It’s hard to muster up any enthusiasm for G.I. Joe 2: Cobra Strikes considering how bad the first film was without knowing just where they intend to take this second film.
The fact it’s being considered a sequel and not a completely new entity is a bit bothersome since I think the world of G.I. Joe would lend itself much better to the big screen as a real world action thriller rather than an installment of Transformers without the robots, which is exactly what Stephen Sommers’ 2009 G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra was. So as the cast of this new film has filled out I haven’t seen anything to make me think they are moving in the right direction, that will all depend on seeing a trailer, which I don’t expect for some time.
The latest in the casting department is word Punisher: War Zone and Thor star Ray Stevenson has joined the cast (via Heat Vision) and will play the film’s lead villain, Firefly, a member of the villainous Cobra Organization known as a saboteur, ninja master and explosives expert. Stevenson is joined by previous cast members Channing Tatum as Duke, Ray Park as Snake Eyes and Byung-hun Lee as Stormshadow as well as franchise newcomers Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Roadblock, Elodie Yung as Jinx, D.J. Cotrona as Flint, Adrianne Palicki as Lady Jaye and RZA as The Blind Master.
There is no word on a plot, but director Jon M. Chu (Step Up 3D, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never) is expected to begin shooting in Louisiana at the end of summer for an August 10, 2012 release. I just wonder if the production will be rushed at all to try and fill in the hole where it looks like Star Trek 2 was supposed to be on June 29, 2012, because we haven’t heard word one about that production, which means it’s likely to get bumped to December 2012. I’m sure we’ll know soon enough.
I’ve added the anticipated theme song for the sequel based on this news directly below… just hit play.
