I don't think anyone else should direct the sequel. As you said, action sequences were the best part of the movie and I'm pretty sure we can thank Sommers for that. So, why get rid of the only thing that made the movie watchable?

I would argue, aside from the troubles created by a rushed production, Sommers is to blame for a lot of the bad in the film. It seems to be the same problems that have plagued his last two films: Van Hellsing and The Mummy Returns.

We've already seen the cool crazy tech weapons, and the action sequences which result from their use. A sequel will need to operate on a new level, and I'm not sure Sommers is the man to take it there.

I agree that his recent track record isn't exactly stellar and yes, I expected much better work characters etc., but Hasbro/Paramount certainly won't try to make sequel that much different. They will just make sure that script has even more ridiculous action sequences and who cares about cheesy story. It's still a movie about toy and it's main purpose is to sell toys.

Or do you really believe that we have a chance for that much of a better script next time? That they'll get rid of all the craziness and deliver a well balanced action movie with believable plot and characters you can take seriously? Only thing I hope for is that Sommers comes back, deliveres good action scenes and squeezes some better one-liners from the cast. Anything more is wishfull thinking, at least in my eyes.

that's the point, isn't it? Those of us who read the Larry Hama comics maybe forgot that G.I. Joe is a toy-line, and maybe because we have jobs and families. If we forgot, that's because Larry Hama took the premise and ran with it, perhaps drawing on his own experiences as a Vietnam veteran, and created a comic that pretty much had a level of intergrity unmatched in a medium full of costumed vigilantes. That's not to say your Batmans, Spidermans all blow, rather that G.I. Joe was a counterpoint to the superhero, leaving aside the fact that they seldom got shot or killed.

I know the keystone principle of film is entertainment, followed by enrichment; yes, I can go and watch something else, but can anybody tell me why studios foist this cr4p on the public time after time? Swivel Sommers, McG, and anybody who is part of brain-free film -making industrial complex!

i loved the mummy returns, but that's probably cuz i haven't seen it in a looooong time

good point

Can someone please enlighten me as to why there is so much hate for Stephen Sommers? The original Mummy was an incredibly fun and entertaining Indiana Jones type of film with good acting and fun characters whose stories I cared to follow.

The second Mummy brought back all of the characters that were still alive at the end of the first, which brought a sense of continuity that few blockbuster sequels have had, and at the very least gave them something interesting to do. Even the cliche kid was probably one of the least annoying kids in that category of film character. In addition, Sommers rought in ever-escalating action sequences that, despite being large, more epic, and more dependent on CGI, still managed to be both coherent and focused on the main characters. Sommers also did film music a great service by beginning with this film a partnership with Alan Silvestri which resulted in some of the best action adventure scores of this decade. Yeah, the film ended with a ludicrous CGI version of The Rock. But at the very least, I give the film a huge amount of credit for being a sequel that expands on the original and manages to both stay close enough to the feel of the original without feeling like a simple retread.

"Van Helsing" was a messier film with an oddly paced plot and somewhat less appealing characters but I thought that, as far as an attempt to mix and match Universal monsters together, it was quite a good, fun, entertaining film. If you gave Hugh Jackman a whip and called the movie Castlevania, this would have easily been the best video game movie by a long shot. Once again, great exciting action sequences and characters that, while more bland and less interesting than those of The Mummy, were at least characters I didn't mind following and, in many of the characters' cases, I wanted to see what they would do next.

And now we get to G.I. Joe, which once again, features great action sequences that get ever more complex but never loses coherence or focus on its main characters. Most of the actors do a good job in their roles. Yes, the characters in this movie are overall even weaker than in Van Helsing. In particular, Channing Tatum is very bland in this film as the main character. But at the very least I didn't hate the characters. In some cases, Marlon Wayan's and Joseph Gordan-Levitt's characters, I actually found them kind of likable or interesting. In addition, I at least sort of cared about every character or at least found them interesting, even the villains. In contrast, there's not a single character in Transformers (both films) that I didn't completely hate or not at all care about. Yeah, I suppose there's Megan Fox, but I think her role in Transformers qualifies her more as part of the scenery and less as an actual character. In short, G.I. Joe quite simply perfectly captured what I felt was the modern-day 2009 version of the fun cartoon aesthetic that the original cartoon had.

