G.I. Joe: Retaliation

This is a sequel to the 2009 film G.I Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Some of the  actors returned but not all the characters did. It begins with Zartan (Arnold Vosloo)  who is now impersonating the president of the United States (Jonathan Pryce). In that position he first sends Storm Shadow (Byung-hun Lee) to disguise as Snake Eyes (Ray Park) and kill the president of Pakistan. Then Zartan accusses the Joes to have an agenda of their own and sends a surprise attack on the G.I. Joes killing most of them including their commander, Duke (Channing Tatum). The only survivors, Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson), Flint (D.J. Cotrona) and Lady Jaye (Adrianne Palicki) plus Snake Eyes who has been joined by Jinx (Elodie Yung) decide to take revenge and for this they seek the help of the original Joe, Joseph Colton (Bruce Willis). In the meantime, Zartan manages to release Cobra Commander and with him they finish Zeus, a satellite system that is capable of destroying any point of the planet surface. Zeus is Cobra´s ultimate weapon to subdue the entire world once and for all.
After watching the movie I have a few  questions that apparently  will remain unanaswered:
Whatever happened to the other characters, the other Joes: Commander Hawk, Scarlett, and Ripcord? Did they die in some unseen mission? Why is there no explanation given on their whereabouts? Were they also killed off in the surprise attack?
It wouldn´t the first time that Hollywood does that and anyway G.I. Joe had a really long list of characters. And on that: one main character dies, another sees his origin was not what he believed to be, and a major city is destroyed.
My favorite scene is the one of the swordfighters in the Himalayas: Snake Eyes and Jinx go there to capture Storm Shadow who is in a secret sanctuary healing from a vicious injury. They do so but they have to face an entire batallion of Cobra ninjas who seem not to be afraid of dying. It is the best part in a film that already contains a huge dose of action. 
Action movie, film full of unbelievable feats, and so on and so on, and still I feel the message it gives is timeless: too much power is too much for any person to handle. Zartan brings the leaders of nations with nuclear power together and plays with them a deadly game. He does press the famous button that was so famous in the eighties and part of the nineties when the Russians were for America, or at least so they said, a source of constant concern and a good reason to keep vigilant.                           
Three out of five stars for this one.

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