Fans of the G.I. Joe already have a bones to pick with the current big screen adaptation G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra: Cobra Commander's new scuba-like mask or Destro's "nanotechnology" mask that looks like the costume director unloaded a can of silver spray paint on actor Christopher Eccleston's face, but there's one thing that fans can take solace in and that's the lack of dialogue coming from the martial arts expert Snake Eyes.
Channing Tatum (Duke) told MTV that Larry Hama, the movie's creative consultant and the writer of the G.I. Joe comic in the 1980's, laid down the law concerning Snake Eyes:
I think that the first and the one thing that [Hama] said was, ‘Okay, I’ll
do this. But Snake Eyes can’t talk. No matter what, Snake Eyes can’t
talk.’ At one point they had Snake Eyes saying one line or something
like that at the end of the movie and he’s just like, ‘Never. Never in
a million years. I’m never going to let that happen.’ So he doesn’t.
While that may pacify some fans, Tatum offered other reasons to worry about the adaptation. According to Tatum, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is "almost 75% digital" which could be good news or bad news depending on how you feel about director Stephen Sommers's track record of effect's-heavy efforts like The Mummy, Van Helsing, and, before anyone thinks this is bad news, 1989's submerged horror flick Deep Rising. Feel good? No?
Tatum also told SciFiWire that he and other actors had a hard time keeping a straight face while working on the movie:
I don't know anyone that wasn't laughing on the set all the time on G.I. Joe. I'm sitting there looking at a green screen like, "RIPCOOOORD! NOOOO!"
Stuff like that, and you're just like, "What am I doing?"
Before fans burn their comics or tear their action figures, Tatum did say that the script is very self-referential, with Marlon Wayans at one point mentioning a "kung fu grip." Now you can feel better.