By Mark Pollard | Published February 2, 2009

A first look at the G.I. JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA has appeared on ComingSoon.net in a TV spot that also ran during the Super Bowl. I have to say, for a CGI-infested maelstrom of extreme gun-blasting, acrobatic, sword-clanging, urban destruction by director Stephen Sommers, the guy who brought us the turd that is VAN HELSING, I am pleasantly surprised to see what looks to be a potentially fantastic popcorn flick. I think Sommers may have finally found the right subject to channel his exaggerated visual style, specifically, live-action superhero cartoons.

What are undoubtedly going to draw martial arts movie enthusiasts as well as any self-respecting G.I. Joe fans to this movie more than anything else are Snake Eyes and his rivalry with fellow ninjitsu-trained mercenary Storm Shadow. The producers appear well aware of this by the sizable presence of the two in the 30-second spot.

The men behind the masks are wushu-trained Scotch actor Ray Park (THE PHANTOM MENACE) as Snake Eyes and Korean actor Lee Byung-hun (THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD) as Storm Shadow. The men behind the men behind the masks, meaning the actors’ stunt doubles, are not known but we do know that Sienna Miller, who plays a leading villainess role as the Baroness is being doubled by Sophia Crawford whose last notable acting role in a martial arts-styled movie was in Isaac Florentine’s U.S. SEALS 2 (2001). In between she has been doing a variety of stunt work for film and television projects.

At this point I haven’t been able to find out who is stunt and/or fight coordinator for G.I. JOE. Perhaps someone in the know would be willing to chime in with a comment below so that we could give credit where IMDb.com has not. I do know that Hollywood veteran James Lew is coordinating action for Electronic Arts’ upcoming G.I. Joe video game which is tied to the movie.

The video game industry has become a nice alternative for action and stunt talents from the film world because of the need for professionals to perform realistic motion capture fighting moves to be applied to digital avatars used in the games. Last year, THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM fight coordinator Jeff Imada was brought in to choreograph similar fighting action for Sierra Entertainment’s THE BOURNE CONSPIRACY video game.

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