The Expendables 2 (2012)

Director: Simon West

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Liam Hemsworth, Scott Adkins, Nan Yu

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Back for War.

Plot: Barney (Stallone) and his team are thwarted on there mission by Vilain (Vann Damme) a terrorist who has his own evil plan on world domination. Will Barney and his team stop him before it's too late?



My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again? Yes, and it's good enough for me to give the first film another shot someday.

The first EXPENDABLES (2010) movie didn't impress me as much as it should have but I still had a good time. On this trip we get more Dolph (good thing), very little Randy (bad thing - but he's great with what little they give him), more Arnold (sometimes a good thing), more Bruce (a better thing than the first one) and more group action and less Sly & Jason time (VERY good thing). One of the problems I had with the first film is there was too much time with Sly & Jason away from the group. I liked those two together but I wanted to see more of the Expendables. The sequel is ALL Expendables.


The Arnold bits are mostly fun and Chuck gets a couple of fun moments. The biggest issue I have with this flick is that there are a shit-ton of one-liners. Only half of them work and a lot of them feel shoehorned in JUST so we could get a laugh out of a reference to one of these guys's previous movies. Arnold suffers the most from the latter. His line deliveries are hit and miss and when he hits, it's golden, but when he misses is groanin'. I like this film. It's a great summer blockbuster escapist night at the movies. You know what you're in for before you're butt's in the seat so go and have a good time. I'm looking forward to seeing Ex3 in a couple of years. The only question now is, who's going to join the cast? Seagal? Kurt Russell? Mel? Harrison Ford won't do it for sure. Then there's Jackie Chan and Wesley Snipes. This list is getting tougher and not in a good way. Oh, and for anyone who is disappointed (like I was before I saw it) that this is rated PG-13 (the first one was R), don't worry. There are several moments where they push the limits of the rating system. There is enough blood and carnage to satisfy although you'll be hungry to see the eventual unrated Blu-ray.