
After all, Joseph Gordon-Levitt showing up in The Rise of Cobra with a sleep apnea machine attached to his disfigured face was nothing if not an inspired choice: Paramount Pictures


“I fucking hate that movie,” Channing Tatum said of 2009’s The Rise of Cobra, while costar Christopher Eccleston went even further by saying, “I just wanted to cut my throat every day.” It’s a tough look, and while I wouldn’t go so far as to suggest that The Rise of Cobra and its 2013 sequel, Retaliation, have been misjudged, there’s a cheesy quality to these movies that might be somewhat underappreciated in our current era of homogenous superhero blockbusters. Joe films don’t exactly have a sterling reputation-something that even the actors who participated in them can agree on.

When measured against other contemporary action franchises, the G.I.
