Geek trivia: What is the similarity between Storm Shadow (in Rise of Cobra) and Darth Maul (in The Phantom Menace)?

It's time for that geeky discussion-session once more! After watching GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra for the second time in a row within the span of 24 hours, both my wife and I discovered a somewhat similar ground in the death scene of one of the main villains from the movie with the one in Star Wars: Ep 1.

Get this, the character Storm Shadow (which was brilliantly portrayed by Hyung-bun Lee in the movie) was sliced down at the end of the movie and apparently fell down into a chute into the icy-cold water below (err...that WAS ice, wasn't it?!). Darth Maul (uber-cool Sith apprentice from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace) died under an almost similar operandi, got sliced (into half.....okay, Storm Shadow wasn't decapitated, but close enough!) AND Mr Maul fell into a seemingly endless infinity bottomless chute! Get the drift?

And here's the most astonishing, yet geekily-exciting fact at the same time...*drumroll*.........

Ray Park, played Snake Eyes in GI Joe: RoC, responsible in slicing Storm Shadow and causing him to fall to his apparent death into that chute.....

...was also Darth Maul in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, who in fact, got HIMSELF sliced by Obi Wan Kenobi and fell to his apparent death into that 'melting-pit'!

As rumours have it, Hyung-bun Lee had just signed a contract to resume playing Storm Shadow till the 3rd installment of GI Joe, which means he didn't die at all at the end of RoC. Wish the same could be said about Darth Maul.....a classic case of a cool bad-guy dying too soon!

For the record, I think GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra kicks a**, no matter what the so-called critics call it. I love every second of the movie. Pure non-stop Joe-Cobra goodness that got me stickin' in front of the screen for a solid two hours. I loved the 80s cartoon and somehow, this was how I'd imagined the live-action movie would be!

This concludes today's edition of the 'geeky trivia'!

Yo Joe!