Rise of Cobra

I finally figured out what's wrong with Rise of Cobra. One thing. Just one thing that ruined the entire movie and it's expanded universe.

It's not military.

The RoC Joes are more of a superhero team than military.

Think about this, it's not the sci fi that ruined it. Joe has always had sci fi elements in it. TransFormers 1 was very sci fi but the realistic military aspect kept things in check. Same with Stargate. Or any other number of movies, comics, and video games. You can even move into superpower territory and still be military (Team 7). It's not the Sigma suits either. Armored exoskeletons are cool as long as they are done in the military perspective (HALO). It's not the nanomites either. Nanomites can also be cool if done in a military setting (Metal Gear Solid).

Making the Joes a more realistic military force (being international works) instead of a team of superheroes would have made this movie more enjoyable.

Joes are soldiers. You can't change that. Take the military out of Joe and you get Sigma 6 (I'm too young to remember Adventure Team). This is the big difference with the TF movie and the Joe movie. With the TF movie, despite the ShardFormer designs, they still Transformers. Robots in disguise. But the Joes in the movie? Not so Modern Army anymore. Being military is what makes Joe... a Joe. Surprisingly, Channing Tatum's Duke in the movie was the best and most true-to-source character in the entire movie. Among all the Joes (and even the Cobras) he was the only one who was acting like a soldier. A Real American Hero.

- JM