Published by Jeff Leins on: July 30th, 2009
When Paramount started assembling the “international task force” for G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra, I couldn’t help but throw more than a few jabs in their direction. Earlier this week, USA Today wrote a piece saying the August release will have to overcome plenty of bad buzz to become successful. Let’s take a look at where the problems started:
The trailers have failed to impress and the endless supply of posters hasn’t gotten me any more excited about another toy movie. Stephen Sommers isn’t exactly the most proven director either. Plus Marlon Wayans? Really? To top it off, the studio isn’t holding press screenings before the release, which is typically a bad omen in the business.
However, in the last few days early reviews have been making their way to the web and they’re surprisingly favorable. Harry Knowles at Ain’t It Cool News said he was “really stunned” and enjoyed it. His cohort Capone backed him up. Then El Guapo from LatinoReview piled on with some love and says he can’t wait for a sequel. Robert Sanchez at IESB says it doesn’t “dissapoint” (sic).
So there you have it. A few trusted names in Internet movie news have said they had fun. Maybe it’s the fault of the unwatchable Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, but I’m still skeptical. Hopefully a cartwheeling Channing Tatum can turn me around next week.