Dry jokes, obvious references, old men

Rating: 7/10 (27 November 2012)

I really expected this film to be better than the first Expendables and in a way it was, but they clearly did not learn much of the experience. Same lame one liners referencing past movies, same enormous body count, same lack of real action. And the thing is, I am sure each one of the people in the movie could have packed a lot of punch. All they needed was some creative writing, something that would have shown unequivocally why these old timers are legends and better than the tens of drones that get shot down in the film.
Alas, no such writing was in store for them. People just died from their bullets and missed all shots, the villain was called Villain, the girl was there just for the fun of it and the reason why they all did what they did felt completely artificial. I really, really, wanted to enjoy the film as much as I did the trailer. It was not to be.
Bottom line: this film only emphasised that these actors are really old. They move around arthritically shooting bullets because they can't do much else. The plot only enhances the feeling. In the end, one feels sad for the characters, rather than exhilarated by their achievements or in awe of their talent. With good writing, this could have been insanely cool. Alas, good writers seem to be more expensive than a hundred people pretending to die from a single machine gun.