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G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra director Stephen Sommers is already thinking about a part two for the big-screen Real American Hero story that’s due out August 8th.

“…I hope I get to do a sequel, first of all because I had so much fun with these actors. I go into these movies knowing it’s a marathon, not a sprint, and I won’t work with assholes,” Sommers said in an interview with Cinematical.

Sommers, who also directed all of the Mummy films, is apparently in love with the canon and surrouding “mythology” wrapped around everybody’s favorite toy soilders. “Because the mythology is all there, there’s a lot of interesting stuff. Like, something you don’t know yet is who killed Hard Master,” he went on to say. “I mean, the hardcore G.I. Joe fans know that it wasn’t Storm Shadow.”

The filmmaker finished by saying, “We had a blast – it was really hard, but we had a lot of fun on the set, so to get to hang out with these people again would be just heaven.”

Despite the film not being screened to the majority of critics, G.I. Joe is looking to light up the box office this weekend. The last big action film of the summer, Joe is looking to be another Transformers 2 (mad cash) only without the harsh reviews (mad cows).

G.I. Joe will be huge this weekend, but what will be the magic number to greenlight a sequel? Studios usually place a benchmark of around $100 million but this actioner will need much more during its run to recoup its budget of between $150 million and $200 million.

That probably won’t be a problem.

G.I. Joe, where have you been all summer? Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and X-Men Origins: Wolverine failed to deliver the kind of mindless, entertaining fun that summer so often brings while everything else outside of Star Trek has been more concerned with being artistic than enjoyable. It’s strange, scribing those sentences and the ones that will be written considering all the bashing and hate I’ve spewed toward Stephen Sommers ever since he poisoned humanity with Van Helsing. He picked the right year to finally make a decent film; Sommers not only beat, but destroyed Michael Bay at his own game. Yes, as much of a shock as this will be to some of you, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is not the worst film ever made. In fact, it’s the G.I. Joe movie one imagines when playing with action figures as a boy.

Sommers not only beat, but destroyed Michael Bay

Back to Sommers though, who (for starters) I owe an apology to. The material is well-suited for him – cheesy, patriotic and bombastic. True, a serious G.I. Joe film would be intriguing. Sommers is able to capture the spirit and tone of the cartoons and comic books. We’re never promised an award-winning plot or artiste acting. Not the product Sommers wants to deliver to us. He provides us with exactly what we wanted out of all those comics and ‘toons which is good guys and bad guys knocking the hell out of each other. And boy do we get plenty of that, as G.I. Joe assaults with one exciting action scene after another, giving just enough time for everyone to catch his breath before ramping things back up again. The much hyped Paris scene doesn’t disappoint and maintains a perfect thrill ride of an action sequence. Missiles whiz by, men jump over and through trains and mayhem ensues. Best of all, the entire thing is coherent and displays some engaging action shots that tell the adrenaline to pump.

Yet with these exciting, thrilling sequences, Sommers is kind enough to let each of the characters have a moment to shine. No one character takes the spotlight from the others as each contributes to taking down the villains in some way, shape or form. For instance in the last battle, one can easily follow who’s fighting who and who’s doing what. Snake Eyes has an epic showdown with Storm Shadow, Duke chases down Cobra Commander and Destro, Ripcord has to save D.C. and Moscow, while Heavy Duty destroys Cobra subs left and right. Sommers allows the characters to all be unique so we know who’s on screen, and it’s not carbon copies of Duke or General Hawk. It’s not a case of getting to know a main character, but knowing who is who and how different purposes mesh. Quite honestly, this is a pretty good example of how to handle a film that deals with a team working together.

Taking a deeper look at the team, most of the actors fit like a glove and, like in Paramount’s other great summer film, they help to elevate the movie. The biggest surprise comes in the form of Marlon Wayans’ Ripcord who actually has some form of a screen presence. Known for his comedy stylings, Wayans keeps it in check here and delivers a solid leading performance. The movie, for many fans, will rest on how Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow are portrayed. Fear not, both are handled exceptionally well, especially Ray Park’s turn as the mute ninja. Unfortunately he’s only in a handful of scenes but by the same token, he gets the best stuff to do. Essentially, Park is in Darth Maul-mode but that doesn’t make Snake Eyes any less of a performance. While the film doesn’t delve into her romance with the aforementioned ninja, Rachel Nichols just feels right as Scarlett. She’s tough when she needs to be, sassy when she needs to be, and sexy at all times. Rounding them out is Dennis Quaid, who hams it up to just the right degree as General Hawk.

