Larry Hama has always established that G.I. Joe isn’t necessarily about war, action, ninjas, or gun battle…at its core, it is about the characters.  It is the personality of the characters that keeps them alive and keeps them viable throughout the years.

I would maintain that this remains true in Hollywood as well, and that the translation of these characters into film is equally important for the movie to remain timeless.  After all, we don’t all remember the fantastic Aliens movie because of the gun fights, right?  We remember it because of characters like Hicks, Ripley, and Hudson.  THEY are what made that film, not splattering acid blood all over the place.

So now that things are starting to take shape around G.I. Joe: Retaliation, which characters am I most looking forward to seeing in action?  Let’s break it down after the jump:

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I swear, I’m making efforts to try and not post every one of these things that I see but I’m really looking forward to seeing Cotrona’s portrayal of Flint in the new G.I. Joe: Retaliation film, so I do feel compelled to at least post this video interview from I Am Rogue.  It’s a pretty decent and blunt one-on-one with the actor.

Check it out embedded below.

Twitziller has been pulling weekend duty on these for the past couple of weeks now, but this is the last time!  Take next weekend off, you’ve earned it.  ;)

Today we discuss a key part of film making, and something that can be often overlooked.  So much attention is paid to acting chops, dialogue, and staging the shot, but Twitziller covers something oft overlooked in today’s entry.

#5:

I have to admit, I am an absolute sucker for effective motion in films or animation.  Sometimes it’s the little thing… in the Rise of Cobra there was a sequence where Storm Shadow dropped from a roof and grabbed the edge of the Cobra Gunship.  It was a very short, very small sequence, yet the sense of motion was amazing.  The feel of him dropping like a rock, then grabbing the edge and being swept up.  It was pretty thrilling.  I think Twitziller picked a fantastic shot up there, because one of the things that really thrills me about what I’ve seen with this film is Flint and his use of Parkour.  I can only think back to the excellent Bourne trilogy and the way their shot staging and motion directing impacts the flow of any scene, and I’ve seen many indications that it will be similar in G.I. Joe: Retaliation.  Flint’s slide underneath, his hop over, and even his seamless jump through a small window to tackle a Cobra Trooper all have a fantastic sense of quick and realistic motion.  I love it.

Follow Twitziller on Twitter, or keep it here on GeneralsJoes for the latest updates.  Previous entries, as always, are below.

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The hits just keep on coming…  these aren’t TV Spots or trailers, they look to be Celebs.com interviews with the G.I. Joe: Retaliation stars, including everyone from Ray Stevenson to Elodie Yung, Dwayne Johnson, DJ Cotrona, and Adrianne Palicki.

There doesn’t appear to be much new actual film footage in these interviews, but the interviews themselves are still very enlightening, but keep in mind some movie spoilers might be contained.  Click the Read the Rest of the Story link below to check them all out.  Thanks to Skinny from SerpentorsLair.org for the keen eye.

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Continuing the GeneralsJoes “G.I. Joe Kre-O Week” we have just one review today, featuring the Cobra Armored Assault set.  I suspect that most fans, myself included, picked up this set primarily for Flint, but they may find some other things to love here, too.  Check it out at my Kre-O Review Page, or the direct link below.

• G.I. Joe Kre-O Cobra Armored Assault

These interviews aren’t normally the most exciting thing to look forward to for an upcoming film, but when they actually reveal some new footage, that’s a different story!  UIPThailand has posted two video interviews up on YouTube, and there is actually some cool new footage mixed in amongst the questions and answers.  We see some behind the scenes stuff and more!

Check out the United International Pictures YouTube channel, or you can see them embedded below.  Thanks to BCYOJOE from HissTank for discovering these.

With the film premiere in Korea and Australia complete and things moving forward towards the UK and the United States, apparently the set visit reports, which were previously embargoed, have been green-lit and are ready for launch!  We have a bunch of various websites reporting on these visits and writing up different articles in regards to G.I. Joe: Retaliation.  Let’s go through them:

• ScreenRant.com

Screen Rant made their set visit before the film’s delay, now quite a while ago, and do a great job breaking down the visit and summarizing various interviews with cast and crew.  They visited Fort Pike, the NASA facility in New Orleans and write up a fantastic run down of various things we can expect based on their experiences.

