Action Cinema At Its Best

Rating: 9/10 (16 August 2012)

From start to finish, The Expendables 2 was a fun ride and my eyes were glued to the screen. After reading all the reviews online about how there wasn't much of a story, and thus going in with very low expectations plot-wise, I was pleasantly surprised at how good the story actually was. It's nothing that's going to win Best Original Screenplay or anything, but it was solid and kept me interested. The dialogue was a vast improvement over EX1, which contained a lot of hit-or-miss lines that were at times cringe-worthy (though the director's cut fixed some of this in my opinion).
In fact, EVERYTHING was a vast improvement over EX1. The story, the chemistry of the cast, the cinematography, the pacing, and of course – the action. Simon West did a good job with this (even though I suspect that Stallone did a great deal of ghost-directing and I'd be willing to bet money on it), and I want him to stay for EX3. We get to see plenty of Dolph this time around and Couture seemed a lot more comfortable than he did in the first movie. It's true that Jet Li is barely in the movie, but while he's on screen he's very fun to watch. After he leaves, you don't really miss him though. The opening action sequence was very fun, but I wouldn't really compare it to the climax of Rambo IV like some have, although I see their reasoning. Simply put: EX2 is its own beast.
Hemsworth didn't bother me nearly as much as I thought he would, and Sly gave a much better performance than he did in the first movie. JCVD was a great villain! Adkins was good as his sidekick, and I was very pleased that he didn't get the Gary Daniels Treatment from EX1. He doesn't have a ton of screen time, but he does the best with what he has. The same can be said about Arnie, Bruce, and Chuck. They're all basically just glorified cameos, but on every frame that they have – they shine. Chuck fits into the film a bit better than I expected him to and although Arnie does indeed look old, it kind of enhances him. Think of Clint Eastwood, and how he seems to become even more bad-ass as he grows older. The same is true for Arnold; the wrinkles work in his favor. So I can confidently say that ARNOLD IS BACK!
The violence in this film definitely earned its R rating, and I think this board will be more than satisfied with it. There is a good mix of CGI blood and squib-work, which I think is the best we can ask for in this day and age. I will say that the CGI blood looks a lot better than it did in the first movie. In EX1 the CGI blood was distracting and looked amateurish. In EX2 it actually looks professional. The beginning of the movie leans more on CGI blood, but as it progresses the amount of squibs we see gradually increases. Both the Statham/Adkins and Sly/JCVD fights are flat out action cinema at its best. I honestly have a hard time choosing which one I liked more. Some have said the Sly/JCVD fight was too short, but in my opinion it was close to perfect. The finale at the airport is an action fan's wet dream come true!
I went into the film expecting little to no swearing at all, and I will report that there is actually more than I anticipated. It's still not much, but 'sh!t' is used a handful of times throughout the film along with a few others. No f-bomb's though. I personally don't care about the profanity (or lack thereof), but I know some people do.
Now, to what I didn't like about the film: Some lines and takes from the trailer have either been changed or removed completely. Maybe it's just because I've watched the trailer a grand total of 403 billion times and thought I knew what to expect, but it still annoyed me. Also, I didn't really like how both Arnold and Chuck magically appear and disappear in the movie, with no real explanations given on how they got from place to place. Again, this may just be a personal preference, and one could even argue that this aspect of the film enhances their mystique, but I fought it slightly lame. The plane crash sequence features some CGI which isn't the best, but thankfully it doesn't last long. These are honestly the only parts of the film that I didn't like, which are really a bunch of my nit-picky personally preferences that don't affect the film as a whole. The fact that these tiny little details are the only things about the film that I didn't really like are a GOOD THING!
All in all: EX2 is a great action film that delivers with a Rocky-esque punch to the face. Stallone is still going strong, Arnold is back, and this is the best film on Statham's resume. There are plenty of homages and references to classic action films and the body count is high.
--How'd I'd rate the film—
From a technical filmmaking perspective: 7.5/10
As an action throwback to the good ol' days: 9/10