Review of The Expendables 2 (2012) by Mitchell B — 25 Jul 2014

Expendable 2 is more of the Expendables film I wanted out of the first movie. You have all these action stars in one movie just going all-out and kicking ass. In the first movie it was more the Stallone and Statham show except for the opening and ending fight. Here everyone has their moment.

You even have Arnold and Willis, who only had brief cameos in the first film get more screen time and more action time at the end which is great. I like their banter as well and the nods to their old films like Rambo. Chuck Norris also appears in this movie which is always a plus. He gets some badass moment and they even work in some Chuck Norris jokes which I found funny.

Van Damm plays the villain in this time around. I think he does as a good job in the role and it makes the villain more memorable. The main villain in the last film was pretty weak, but this one works well enough. He is intimidating, imposing, and poses a good enough threat for the heroes. He does kill off a member of the team which is a plus over the previous villain. One of the problems with the film however, is the fight between him and Stallone, which could have been better. It was too short and Van Damm goes down too easily.

There is no point in talking about the story since we really don't care for the story in this type of film. The action is fun like the last film, but I like the fights better here. There is more action in this film and almost everyone has their moment, especially at the end fight. The fight at the beginning was also very fun and it was better than the opening fight in the first one.

Another issue with the film is that, while it is majorly improved from the first movie, some characters still get some insufficient time. Jet Li, after the opening fight, disappears for the remainder of the film. While they get there moments in the ending and I am thankful, I still wish Chuck Norris, Arnold, and Bruce Willis had more time. Sadly, it looks like we won't see them at all in the third installment.

Overall, this film is The Expendables film I wanted to see. I did have fun with the first film, but this one delivered more of what I expected from that one. If you are a fan of action movies then definitely give this a look. It is a good throwback to the old days of action movies. I look forward to the third film when it comes out.