The end of G.I. Joe: Retaliation left it a little dubious as to which side Storm Shadow was truly on, even though the film ends with him shaking hands with his sword brother Snake Eyes. In spite of this act of solidarity, he had proclaimed earlier in the film that he was “not with you, but for this once, I am not against you“, which makes it seem as if his G.I. Joe allegiance was merely temporary.
Regardless of all of that, according to Lee-Byung hun’s representatives, he is slated to return to the states later this month to begin work on G.I. Joe 3, and those same representatives say that “his part in the upcoming movie is expected to be bigger than his previous appearances…”
This brings up a good question in regards to G.I. Joe 3, which is how much more of the Arashikage angle can the film franchise cover that hasn’t already been revealed in films 1 – 3? There’s no doubt that ninjas have always been and will always be a huge part of G.I. Joe lore, but we’ve seen Snake Eyes’ and Storm Shadow’s childhood, we’ve seen the Hard Master murder, and we’ve seen the two men become allies, so one must wonder how much further this story will evolve.
I’m liking the mystery.
From my own perspective, this is a really fun piece of these Hollywood adventures. The speculation and detail-by-detail revelation as the months go on. I’m really looking forward to the ride. It’s very interesting to hear that he’s returning to the states at the end of this month to begin work on it. I know Chu said that shooting was this year, I was expecting work to begin much later, but as long as it keeps the news and information flowing, I’m into it!
Apparently Paramount was not satisfied to simply reveal video today, they also wanted to blast out a few promotional images as well. We get great high quality pictures of the White House, Storm Shadow, and Cobra Commander flanked by his troops. More coolness from Paramount and G.I. Joe today! I first saw the images on Comingsoon.net, check them out mirrored below.
With what happened last year with the sudden delay in release, I suspect many Joe fans were sitting on pins and needles a little bit waiting to make absolutely certain G.I. Joe: Retaliation would launch as planned March 28th. Lord knows I’ve seen plenty of jokes floating around about another delay…
Well, in Korea at least the worry has passed! The film premiere for G.I. Joe: Retaliation is set to run in Korea on March 11th, which is today. In fact right at this moment, it’s almost 10:00pm Korea time, so there may be folks there watching the movie right now. I’m jealous of these people.
As proof of the event, check out some of the press images below of the press conference and premiere Q & A.
Paramount International’s YouTube page has just posted an official featurette from the G.I. Joe: Retaliation film. It focuses on Storm Shadow and showcases a wealth of new scenes, new footage, and some incredible behind the scenes interviews with Lee Byung-Hun, Ray Park, Jon Chu, and Lorenzo DiBonaventura. For folks who are all wound up about G.I. Joe: Retaliation like I am, this was two minutes and fourteen seconds of bliss. So cool.
Check out the video embedded below. I’m gonna go back and watch it again!
The days continue to move on as we inch closer to March 29th and to the premier of G.I. Joe: Retaliation. Twitziller has posted his latest update, and on Fridays he goes right for the big guns! And in the realm of G.I. Joe, it doesn’t get a whole lot bigger than this guy.
#28:
Tough to argue about the importance of that dude. I still remember how wide my eyes opened when I first read Storm Shadow’s filecard back in 1984 with his ability to move faster than the eye could track and to scale walls with bare hands and feet. The concept of ninjas in a real world situation was just too cool. Larry Hama almost effortlessly told a tale of revenge, redemption, and honor, all built around a 4″ piece of white plastic, and to this day, that tale rings true among all the other madness in G.I. Joe lore.
Different trailers and scenes seem to indicate that perhaps similar redemption is found by Storm Shadow in the sequel film. Time will tell how that works out, but whatever happens, his role is a critical one. Keep checking Twitziller on Twitter for the next reasons, and you can find it all right here on GeneralsJoes as well. Past entries can be seen below.
