The new batch of movies that can be rented in hotel rooms this month include The Great Gatsby and Epic, which will be available mid-month. Hotel guests typically pay a movie rental fee of about $13 or more, depending on location, for each movie.

Storm Shadow gif credit tumblr fan-sharing

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July 15, 2013
'G.I.JOE: RETALIATION' Deleted Scenes Revealed
By Mark Julian ComicBookMovie.com

Check out a list of the deleted scenes that will be included on the July 30th home video release of the Jon M. Chu directed sequel, "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Adrianne Palicki.
Paramount's "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" hits the blu-ray and dvd home video market on July 30th, 2013. We know from previously disclosed info that the release will include special features such as commentary from direction Jon M. Chu, a pre-production featurette, in-depth behind the scenes analysis of key moments and battles and of course, deleted scenes. However, we now know exactly what those deleted scenes will include which features a lot of scenes shown in the many trailers and tv spots that weren't actually in the film. 
The Bar Room Scene - Shown very heavily during the film's marketing, this scene was nowhere to be found. Reportedly the Joe's teach D.J. Cotrona's Flint a lesson.
Extended Sequence of Jinx and Snake Eyes - The early training sequence between Jinx and Snake Eyes is apparently much longer and includes greater background information on Jinx.
G.I. Joe in Pakistan - This scene focuses on Flint displaying combat prowess while on a mission.
The President's Son - Apparently the President, whom was replaced by Zartan has a son. This scene is said to have a humorous moment when they interact.
Cobra Commander escape - An extended cut of Cobra Commander's escape thanks to Firefly and Storm Shadow.
Storm Shadow healing sequence - Additional footage of the mystic healing of Storm Shadow's wounds from the first G.I. Joe film.
Injured Roadblock - Lady Jaye tends to Roadblock's wounds after his first fight with Firefly. During which, Roadblock and Flint get into an argument.
The UN Summit and Cobra's Arrival - More elaborate arrival for Cobra Commander's Un Summit takeover.
Combat in the Tunnels - The 'Old Joes' get more screen time in the fight with Cobra.
Jinx Rescue - Jinx fighting in the tunnels below Fort Sumter and getting into trouble before being rescued by Snake Eyes.
Storm Shadow vs. President Zartan - A mysterious third party appears to "complicates the fight". Interesting...
Snake Eyes and Jinx - An alternate ending where Snake Eyes and Jinx reconcile.
"In this sequel, the G.I. Joes are not only fighting their mortal enemy Cobra; they are forced to contend with threats from within the government that jeopardize their very existence. The film stars D.J. Cotrona, Byung-hun Lee, Adrianne Palicki, Ray Park, Jonathan Pryce, Ray Stevenson, Channing Tatum with Bruce Willis and Dwayne Johnson. Directed Jon M. Chu, and produced by Lorenzo di Bonventura and Brian Goldner, from screenplay by Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick based on Hasbro’s G.I Joe characters."