Pop quiz, hotshot: which of the two G.I. Joe DVDs released on November 3 is worth your money?  If you answered G.I. Joe: Resolute, you are a wise person, indeed.  If you didn’t, well, now you know, and knowing is half the battle.  Written by comic book author Warren Ellis, the more adult-oriented Resolute was originally packaged as five minute animated webisodes that later appeared during Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim block.  Since it’s a bit of a modern reboot of the franchise with many (most, I think) of the old characters, though not all are used much and there are casualties, I’m not sure how strong the film is on continuity.
 

While there are many explosions (good ones), and extensive awesome action scenes along with the usual Cobra Commander wants to take over the world with a big giant weapon scheme, there is also a comprehensible plot, some excellent use of technology, and an involving Kill Billesque storyline with Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow that leads to a kickass showdown.  I like the way they split the action into distinct stories: Scarlett (such a badass—love her) and Duke head to Russia to destroy a Cobra base, other Joes split up to stop other parts of the eeeevil plan, Cobra Commander does his Darth Vader thing, and of course Snake Eyes goes off to meet Storm Shadow and his destiny (well-done flashback included).  I also like that there are real bullets with casings you can see drop to the ground along with the people who get shot and that those people actually bleed and don't in fact pop back up.  The old G.I. Joe cartoons never had blood (or bullets, as I recall), and while I’m all for protecting kids, if you’re going to have people die, show it because otherwise there’s too much disconnect.  One thing that does hearken back to the old G.I. Joe, though, is that this is clearly an American--not international-- team of Joes out to save the world.  That they learn saving the world may include destroying a Walmart-like store in the middle of the heartland is completely sweet.
 

The flow of the movie is choppy in spots, which is to be expected since it is short segments spliced together, but it’s occasionally distracting.  The voice work is also distracting in spots.  Only four actors were used, which is impressive, but at times there is not enough vocal distinction between the characters and the dialogue of the movie sounded slightly off more than once, like the cadence was wrong or the actor couldn’t find his rhythm.  Other than that, the worst part of Resolute is that it’s so short.  The Duke-Scarlett romance was hinted at (with a sledgehammer), but there was no time for context or build-up, so it fell flat.  Mostly, though, I just wanted the film to be longer, and that’s not really a bad thing.
 

The animation looks terrific.  It’s much more anime than the classic Joe animation, and the video quality is crisp and bright.  There are some interesting special features included on the DVD, especially a twenty minute interview with some of the team (not Ellis, unfortunately) behind Resolute where they take questions sent in by fans and explain their decisions and process more in depth than you will generally find on behind-the-scenes-featurettes.  You can also look at storyboards and read character files.  Finally, there is a fun two minute film/teaser showcasing Snake-Eyes that riffs on the traditional “Now you know” Joe lessons. 
 

While G.I. Joe: Resolute is only a short 58 minutes, it should go a long way toward removing any lingering bad feeling left from G.I. Joe: the Rise of Cobra.  Fans should love it for many reasons, but the showdown between Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow will probably top the list and is worth the DVD price all on its own.