A movie reviewer can gripe about redundancy in the cinema, but we all must come to terms with the fact that sometimes the redundancy is exactly what we are looking for

Rating: 7/10 (7 September 2012)

"The Expendables 2" is a little closer to the film that I had expected the first film to be: a little more serious, a little lighter on the wisecracks, a little closer to, what I can assume, would be the life of a group of mercenaries. Keep in mind, however, that one the real joys of the first "The Expendables" was that I didn't know how heavy it would be on the humor, and that was part of the reason why I enjoyed it so much. So there is not as many jokes and gags in this new film, but it is essentially the same sort of picture. It is also one of my more favorite films of this year.
A movie reviewer can gripe about redundancy in the cinema, but we all must come to terms with the fact that sometimes the redundancy is exactly what we are looking for. Particularly in a movie like "The Expendables 2." In a movie like this, where you have some of the best old-time action stars—Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Bruce Willis, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris, among others—what you want to see is lots of gunfights, lots of explosions, lots of bodies thumping against each other, and lots of references to the actors' glory days. "The Expendables 2," as written by Mr. Stallone and Richard Wenk, takes these familiar advantages and pushes them to the hilt. Even Mr. Willis and Mr. Schwarzenegger, who had very small but memorable parts in the first movie, are allowed to riff on their own histories and reputations here. Just like with the first film, it is a great nostalgic trip as the stars essentially quote or reference "First Blood," "Die Hard," and "The Terminator." It's not just cheap marketing gags; it's the filmmakers getting the audience involved. After all, who going to see this movie is not familiar with those blood-and-guts films of yesterday?
The stars play very well off each other. Once again, I particularly liked the sarcastic dynamic between Mr. Stallone and Mr. Statham, the latter of who proves the second time around that he is a very good actor. He just needs to pick wiser, better screenplays more often. I do compliment everybody else in the movie, including Nan Yu as a mercenary/computer hacker who the group has to drag along on a seemingly fatal mission in the wilderness. The two others I want to single out for compliments are Mr. Schwarzenegger and Mr. Van Damme, who are making triumphant returns to the movies. Mr. Van Damme plays an especially icy villain here; Mr. Schwarzenegger proves that even though he is getting up there in age, he still has what it takes to be a star. I want to see more of him in the movies again, even if he needs to employ a stunt double a little more often. I also liked how the semi-romantic dynamic between Mr. Stallone and Miss Yu never fully revolved, and instead played smart at numbing it down. I'm sure the filmmakers' excuse is that Mr. Stallone looks much too old to be kissing Miss Yu, but the real reason is because it would be an insanely bad idea for this film, even if Mr. Stallone was still thirty years old.
In regards to what did not please me, I had a few quibbles with the way the picture was edited. Sometimes the camera angles jump and jostle around too much, even when not much is happening. For instance, when Mr. Stallone first meets Miss Yu, both of motorcycle, and she whisks away after making a snappy remark, the camera jumps from her gunning to her engine, to a brief shot from behind her as she continues to gun her engine, and then to the side again as she speeds away. The second shot lasts less than a second is completely unnecessary. And although most of the fights are very well-filmed, the use of computer-generated blood becomes a little more obvious the second time around. One of the things Mr. Stallone did so wisely in directing the first movie was to stage most of the bloody fight sequences in dimmer lighting, to conceal this a bit better. While I compliment the new director, Simon West, in staging a fight in broad daylight, this comes to a disadvantage with how much computer-generated blood he wanted to use. On a side note, even though Chuck Norris scores some great moments in this film, I did want to see a little more of him. He's not an unwelcome screen presence for me.
I had the same sort of expectations with "The Expendables 2" as I did with the first movie: I wanted to have the time of my life, and that was exactly what I received. And no matter how old the actors may get, this is the sort of franchise that I would like to see continue. Again, sometimes the familiarity is exactly what you want from a movie. Did I learn anything about life or people from "The Expendables 2?" Certainly not. But I was not bored or disinterested or displeased with it, and this is the sort of movie that I look forward to seeing again sometime.