It's The Same Film We've Seen Before, Only With More Bad Actors

Rating: 4/10 (13 August 2012)

Well, we should have known it would come to this. The Expendables 2. I didn't see the original film until earlier this year on television. I thought it was lousy, and I still can't believe it crushed Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World at the box office. Every actor except Jason Statham was terrible, the special effects were sub-par, the cinematography was pitiful, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis were underused, and Sylvester Stallone proved once again that he couldn't write a decent script (Rocky was an exception) or direct a good movie. Now we have an unnecessary sequel. I won't give away any spoilers, but I will say this film brings action stars Jean-Claude Van Damme and Chuck Norris to the table, and they're terrible as always. I do admit, it was funny watching Chuck Norris killing bad guys, considering he's 72, but he's just an excuse for Stallone and Co. to say that they have another washed-out movie star in their midst.
This film is directed by Simon West, but he's never been a good filmmaker. He's a little better filming the action scenes, but the script, once again penned by Stallone, gives him nothing to work with. Overall, this is a slightly better film than the first one, but that's like comparing Epic Movie and Meet the Spartans and trying to argue which one is the best. This is another vain attempt at 80's nostalgia, but there's a reason why people don't make movies like that anymore: they were cheap, stupid, and had bad acting, but now producers have the money to make great action films, and this is just an attempt to cash in on nostalgia. I will say Arnold and Bruce are in the film a little more this time around, but even that still can't save this film.
Final Verdict: 4/10