20 Underappreciated Blockbusters That Are Much Better Than You Remember

16. G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra

Spider-Man 3
Paramount Pictures

Stephen Sommers' $175m toy commercial is hardly a high point for the summer blockbuster, as is the case with most of the his work. While the movie is treated without a hint of irony for some reason, the real entertainment value comes when you realize that this is essentially a live-action remake of Team America, played entirely straight.

Case in point; Channing Tatum's Duke rides a motorcycle. Through a graveyard. In the rain. Wearing sunglasses. Nanomite warheads destroy the Eiffel Tower. There are underwater lairs and robot fish. Among the cast, Joseph Gordon-Levitt seems to be the only one in on the joke with an animated turn in a sea of straight-faced costars.

More enjoyable than a Transformers sequel, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is riddled with cliches, nonsensically plotted and poorly written, but almost in spite of itself ends up with a campy charm reminiscent of a cross between Roger Moore-era Bond and 90s Michael Bay.

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