2. Far More Risks
Before Sommers film hit theaters, it sounded like a film that could be great and not just be another worthless blockbuster. He had Joseph Gordon Levitt in the film (who had a whopping total of two scenes) and Channing Tatum and Sienna Miller were also cast to add some more acting credentials. Serious actors were coming out to play out a little kids' fantasy for the first flick, but Sommers' ended up pulling off a film that played way too safe and hardly appealed to even young children. The second film was willing to play things a little better with the casting of Dwayne Johnson among other things. Director Chu took risks that Sommers simply never did: he killed off Channing Tatum after only twenty minutes, had the government turn on the Joes and included a breath-taking silent twenty minute fight sequence that was worth the price of admission alone. Those creative and narrative choices, and others, set Retaliation apart and made it an enjoyable blockbuster unlike The Rise of Cobra.