An absolute blast

Rating: 10/10 (5 October 2012)

The Expendables 2 The Expendables advertised itself as a trip back to the 80's where we had some of the best action movies ever. Some of the greatest action stars were at the peaks of their careers: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Jean Claude Van Damme and Chuck Norris were the biggest and baddest dudes on the planet. While the Expendables did give us a fun ride, most people thought it could have been better.
The Expendables 2 surpasses the first film in every way possible. It is exactly what you expect: old action stars kicking ass. Extremely violent fights, lots of explosions, plenty of great one liners and loads of action and old movie references.
"Wow this plane belongs in a museum." Stallone "So do we." Arnold
Added to the cast are Van Damme, Scott Adkins, Chuck Norris, Liam Hemsworth and Nan Yu. We were also promised much more screen time for Arnold and Bruce. Van Damme plays the bad guy with Scott Adkins as his body guard. He kills one of Barney's(Stallone) men and sets off to get his revenge. While the story is pretty standard, its more then serviceable for the action.
"Whats the Plan?" Statham "Track 'em, find 'em, kill 'em." Stallone
What made this movie so much fun was that it was completely self aware. It knows what fans of the cast want to see. Pure cheese. Arnold and Willis have some truly epic dialog, a lot referencing their older movies. Chuck Norris is not in the movie for to much, but every minute he is on screen, is just so brilliantly done. Any person who watched old Chuck movies will instantly get all the puns and jokes that are said to him.
"You're gonna need more men if you're gonna get through this one." Chuck "Can we count on you're help?" Stallone "I work better as a Lone Wolf." Chuck
Van Damme and Scott Adkins make an amazing duo as the bad guys. Van Damme is still in amazing shape and shows off a lot of classic moves he used to do in his old movies such as his world famous spinning back kick. He has a stand-off with Stallone at the end, which is one of the coolest fights in recent memories. Hearing Van Damme smack talk Stallone as he beats up on him, brings back a lot of great memories from his characters in Replicant and Double Impact.
"Im out of bullets!" Van Damme "That's your problem!" Stallone
Van Damme walks out unarmed. "Do you want to shoot me like a dog? Or fight me like a man?"
Scott Adkins who is most known for his amazing athleticism and fighting style from the Undisputed movies, gets a chance to show off how skilled and quick he is as he has a brutal fight with Jason Statham at the end.
The Expendables 2 was easily the most enjoyable theater experience i've ever had and my favorite movie of 2012. It has the greatest action stars of all time, its paced perfectly, has amazing and over the top action scenes, and is absolutely hilarious. It was a massive crowd pleaser and took my back to the good olé days of action movies.