Dwayne Johnson and Bruce Willis co-star in "GI Joe: Retaliation'

Credit: Paramount Pictures

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The new trailer for "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" is full of CGI mayhem, ninjas on mountaintops, and Bruce Willis, The Rock, and Channing Tatum all ladling on the macho.  It looks like every 13-year-old kid's dream version of an action movie, ridiculous but impossible not to watch.

One of the things that impresses me about the ninja mountain battle footage you see here is that I was on the set where they shot those scenes, and it couldn't have been any more fake.  The stuff here looks great, and I think Jon Chu could turn out to be an inspired choice for this one.  I know it's been a difficult film in terms of production set-backs, second-guessing, and release date shuffle, but in the end, all that matters is whether or not the film is any fun, and it looks like it is.

There's a part of me that always feels bad saying something looks like fun when it's got the sort of wholesale destruction that this film appears to have.  If they really destroy London the way they show it here, then it's starting to look like Hollywood has some anger issues about London that they're working out, between this and the "Star Trek Into Darkness" poster.

One of the reasons the film was delayed was because it became clear when they were testing the film that audiences wanted Channing Tatum to stay alive and an active part of this series.  It looks like some of that new footage of Duke is in this trailer, so fans who demanded that should be feeling pretty good right about now.

I like that Jonathan Pryce is front and center as the face of COBRA in the film.  That story thread appears to be continued directly from the first film, and I'm sure a big part of this movie involves the way their deception allows them to take over the US government without firing a single shot.

It's interesting how they've had to basically start this campaign over because of how close they got to releasing the film this year before they blinked at the last moment, and I'll be curious to see if Paramount is able to take this second chance and make it all worthwhile.

"G.I. Joe: Retaliation" opens in theaters March 29, 2013.

Drew McWeeny
Film Editor

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A respected critic and commentator for fifteen years, Drew McWeeny helped create the online film community as "Moriarty" at Ain't It Cool News, and now proudly leads two budding Film Nerds in their ongoing movie education.