The Movie:

Since the original G.I. Joe series went off the air years ago, the various revamps that have come along have failed to really catch on or ignite viewers. Even the recent live action film, while box office gold, didn't seem to give the core fan base what they wanted out of their beloved series, so it was fairly surprising when G.I. Joe Resolute came along that it actually clicked. Originally done in five minute installments shown as webcasts earlier in 2009, Resolute was written by popular comics scribe Warren Ellis, the British author who helmed the award winning Transmetropolitan series for DC/Vertigo among many others, and Ellis manages to bring that certain edginess that he's known for to the series and make it work. In short, while the series is still pretty farfetched, with Resolute it seems that G.I. Joe has grown up just a bit.

When the movie begins, feds have found the dead bodies of a prominent Cobra agent and then, shortly after, a member of the G.I. Joe team. As the Joe's try and figure out just what exactly is going on, they're soon floored by a fast and hard by an attack from Cobra Commander and his crew in which they launch a series of satellites that shut down communication networks worldwide. From there, Cobra proceeds to wipe Moscow off of the map.

It doesn't take long before the Joes realize that Cobra is building some powerful weapons of mass destruction that they obviously intend to use to take over the world, and so Duke and Scarlett covertly head into Russia to check out what's happening while Stalker, Gung Ho and Roadblock head to a tech lab where Destro and The Baroness are holding the staff hostage. While they're distracted, Storm Shadow sneaks onto the Joe's aircraft carrier base and proceeds to blow a lot of their gear up, which results in Snake-Eyes going after him and chasing him half way across the globe.

Fairly modern in its slant and approach but not so far removed from its roots as to alienate its core audience, Resolute is pretty darn entertaining. Ellis has ensured that the violence has a bit more punch and impact to it - meaning that characters can and do die here, unlike the original series. This manages to create some tension where previously there wasn't much, as we learn early on that these characters, unlike their eighties counterparts, are very definitely mortal. They're also quite a bit more human, proven by the not so subtle sexual tension that creeps up whenever Destro and The Baroness succeed in their evil plots. These changes make the characters a bit easier to relate to and the end result is a better story with better characters.

The biggest problem with the feature is that at just shy of an hour long, it's too short and not just because it leaves you wanting more (a good thing) but primarily because there's a lot more here that it feels like they could have easily and successfully expanded on. Cobra Commander is a lunatic - elaborate on this, there's probably a good story there. Destro and Baroness have this weird kinky side to their escapades - give us details! Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow get a bit of a back story to them and it winds up being the best part of the entire storyline and given Ellis' penchant for writing great characters, I'd have loved to have seen him go further in this regard than he did. That said, this series was done fast and fairly cheap for a web based audience and had to stay with a certain time frame to happen at all.

Despite these detriments, the good definitely outweighs the bad here. There are some great action scenes and the feature really does an excellent job of capturing the spirit of the original series. The plot zips along at a very quick pace and it's never dull. It updates the series just enough to give it some relevancy but not so much that it doesn't still feel like G.I. Joe.

Video:

G.I. Joe Resolute looks pretty good in this 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. There's some line shimmering mostly on diagonal lines where there's fast movement and some minor compression artifacts evident in the darker scenes but aside from that the picture is both clean and stable. Color reproduction is very good, with the reds and oranges looking particularly bold and striking and there are no problems with print damage, dirt or debris.