I am not saying that Stephen Sommers is the best filmmaker of all time. The scripts to his movies seem to get worse with time. In addition, each new film seems to have higher special effects demands which become increasingly unattainable for whatever reason. However, I do think that, especially for the type of films that he makes which are very rooted in a cartoon or comic book style aethetic, he does far more right than he does wrong. And most of the things that he does right, characters that are at best likeable and charming and at worst unoffensive and well-plotted action scenes, are what I feel are most important for the type of film that he makes.

Based on what I see in G.I. Joe, I feel strongly that a higher budget and a script that wasn't rushed through the writer's strike would have done wonders for this film. I guess I would just really appreciate someone enlightening me as to what exactly Stephen Sommers does that is so deserving of such hate.

He's getting up there in years, but I'd like to see Sgt Slaughter playing Sgt Slaughter

I think the sequel will be fully realized.

GI JOE is dumb but it's a dumb kind of fun and not a lot of movies fits that profile. Because GI JOE: Rise of Cobra was affected by the writer's strike, I can see the sequel being much better.

and I just wanna see Rachel Niccols with red hair again....droooool.

id like to see another one, but without sommers, channing tatum, and well everything else. Once tatum made his appearance every single line he said was mumbled, poorly delivered, and lacked emotion. if im watching dumb fun i want the lead to be enjoying the dumb fun too. Stephen Sommers is a hack who got lucky with the first Mummy. Im angry because i wasted my saturday night and 8 bucks on utter crap ((hehe, "utter")).

I enjoyed the shit outta snake eyes though and liked seeing FN herstal weapons making their big-screen debuts! Well, the FN five-seven anyway which was snake eyes side arm.

Theres a fun movie in there, but that was not it. I found myself only enjoyed when someone was stabbed in the eye or on fire, which did not happen as often as i thought it should.... sorry for the negativity, i just feel that if you're gonna have dumb fun then make it watchable!

stoked for you guys that want a sequel but i will pass

Yeah as long as it has the same director and cast it will all be good, and i've said this before on here GI Joe was the best movie of summer 2009 no doubt

yes it was a very good movie and the best action for 2009 the cast and all were fantastic

Stephen Sommers has made a career of liquefying his excrement and spraying it un/suspecting - because we all should know better by now, cinema goers. The man is blackhole for talent, narrative, and soul, but is endowed with Galactus-like powers for self-publicising his latest pail of story-free, effects heavy weapons grade butt flakery. Yep, I think he blows hard with a vengeance 4.1.

i second this!^

Someone above said best summer movie of 2009? Is this the only movie you saw this summer? Star Trek was infinitely better, as was the poorly developed wolverine and T4. At least they tried. G.I. Joe was, was, UGH, fuck it! It was awful. I expected nothing from that movie and got exactly that- nothing.

I think you are a blindman!!!Gi goe is a box office success and i found nothing wrong with that except the last scene.I liked it verymuch!!Hope Sommers come again with a nice movie like this(But he should not go for mindless cgi effects which he did in the last scene).Well done Sommers!!

Titanic was a box office success, so by your logic, G.I Joe was great, huh?

Why is this a b.o. success and Watchmen's b.o. is a failure? Same with Terminator? Didn't they pull down similar #'s? I don't get it. A sequel just seems like a waste of money at this point.

Hell, that's easy. Watchmen was awesome but (and it's really sad to say this) way too intellectual a movie for the average moviegoer. T4 needed way more 'splosions if it wanted to compete. Those two movies revenue were primarily us geeks and a little word of mouth.

