Is it me or is that Jonathan Pryce as the president? He kinda looks like Ron Paul...is that some kind of political statement?

It still looks 500% better than the first one.

I think I have to see this. Lemme check--yup, I do.

Just out of curiosity, are people who say the GI Joe movie sucked fans of the old cartoon, or otherwise familiar with GI Joe before?

A little boy I know loved it, at least back when he was 7. I thought it was ok (not great, I didn't take it the least bit serious, it didn't have my full attention, and I laughed--AT, not with--at some scene I only barely recall involving ninjas). All in all it didn't leave much of an impression on me, but I was satisfied with it (probably because the boy liked it). And I'm wondering if our being completely unaware of GI Joe is why it didn't bother me (all I was aware of is that the series existed as far back as the 80s, and that someone once told me that if the bad guys in it had used that money for their evil lairs and equipment to instead buy off politicians then they'd have been giving GI Joe his missions rather than fighting him).

I expected the first film to be horrendous and because it was simply bad it seemed good. I was pleasantly surprised by the first films lack of major suckiness, I was entertained. But this...this makes the first one look like the bag of suck it actually was.

Just out of curiosity, are people who say the GI Joe movie sucked fans of the old cartoon, or otherwise familiar with GI Joe before?

A little boy I know loved it, at least back when he was 7. I thought it was ok (not great, I didn't take it the least bit serious, it didn't have my full attention, and I laughed--AT, not with--at some scene I only barely recall involving ninjas). All in all it didn't leave much of an impression on me, but I was satisfied with it (probably because the boy liked it). And I'm wondering if our being completely unaware of GI Joe is why it didn't bother me (all I was aware of is that the series existed as far back as the 80s, and that someone once told me that if the bad guys in it had used that money for their evil lairs and equipment to instead buy off politicians then they'd have been giving GI Joe his missions rather than fighting him).

I watched the cartoon when I was a kid and for the most part it was a half hour commercial so you'd buy the toys. The storylines weren't all that great, most just involved an inane scheme by Cobra trying to take over the world only to be thwarted by the Joes.

The reason the show did well I think, was for two reasons. First it was a celebration of the US's military strength, at what could be aruged the height of our superpower status. I realize GI Joe debuted in the '60s, but if you think back to the early '80s you'll see how much the focus was on our military and our might as the world's policeman, without the widespread cynicism or at least without the open display of such. So a cartoon celebrating that, but also glamorizing and trivializing the more realistic aspects of modern warfare, was prime for a huge success. Look back on a lot of '80s toys and you'll see that. Secondly, it was a phenomenon, you couldn't get away from it at its height of popularity. It was a cartoon, toys, clothes, posters, cereal, movies, comics, video games and board games. An '80s kid, probably almost everyone, at the very least knew what they were.

The problem with the recent movie, wasn't that it was badly acted(though it was), or lame story(though it was, though in fairness no more so than the cartoon) or just general cheesiness(though it had it). The problem as I see it, was just GI Joe was a product of its times and though we may want it back for nostalgia's sake, I don't think it translates very well too modern times.

Probably a longer answer than you wanted, sorry.

My first GI Joe had stubble on his chin and loved to molest my sister's barbies. But that first movie still sucked.

Probably a longer answer than you wanted, sorry.

I appreciate your detailed answer, so thanks.

Is it me or is that Jonathan Pryce as the president? He kinda looks like Ron Paul...is that some kind of political statement?

It still looks 500% better than the first one.

Pyrce was in the 1st one, so I don't think so.