Director John M. Chu dishonored the G.I. franchise in his most recent film. However, he made an interesting, comical new take on the Joes that makes his most recent G.I. Joe movie worth watching.

In the sequel to “G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra,” John Chu killed off most of America’s elite Special Forces Operators.

Pakistan’s president is assassinated and political chaos ensues in the nuclear-armed country. The President of the United States of America, played by Arnold Vosloo, orders the G.I. Joes to capture and dismantle Pakistan’s unguarded nuclear warheads.

After an action-packed, successfully accomplished mission, an unexpected military assault destroys most of the Joes. Only Roadblock, played by Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson, Lady Jaye, Adrianne Palicki’s character, and Flint who is D.J. Cotrona, survive.

After quickly deducing that the president authorized their deaths, the three remaining Joes set out to prove their innocence and avenge the death of their comrades.

This is contrary to what the original comics and cartoons portrayed. Only individual Joes died in the comics and they never died in the cartoons.

However, the movie does feature the Joes triumphing in the end, which is in the spirit of the original comics and cartoons.

The death of most of the Joes is not pleasing to fans of the G.I. Joe comics and cartoons, but it helps with “Retaliation’s” plot.

Chu did a phenomenal job directing the character interaction between Duke who is played by Channing Tatum, and Roadblock. The dialog between the two was highly comical and hilarious.

He also did an impressive job of incorporating actual geo-political issues into “Retaliation’s” plot. Political science and international relations majors will find Chu’s address of matters such as nuclear arms proliferation entertaining and stimulating.

The cracks at North Korea served as icing on the cake.

As a fan of the G.I. Joe comics and cartoons, “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” is awarded three out of four stars. YO, JOE!