For fans of the G.I. Joe toys, cartoons and comic books of the ’80s and early ’90s, 2009’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra was disappointing on many levels. And even though G.I. Joe: Retaliation is technically a sequel to The Rise of Cobra, there’s really no need to revisit the first movie since Retaliation does as good a job as possible of pretending like The Rise of Cobra never happened.

That being said, Retaliation is everything the first G.I. Joe movie should have been. Gone are the Star Wars-like script and those stupid accelerator suits. Inexplicably absent are General Hawk, Scarlett, the Baroness and other characters prominent in the first movie, but that’s OK. The nanomites are used sparingly and much more effectively here, especially in the case of Firefly (played with a brilliantly Southern accent by Ray Stevenson), whose swarming mites are integral to a few explosive scenes.

Disguised as the President of the United States (Jonathan Pryce), Zartan carries out Cobra’s mission to rule the world by starting right at the top of the proverbial Mount Olympus. Though Olympus Has Fallen beat Retaliation to the punch when it comes to enemy forces assuming control of the White House, seeing the American flag replaced by the Cobra insignia is a dreadful sight G.I. Joe fanboys have been excited to see for decades. And apparently the rest of the country also likes the president’s aggressive change of attitude as his approval ratings have been up since Zartan (Arnold Vosloo) locked the real president away in a secret underground cell. Still, the real president refuses to tell Zartan where Cobra Commander and Destro are being held, but Cobra always has a snake in the grass. This time the plan is to not only destroy G.I. Joe’s reputation by framing them as traitors, but to use this frame job as an excuse to literally destroy the team and send its most mysterious member Snake Eyes to prison.

With the Joes seemingly out of commission, and some stealthy help from Cobra’s resident ninja Storm Shadow (once again played by Lee Byung-hun) and Firefly, Cobra Commander (played by Luke Bracey and voiced by Robert Baker) soon finds himself out of prison and at the president’s side. And this time he’s wearing his iconic shiny faceplate and sinister helmet rather than that weird respiratory thing Joseph Gordon-Levitt wore in the first movie. With the general populace on Cobra’s side, the president arranges a peace summit to eliminate the world’s nuclear weapons, which is actually a ploy to drop hi-tech Zeus bombs on the world’s major cities from space satellites.

As luck would have it, a few Joes survived Cobra’s attack. Roadblock (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson), Flint (D.J. Cotrona) and Lady Jaye (Adrianne Palicki) track down the original Joe, a retired Joseph Colton (Bruce Willis). But like so many other things in Retaliation, appearances can be deceiving with this Joe, whose suburban lifestyle is just a cover for a hidden arsenal of futuristic weaponry. Meanwhile, Snake Eyes (Ray Park) and Storm Shadow have an epic ninja battle at an Arashikage mountain retreat, which also introduces Jinx (Élodie Yung) as an impressive new member of the clan. Considering that this movie’s release was delayed by almost a year, supposedly so it could be converted to 3-D, it’s strange that the 3-D effects are hardly noticable aside from a few times during these ninja fight scenes.

Director John M. Chu (best known for directing a couple of the Step Up movies) is either a longtime G.I. Joe fan or at least did his homework before helming this film, as evidenced by the inclusion of the Blind Master (RZA) and the story of Storm Shadow’s true origins, among other details that will please fans of the old Larry Hama-penned G.I. Joe comic books. And these characters stay true to what has been established in previous G.I. Joe mythos, though I don’t understand why the otherwise-mysterious Firefly seems so eager to reveal his face every chance he gets. And though The Rock fills the imposing frame of Roadblock incredibly well, I wish at least some of his trash talking was in rhyme like the Roadblock from the original animated series. I mean, The Rock has proven his mic skills in WWE, but maybe having a colored character jive-talking wouldn’t be politically correct these days (though it’s apparently OK if Michael Bay does it with robots).

Unlike The Rise of Cobra, Retaliation follows the source material pretty closely, capturing the look and feel of G.I. Joe with sleek costumes, military vehicles just advanced enough to be believable and distinct personalities in keeping with those that have kept G.I. Joe popular from one generation to the next. Retaliation could also be The Rock’s best performance to date. I know that’s not really saying much considering the other movies he’s been in, but he still seems to have found the role that will establish him as a true action hero, assuming more G.I. Joe movies are in the works. And if they are, let’s just hope Chu (and not Rise of Cobra director Stephen Sommers) is the one to bring even more of our favorite action figures to life.

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