Review of The Expendables 2 (2012) by Cmrcool72 — 24 Aug 2012

The Expendables II, the lowly anticipated sequel to the slated 2010 original which provided wooden acting and weak editing. Let's face it, no one was expecting a sequel to up the anti and kick as much ass as this no-brains all brawn all out action epic does.

The Expendables, led by a Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone, more focused on keeping his *cough* acting *cough* in check now that directing duties have been given to much... steadier hands in the form of Simon West, who was proved his action chops on several occassions over recent years, his most notables being Nic Cage Con Air and fellow Expendable Jason Statham's Mechanic) on a revenge mission against infamous European mercenery VillAin (played with gleeful OTT by a top form JCVD) after young soldier for hire and Barney's friend Liam Hemsworth (yep, that guy from the Hunger Games) is killed on what seemed a simple job.

As figured, the plots not what keeps the film going, with what seems like a story written in two lines spread like butter across a LARGE (1hr 43 mins) piece of toast. But the action... MY GOD. Every action star, phenomen, body builder, european screen mass fill the frame every second of this picture, and no, the idea of the world's greatest action stars together in one movie DOES NOT GET OLD.

If solid action is what you want (JCVD, Norris and Arnold stand out in this pic) and possibly the best performances out of Hollywood's brawn this side of the century, this film is yours to swallow up, regardless of poorly thought out plot and too many mercenaries to count let alone care for.

It's worth paying to see for the Arnie jokes alone mind.