The difference on GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra is the director -- not state-of-the-art explosion king Michael Bay, but Stephen Sommers, he of the Mummy franchise and Van Helsing. Where Bay gives the impression of flogging his CGI artists, crew, and cast to within an inch of their lives, Sommers takes a more laid-back approach: it’s on the cheap, and we’re hardly bothering. The special effects are kind of special, but only in the sense that they look remaindered. The acting is a joke.