The other summer blockbusters (Transformers 2, X-men Origins, G.I. Joe) are recognizable brands and movies that quite frankly easier to digest. They practically sell themselves. I honestly wish it was different but that's how the industry is nowadays.

IMO, G.I. Joe could just use a better script and a bigger budget for better CGI (as I've said before, PS2 graphics in this day and age = travesty). The action scenes were nice and the actors did a nice job for what the script was (except for Tatum Channing who is quickly about to dethrone Paul Walker and Keanu Reeves for bland acting). I would like a sequel if only to see if it can do better.

My point was more to do with the box office tallies. Everyone is saying GI JOE was a hit with 54 mil yet Watchmen and T4 were failures with 54 mil (approx). It's weird, right?

Yeah, but honestly, I think that has to do with expectation. I personally don't consider Watchmen and T4 failures. But G.I. Joe? The only reason it got a pass was the brand name. Oh well, what else is new right?

It was fun. Thats all i wanted, and thats what i got.

Of course there will be a sequel...if anyone has seen the first one, they obviously decided on a sequela long, long time ago.

G.I. Joe was fun...mindless fun...but the special effects were suprisingly good.

Too bad the acting was terrible, but I am not complaining...I thought Marlon Wayans was a bright spot in it.

For the love of all things holy dont let Sommers come back. Make the film less cheesy and cartoonish and fire Joseph Gordon Levitt. I dont care how good of an actor he is he made me cringe whenever he was playing Cobra Commander.

JGL was the best part of that movie! Although I'd like them to redesign his outfit as Cobra Commander, because that just looked stupid... AND he should keep the voice he did as The Doctor instead of the Darth Vader knock-off from the last 20 minutes.

no he wasnt. it was corny and the voice they dubbed over him with was ridiculous. so laughable.

I don't really agree with you.I don't find any reason for not allowing Sommers to direct it.I know the real gi joe fans will never like it if he fired in fear of the hatred propagated by some of the poisonous people through internet.I don't think these guys represent the masses who accepted it to acquire a good profit(Notice that the poisonous attacks(Most of them were towards the director which were pretty much personnel!!!) were started even months before of it's release which reveals their preplanned agenda.Still box ofice success!!!!.Go away !! Go away!!You internet haters.You people sucks now !!!).

shut up; we'll never go away so long as the evil perpetrated by Sommers and his League of 5Hit Sandwich Fillummakers exists! We type the truths everybody else is afraid to even think! So begins the revolution against poorly-scripted-crank-up-the-effects-to-cover-up-this-pile-of-5hit-that-we-pass-off-as-'cinema' Movement!

I would really like to see a sequel (with more Snake Eyes and missile jumping). It would be really interesting if they got Neveldine/taylor to direct the next one. I don't really think they get get a very good story from GI Joe, but make a really crazy over the top action flick (kind of like this but Transformers kind of crazy). To be really lame, I would have liked if they made some stupid reference to those old PSA dubs. The "knowing is half the battle" line worked for this one, but they got to kick it up a notch for the sequel.

Someone like Louis Leterrier would definitely helm a sequel much better than One Hit wonder Sommers. Louis can do an Action packed film with some character development. And not make it look campy

I'm honestly incredibly upset that so many people shoved money in the pockets of the people that made this garbage. These days with the kids being as dumb as they are in society as we know it, it just pisses you off to see this heap of crap make so much money. Therefore putting it into their heads that a sequel is a good idea, very upsetting.

If they make a sequel thats fine by me, but I'm not seeing it.

And please, for the love of GOD, FIX COBRA COMMANDER!!!! He looked like a retarded Darth Vader! He even SOUNDED like Darth Vader! The voice they used for the Doctor/Rex was PERFECT!!! Why did they have to ruin an already BUTCHERED character?!?!?!

THIS is the Hasbro franchise Michael Bay should have directed, NOT Transformers. Maybe we can get Bay off a third Transformers movie and onto this. It's a match made in Explosion Heaven.

