Re: GI Joe
<span style="color: #FF0000">This review got my attention:</span>
LOS ANGELES--The director of the new movie "G.I. Joe: the Rise of Cobra" thinks President Obama is "a Real American hero," but apparently wants Republicans to stay home.
According to the Los Angeles Times:
When it comes to selling "G.I. Joe" outside the U.S., the message is "this is not a George Bush movie -- it's an Obama world," director Stephen Sommers said. "Right from the writing stage we said to ourselves, this can't be about beefy guys on steroids who all met each other in the Vietnam War, but an elite organization that's made up of the best of the best from around the world."
Sommers, the director of such genre films as "the Mummy Returns" and "VanHelsing," is hoping that the film will appeal to international markets, where action films "often earn 60% or more of their ticket sales [but] rah-rah American sentiment doesn't play well," the paper noted.
As a result, overseas advertising is playing up scenes from other countries and downplaying anything that could be seen as American patriotism.
It's a different story in middle America, however. According to the Times, the film's creators are tying "G.I. Joe" to the military and country music:
[The film] is embedded in the Kid Rock and Lynyrd Skynyrd concert tour, advertised at the Country Music Television Awards and excerpted on giant video screens at Minnesota's Mall of America. It is bombarding Kansas City, Charlotte, Columbus and Grand Rapids on new digital billboards.
The subtext is none too subtle: Critics are likely to roast the film, and fanboys of the original toy line and comic book may be indifferent, but if you're a flag-waving, Nascar-loving American, it's practically your patriotic duty to see this movie.
As a result, the big budget film is expected to open well. However, as the Joe heroes used to say "knowing is half the battle." Once audiences realize that the film is trying to market itself to two separate audiences it's possible that neither will be pleased with what's on the screen.
<span style="color: #FF0000">Fuck him, I'll keep my money.</span>