• Latino Review
  • Video Blog
  • Interview with Ray Stevenson
  • Interview with DJ Cotrona
  • Interview with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
  • Interview with Lorenzo DiBonaventura
  • Interview with Ray Park
  • Interview with Elodie Yung
  • Interview with Byung-Hun Lee
  • Interview with Jon Chu

Wow, the folks at Latino Review go all out for this set visit.  There’s a full blown video blog with El Mayimbe, Frosty (from Collider), and George from Arcade Sushi, and they break down the visit as well.  The links you see above are various different things that Latino Review brings to their site with the set visit, including tons of cast interviews, the video blog itself, and a whole lot more.  I think they really nailed this one.

• Collider.com
  • Interview with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
  • Interview with Lorenzo DiBonaventura
  • Interview with Byung-Hun Lee
  • Interview with Ray Park
  • Interview with Jon Chu
  • Interview with Elodie Yung
  • Interview with DJ Cotrona

Collider also posted the video blog recap that Latino-Review mentioned above, but dove into their set visit report, too, breaking down 25 (yes TWENTY-FIVE) things to know about the upcoming G.I. Joe: Retaliation film.  Now, granted, they didn’t go as crazy as Twitziller with his 40 reasons to catch G.I. Joe: Retaliation, but 25 ain’t no slouch.  It’s a great article that you should definitely check out.  Also, as you can see above, they have posted a plethora of actor interviews straight from the set of the film.

• ComingSoon.net

You know what I love about these set visits?  Everyone is really doing something different.  Latino Review loads up on the interviews and does a video blog…  Collider runs with 25 things to know, and ComingSoon.net goes old school with some great G.I. Joe themed filecards, which each link to a different interview, up to eight in total.  A very unique way to present that.  I dig it.

• IGN.com

IGN also made a visit, and does a terrific set visit report, too.  Rather than posting separate interviews with each cast member, they take some interview highlights and weave them into the content of the story itself, which is an effective tact, to be sure.  It’s very thorough and well presented.

As you all can see there are a ton of details here, a ton of links, and a veritable avalanche of G.I. Joe: Retaliation content.  Let it envelop you!  Two weeks to go!

Okay, these featurettes have been flying hot and heavy over the past few days, so let’s catch a breath and get them all gathered up in one place shall we?

We’ve had “behind the scenes” we’ve had TV spots, and we’ve had the great 20 second character profiles.  All of them, when assembled, make for some very cool pre-film hype.  I can tell you, I’m flipping out over here right now.  Lots of great footage, I can’t even believe we’re almost within 2 weeks of this thing.

Click the “Read the Rest of the Story” link below to get a nice, well-organized rundown of all of the character profiles that have aired so far:

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We originally saw this featurette recording from a smart phone camera as it aired on WWE Raw, but now IMDB has the video in HD quality, and it is awesome.  Yes, the same footage, yes the same music, but with some added behind the scenes stuff, this is a really great look at the film.

Between the character vignettes, the TV spots, and now this… wow.  G.I. Joe: Retaliation video overload.  Unfortunately the video is not embeddable (yet), but check it out at IMDB.com.

Big thanks to John from JoeArmory for the heads up.

Now with an embed, thanks to nailbiter111 from Comic Book Movie.

Collider.com has scored some exclusive images from G.I. Joe: Retaliation featuring Snake Eyes, Flint, Jinx, Roadblock, Duke, and Joe Colton.  The images look to take place throughout various parts of the film, with the Joes in varying states of distress.

Check out the images at Collider, or mirrored below.

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I know we’ve seen the Colton and shirtless Flint ones before, but the image of the four characters walking through fire is definitely a new one.  If you look at Roadblock, too, it looks as if he’s holding that suitcase launching system that Firefly and Zartan have been using in so many of the TV Spots and trailers.

Interesting…