This is more like it

Rating: 7/10 (31 August 2012)

When Villain(...yes, they actually named him that... once you get past that, he's actually really, really cool. Van Damme is clearly loving playing the role, and with his grin and black shades, he is the really cool bad guy who you love to hate, and want to see brought down) steals 5 tons of plutonium, the titular Expendables have to find him and stop him before he sells it and it's used. The group(whose members, while still not distinguishing themselves(I think Couture was in this... somewhere in the background, maybe...) beyond their weapon trademark, all have more to do, if they don't get equal screen time... note that several of the icons appear in cameos, showing up when the heroes are in trouble(yes, this one has actual tension), saving them, and disappearing... fine enough to do once, but when they do it a couple of times...) feel far more like war buddies(and when they're joined by the Chinese agent Maggie, she kicks ass and takes names along with the dudes, and they have a "different but equal(skills)" kind of gender relationship, which I think is the way to do it), like they've seen a lot of battle together and they have bonded(in the totally straight way, of course), and their macho exchanges, while still goofy(as all the dialog in this is, as it should be), are much more tolerable in this, and in general, balance is the name of the game in this far-superior-to-its-predecessor movie. No half an hour, 45 minute portion with no action, instead, it's sprinkled in healthy doses throughout the entire running time(and this runs very smoothly). You're not bored for any of this, once the plot gets going, which happens mere minutes after the opening mission. Logic is in and out, as to be expected. The change of director(yes, Sly has done great, but the previous entry in this now-series was poor) is a major boost(even if West has barely done anything for 15 years that would qualify him for this...). This is not filmed in extreme closeups with shaky cam, rather, it lets you see what's going on(with maybe three tiny exceptions), and the editing isn't confusing, either. From a technical standpoint, this is quite good. The acting of Willis and Hemsworth is fantastic(...do I really need to talk about the rest of them...? We're not here to see them make compelling speeches), with the latter being one of the several examples of this picture evoking our emotions, getting us genuinely involved(and this goes for one of the clichés of this type of flick, I will not say which, and it is impeccable). There is a massive amount of bloody, gory violence, some disturbing content and a little moderate to strong language in this. I recommend this to any and all fans of male fantasy 80's entries in the genre. 7/10