On the Cobra side of things, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is Cobra Commander. He was a worry going into the picture, but he comes out as the best of all the Cobra operatives by far. He’s menacing and recreates the voice long-time fans are accustomed to without having it sound too over-the-top. Christopher Eccelston holds his own as Destro, although he’s really a downgrade compared to what Gordon-Levitt is doing. Eccelston is still enjoyable, but hardly menacing or conniving. His main squeeze (The Baroness) will surely take away the breath of any male left by Rachel Nichols. Sienna Miller’s fine here, even when she’s not being sexy (which she excels at in this picture). Lee Byung-hun compliments the great work by Ray Park as Snake Eyes’ rival Storm Shadow, never playing the character with angst but a competent coldness. Arnold Vosloo is pure gold as Zartan.

With all of these fine performances on hand, the one who messes up the worst is Channing Tatum. He was originally against doing the film and maybe it should have stayed that way. He’s the John Cena of this group, always showing one emotion and only two or three tones of voice. He’s a tough sell as Duke largely due to Tatum’s complete lack of screen presence. If that’s not enough, he doesn’t have any of the aura of command that the role of Duke needs. The film doesn’t necessarily need it, as it does focus on the team, but it lacks the presence of the other strong protagonists. Duke is just there, admiring all the cool stuff and going along with the flow like his audience. The difference, though, is that he needs to be engaging. We don’t.

Having finally seen the movie, it’s a letdown that Paramount handled things like they did. Understandably it was a troubled production as the trailers didn’t excite anyone and the accelerator suits were huge turn-offs. They had the film they wanted with Revenge of the Fallen and it’s entirely possible The Rise of Cobra will perform better with critics and audiences. It should, as it has some top-notch effects (surprising for Sommers, who usually goes cheap), and some of the most engaging action of the summer.

That’s what G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is at the core. Pure dumb fun, this is the G.I. Joe film fans want and should come away happy with. It doesn’t mask what it is, and that works in the movie’s favor. After Terminator Salvation, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen it’s time for a movie to come and keep to the basics of stupid fun. The boy (or girl) in all of us will want to proclaim it the greatest movie that ever happened and it’s good to know these type of films still exist. Welcome back, Dumb Fun Action Film. This summer’s needed and missed you.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

UPDATE (10:55 AM PST): According to the good people at CHUD.com via Latino Review as George “El Guapo” Rush posted the following:

We spoke with Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura about this whole firing mess and here’s what he had to say:

Lorenzo: Its very unfair to Steve, its completely untrue he was never asked to leave or been fired or any of that. That’s ridiculous. The movie tested very well.

I hear it tested as good as the first Transformers.

Lorenzo: Well listen, we tested very well and I don’t compare the movies because they are different movies, but you know I think its really destructive for a director…It hurts a guy’s career when people go around talking about that he was fired or he didn’t do a good job and truth is he did a really good job. People are going to enjoy the movie and the test audiences enjoyed the movie.

He did a very good job the movie tested well and it couldn’t be more false that the studio in anyway did anything negatively to Steve.

So what really happened in the editing room?

Lorenzo: Nothing that doesn’t happen on every other movie, which is that you constantly work and work and work and you make it better and better. We had a delay on visual effects so we waited a long time to finish the movie but that’s the only thing. I don’t really know why that would be interpreting it negatively but I guess it was.

In regards to the testing the film has had so far:

Lorenzo: Everybody was happy, the studio was happy, the filmmakers were happy, the audience was happy with the movie. We had three test screenings, three different times and tested it and each time it just got better and better. We started off in a good place and we ende

d up in even in a better place, which is what you hope on a film from testing it.

So there you go. Straight from Lorenzo as he debunks the firing story. Like I said, I’ve heard from my sources that the film was tracking well. We’ve stuck up for this film from the get go. Why? Because we’re fans of G.I. Joe. And I’ve mentioned on Twitter and here numerous times that I think the movie looks kick ass. All know is fans want a good G.I. Joe movie despite the Hollywood politics.  We’ll find out when it hits theaters on August 7th.

So there you have it. Sommers is still attached to G.I. Joe and Kyle Broflovski still gets hemorrhoids. It looks like it’s still set for August 7th but you can’t help but wonder if this is just a clean-up job to prevent bad press for a film that doesn’t have the best buzz. We’ll find out come August.

That’s right, everyone’s favorite eighties all-American hero is jumping out into the big screen in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. The Stephen Sommers (Van Helsing) directed action adventure piece stars Channing Tatum (Fighting), Sienna Miller (Stardust) among others. An elite military unit comprised of special operatives known as G.I. Joe, operating out of The Pit, takes on an evil organization led by a notorious arms dealer. Running it’s way into theaters nationwide on August 7th, here’s the trailer below.