Almost as great accept for some minor faults

Rating: 9/10 (24 August 2012)

Back in 2010, action star Sylvester Stallone introduced his fans to an action experience many would not forget; The Expendables. The Expendables (2010) was a hit for various reasons: its cast was strong, the music was entertaining, the dialog was funny, and the action was violent. Thanks to all that, Stallone (and several other cast members) wanted to make a sequel; well here it is! The sequel to The Expendables (2010) is almost perfect except for its lack of attention to a couple specific characters.
After another successful mission, Barney Ross (Stallone) and the rest of his gang are drawn into taking on another Mr. Church deal when on the job, one of their team members is killed. This is when the expendables go full bore into taking out their enemy. Who's their new enemy? Villain played by Jean-claude Van Damme. Van Damme plays a pretty lethal character. Roberts from 2010 was good but Van Damme makes his character much more dangerous.
As for the rest of the cast, everything was done well. I really liked how there was more screen time for when the characters hung out together and not beating the crap out of bad guys (there's still plenty of it). It allows the audience to believe they're real people and not that they're their own little secret club. Plus even the sarcasm/jokes are turned up and half of it doesn't even belong to Statham, Stallone, Willis, Norris or Schwarzenegger. I also like how they gave special attention to Lundgren's character by not making him seem like he's all brawn and no brain (like from the first film).
The music and action are just as good. Brian Tyler still knows what he's doing when it comes to composing music. And the action is still heavy. Thank god Stallone decided to keep this film rated R. If he didn't, I would have had a bone to pick there. There are some things that can't be toned down.
My only issue with this film is the script (story wise). How is it that writers, Stallone and Wenk pen in new characters and keep old ones but somehow leave out other significant individuals? Charisma Carpenter (Christmas' girlfriend) was even in this movie and yet both writers couldn't find a way to mention what happened to Tool, Mickey Rourke's character? Plus, I really enjoyed Jet Li's performance in the intro and then he's moved out and we never hear from him again? Come on now. There's got to be some coherent story to tie the first to the second. But overall still, this sequel is a pleaser.
The Expendables 2 is a loud actioneer that's fun and is chock full of inside jokes and one liners. A good follow up to the first.