Tagline: Evil never looked so good.
Two soldiers stationed in Kazahkstan (Captain Duke Hauser and his partner “Ripcord”) are ordered to transport special warheads created by MARS, an arms’ manufacturer controlled by James McCullen. When they are attacked by thieves (led by Anastasia DeCobray, with whom Duke has history), they are saved by a top secret, international special forces unit known as “G.I. Joe”.
The leader of G.I. Joe, General Abernathy (or Hawk) is on the trail of the thieves: an evil organization called “Cobra”. While Duke and Ripcord train to join the Joes, McCullen (“Destro”) is secretly working for Cobra and plotting to recapture his metal-eating “Nanomite” warheads. Duke and Ripcord (with help from Heavy Duty, Snake Eyes, and the rest of the Joes) must prove that they are Real American Heroes — by stopping the launch of these warheads before Cobra uses them to take over the world.
G.I. Joe: The mere mention of the name immediately conjures up images of heroism, patriotism and the kind of tough rigor required to get the job done. That’s the G.I. Joe millions of kids have known since he was first introduced by Hasbro in 1964. “Everybody has immediate recognition when you say that name,” says Lorenzo di Bonaventura, one of the producers of “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.”
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is a 2009 American military science fiction action film based on the toy franchise created by Hasbro, with particular inspiration from the comic book series and cartoon series G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. It is the first instalment in the live-action G.I. Joe film series. The film was directed by Stephen Sommers, produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura, and co-written by Stuart Beattie, based on a 1998 screenplay by John Paul Kay. G.I. Joe features an ensemble cast based on the various characters of the franchise. The story follows two American soldiers, Duke and Ripcord, who join the G.I. Joe Team after being attacked by Military Armaments Research Syndicate (M.A.R.S.) troops.
During the opening weekend (August 7–9, 2009), G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra opened at #1 of the North American box office with an estimated $54.7 million. It earned an additional $44 million internationally during the same weekend. In the following week, the film opened in 14 more territories and continued atop the international box office with $26 million. This made it the third Hasbro film to reach number one at the box office after Transformers, and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
The film grossed $150,201,498 in the United States and $152,267,519 internationally for a worldwide gross of $302,469,017 against a production budget of $175 million. It is the 22nd highest-grossing film of 2009 and the 10th highest film of 2009 to gross $300 million worldwide behind Star Trek, Monsters Vs. Aliens, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Terminator Salvation, Fast & Furious, A Christmas Carol, Inglourious Basterds, The Proposal, and The Blind Side.
The popularity of G.I. Joe persisted through the Vietnam War era and beyond, introducing new gadgets, but it was in 1983 that G.I. Joe went through its biggest change. That year, he went from being a 12” figure to the, by then, more common 3 ¾” figure kids had already started collecting in other series. G.I. Joe also went from a “he” to a “they” – a team of super-elite soldiers from around the world, each with his/her own specialty and state-of-the-art gear to help them do their jobs.
In “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra,” there’s Ripcord, an expert marksman and weapons specialist; Snake Eyes, a ninja warrior armed with Katana swords and a Glock pistol, skilled in martial arts, reconnaissance and infiltration; Scarlett tough and bright, also a martial arts master and skilled with a gas-propelled Crossbow Pistol; Breaker, a specialist in deciphering covert electronics and technology; Heavy Duty, the team’s weapons specialist; General Hawk, who is the team’s commander; Courtney “Cover Girl” Kreiger, a runway model-turned-spy and General Hawk’s assistant; and, of course, Duke, a combat veteran with courage to spare: he’s the G.I. Joes’ leader and soldier personified.
“Each one has a particular skill they’re really good at, and the team counts on that skill,” says di Bonaventura. While a hugely-popular animated TV series debuted in 1985, it was a long-running series of comic books that truly helped retool G.I. Joe and give it its engaging mythology. The combination of new action figures, comic books and a TV show, helped propel G.I. Joe farther than it had ever been. “They ignited the collective minds of the fans of that era,” says Goldner. “In fact, the G.I. Joe of the 1980s was more successful, globally, than the original.”
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G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)
Directed by: Stephen Sommers
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Channing Tatum, Sienna Miller, Elena Evangelo, Ray Park, Rachel Nichols, Karolina Kurova, Marlon Wayans, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Said Taghmaoui, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Screenplay by: Stuart Beattie and David Elliot, Paul Lovett
Production Design by: Ed Verreaux
Cinematography by: Mitchell Amundsen
Film Editing by: Bob Ducsay, Jim May
Costume Design by: Ellen Mirojnick
Set Decoration by: Kate J. Sullivan
Art Direction by: Chad S. Frey, Kevin Ishioka, Randy Moore, Greg Papalia, Brad Ricker, Anne Seibel
Music by: Alan Silvestri
MPAA Rating: PG-13 For intense sequences of combat violence and martial arts action throughout, and for brief sensuality and language.
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: August 7, 2009
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