Helmetless US soldiers at that.

I thought as a movie, if I was unfamiliar with GI JOE, I'd say it mostly sucked and had a bad script and teetered between real action movie and kiddie shlock (it is a toy based film).

As GI JOE fan, though, I found parts of it enjoyable. It got some things "right", but I cannot say it was especially better than Rise of Cobra. I think that making GI JOE realistic doesn't work in live action, Retaliation wanted some realism but also outlandish stuff and it doesn't mesh well. Rise of Cobra almost did better...except its CGI sucked horribly at times.