Celebrities grace premiere of G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra

Just as Corazon "Cory" Aquino was being laid to rest at the Manila Memorial Park, invited guests of UIP-Solar Entertainment Corp. were at Trinoma, Quezon City to attend the advanced screening of G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra.

Before the screening of G.I. Joe, Wilson Tieng, president of Solar Entertainment Corp. and Selina Gecolea, general manager of United International Pictures talked briefly to the crowd gathered that night.

"Thank you for watching Transformers so many times that we are now at P364 million," reveals Ms. Gecolea. "We have exclusive blockbusters, as always. We have Shrek goes Fourth and Ironman 2."

As soon as she announced that the Robert Downey Jr. action flick would be having a sequel, the crowd suddenly applauded enthusiastically.

She then talked a bit about the movie that was inspired by the military-themed "action figures" produced by the toy company Hasbro. The term G.I. actually stands for Government Issue and became a generic term for U.S. soldiers, especially ground forces.

"Just like Transformers, this franchise [G.I. Joe] is pure entertainment. You don't have to think much about it. It's a popcorn movie. If you pay attention, there's actually a funny exchange among the characters about the features of the action figures.

"One comment about Transformers 2 is that it's hard to tell the bad guys from the good guys. Here in G.I. Joe, it's similar. Everyone wears black except one bad guy who wears white. It's a lot easier to distinguish and there's terrific action."

Adding even more excitement to the crowd was the trailer of Inglourious Basterds, a war film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. This movie starring Brad Pitt competed for the Palme d'Or at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival.

Another movie to watch for in 2010 is The Last Airbender, which is helmed by M. Night Shyamalan.

Celebrities who graced the screening of G.I. Joe that night were Alfred Vargas and his half-Italian, half-Pinay girlfriend Yasmine Espiritu as well as Pinoy Dream Academy Season 2 scholars Bugoy Drilon, Hansen Nichols and Liezel Garcia.


SYNOPSIS. G.I. Joe is the code name for America's daring, highly trained special mission force. Its purpose is to defend human freedom against Cobra, a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world.

The movie will reintroduce viewers to the characters first seen in the 1985 animated TV series G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero.

The elite G.I. Joe team has been tasked to go against the corrupt arms dealer James McCullen (a.k.a. Destro) who is the founder of Military Armaments Research Syndicate (MARS). McCullen is the world's leading trader in weapons technology and he has created a personal army of inhuman soldiers called "Vipers."

The lead characters, Duke (Channing Tatum) and Ripcord (Marlon Wayans), are assigned to deliver nanomite warheads developed by MARS. However, they get ambushed and were able to survive the attack through the help of the Joes, a team led by General Hawk (Dennis Quaid).

Using the latest in next-generation spy and military equipment, the Joes also have to deal with a ruthless, trigger-happy Ana Lewis a.k.a. Baroness (played by Sienna Miller) and a cold-blooded samurai named Storm Shadow (Byung-hun Lee).

The movie often employs flashbacks to explain the backstory of some of the characters, namely the failed relationship of Duke and Ana as well as the shared history of Storm Shadow and the silent swordsman Snake Eyes (Ray Park).

Providing a comic love angle to the film is Shana "Scarlett" O'Hara (Rachel Nichols) and Ripcord (Marlon).