DVD Review: G.I. Joe: Resolute
So I just saw this DVD the other night, and I was just blown away. G.I. Joe: Resolute is simply awesome! The art and animation style is extremely smooth and detailed, feeling more like a Japanese animation OVA series. From the opening scene it's obvious that this show isn't your classic Joe series, and I'm not just talking about the slick animation here. Within the first minute, we learn that in this universe, people die, as evidenced by the bloody lifeless corpse of one Major Blood laying sprawled on the floor of the Lincoln Memorial, a knife with a decorative Cobra grip protruding from his chest. This is exactly what the live-action movie should have been.
The next scene takes place aboard the U.S.S. Flagg, the Joe's aircraft carrier, where a barrage of massive explosions almost send the majestic ship to the bottom of the ocean. Next, some device called the High Frequency Active Aurora Research Program (H.A.A.R.P.) does something to the atmosphere, and then an old decommissioned Cobra base starts to come online, launching strange devices into the upper atmosphere surrounding the globe. Another decommissioned Cobra base reactivates, this one sending out some kind of weird light. The purpose is unclear, but implication isn't... Cobra is back in business!
The Joes find that all satellite communication blocked, and when Firefly shoots a missile containing a video projector into the United Nations building, we all get to learn from Cobra Commander himself exactly what is going on. Cobra's devices somehow give him the ability to target any city on Earth, and completely destroy it. Cobra Commander demands that all countries turn over control to him within 24 hours or else be wiped off the face of the Earth. And to demonstrate his power, he turns his device on the city of Moscow, decimating it completely and killing 10 million men, women, and children. Well, it's good to know Cobra is still in the world-domination business.
A lot of people's favorite characters in the original series was either Snake Eyes or Storm Shadow, and I'll admit I was one of those people (at least until they introduced Jinx). Thankfully, not only are both characters present here (that's pretty much a requirement for ANY G.I. Joe incarnation), but they are given their own side story. During an autopsy of Bazooka (yep, he died!), a note was uncovered which led Snake Eyes to Japan to confront Storm Shadow, and Snake Eye's infiltration of this Cobra guarded area was totally badass.
This show may only be about an hour long, but with so much story, so much action, and so many characters and location packed in with such nice animation, it truly feels like a feature length film. The DVD contains two main extra features, one is an interview with three of the filmmakers and the other is a "Now you know" teaser promo (others are storyboards and Joe files). The filmmaker interview is about 20 minutes long and they talk about creating the show and answer questions from fans. The promo is a straight, awesome action sequence which ends with the phrase "now you know", a callback to those silly educational shorts from the original series.
To sum up, this show is awesome and you should definitely check it out!