Why the hell did Snake Eyes have lips?

that annoyed the hell out of me as well, im surprised no one had nipples on their combat suits

as dumb as this movie was, its better than transformers 2 from a pure entertainment level. The cg was horrible as was the acting but it had some great fight scenes due to snake eyes. I also did not like JGL's casting, just didnt fit at all.

I would love to see a sequel, only if was reinvented. Meaning, all those super high tech gadgets need to be taken a couple notches down. They all remind me of late Bond-007 series.

What would I like to see in a sequel?
1:Less whining uberfans that complain about stupid garbage... (I'm picky as hell and I think the movie was great)
2: Me as Tunnel Rat hehe

I would prefur sommers to direct the sequel but if he is not chosen I think next choice like the third mummy film I think maybe rob cohen should direct the sequel he done alot of action and adventur films like xxx fast an furios and he be a good choice for the gi joe sequel keep the cast and new charecters should be played by
gi joe
Flint-Taylor Kitsh
Roadblock-Kevin Grievox
Lady Jaye-Hillarie Barton
Tunnel Rat-Theo Rossi
Gung ho-Kevin Durand
cobra
firefly-Aaron stanford
major bludd-richard roxburgh
dr mindbender-kevin j onconour
dredknocks-not sure

who are these 'actors'? Why not Aerosmith or Kiss for the Dreadnoks? Sommers may direct the scrapings in my toilet after a night drinking beers and eating buffalo wings.

to answer your question theese actors are just good choices and thats your opinion on sommers on what he should direct I didnt ask for it I hope he does the sequel the movie was good in my books its doesnet have to be in yours so let me have my opinion and you have yours comprendae.

Even thou I hope sommers returns for the sequel
and as for casting to explain theese choices Richard Roxborugh is the excellent chocie for major bludd I can give you 3 reasons 1.bludd and roxborugh are both australian 2.hes played a line of villians in known movies evil and funny. 3.like arnold vosloo who played the main villian imhotep in sommers mummy films and now plays surporting villian zartan gi roxborugh played main villian dracula in sommers van helsing and could now play a surporting villian major bludd in gi joe movie sequel

I also have a cast choice for the dredknocks buzzer and torch if the sequel is directed by sommers tom fisher known for being in sommers films two films mummy returns playing spivey and top hat the undertaker in van helsing he could be a good choice for buzer adding a bit of black comic relief with a touch of evil and for the choice of torch possibly jason fleyming who also has worked with sommers twice and a good chocie for playing torch theres is a connetion in sommers films he ocasionaly works with these actors more than once

Outside of the terible dialouge, the slaying of Storm Shadow, the makeup/costume they gave Destro, and the fact the Baroness is not evil at heart it was ok

Hmmm. I love GI Joe: Rise of Cobra. It was very interesting. If there will be a sequel, I want to see more about the relationshiop of Duke and Anna. I want to see Anna, working with duke to defeat Commander and Destro. I want to see new interesting subjects like in the first one...

I think it should be directed by Stephen Sommers who i feel gave fans a wonderful movie(Loved by the majority hence earned a good amount of profit.). It will be bad if the Paramount pictures calls another guy to direct it.

stephen sommers cannot direct the next movie. he actually had the nerve to say that he simply didnt like some of the elements of gi joe, so he changed them. i understand making costumes movie friendly, but why couldnt we have a cobra commander that looks like an army general with a darth vader helmet. its all i wanted. go ahead make it black, i dont care. just do it right. if you dont like the franchise then give it to someone who does and who will represent us fanboys proper. you can make a movie for "everyone" just stay true to source material. i am obsessed with gi joe, but i rented this movie and fell asleep during it twice. read some hamma and get it straight.

also just because you went to see it the first time, you may have actually hated it and have no plans of going to the sequel. they should poll people somehow before making the next film to see where they actually stand.

testify to this dude, read some Hama, all y'all. Devil's Due sucks the ass, though.

i Loved the first movie it was so amazin i cant wait to see the next one.