Hello, My Name is Scott and I Love the 'G.I. Joe' Blu-ray

Back in August was when G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra hit the screens, and while I had no reason to expect anything but a merciless brain-pummeling from the experience, I walked out suitably impressed with the flick's popcorn-tastic mentality. I even ended my review with this: "Truth be told, the flick's action centerpiece, a crazy chase through Paris, will soon be on heavy blu-ray rotation around my house." Yes, the director who slapped me with The Mummy Returns and pummeled me with Van Helsing is now back in my good graces. (The awesomely amusing Deep Rising is always the tie-breaker for Stephen Sommers.)

You can enjoy my wonderfully insightful G.I. Joe review right here if you like, but this time out I just want to focus on the blu-ness and not the wackness: If you liked the flick, you want to own it on Blu-ray, trust me on that one. The supplemental features are basic but well-produced: there's an audio commentary with Sommers and producer Bob Ducsay that shows a good deal of enthusiasm and preparation on their part, plus on disc 2 you'll find a pair of rather slick and thorough featurettes: the 30-minute The Big Bang Theory is the "catch-all" behind-the-scenes piece that covers a lot of bases, and Next-Gen Action (about 20 minutes) focuses more intently on the special effects and production design.
And those goodies are all fine and good, but really -- the audio-visual lunacy is what this Blu is all about. The flick is undeniably slick-looking and full of nifty gizmos (to say nothing of colorful characters), but it's the eclectic mixture of locations and the powerfully energetic action scenes that deliver the most bang for your DVD buck. The underwater stuff in Act III is particularly pretty, as are the ice-cap sequences, but like I said a few months back: It's the outlandish chase through Paris that still works best for me. And frankly the Blu-ray looks even better than the theatrical print. Well ... maybe not, but it's close.