You should just at least watch it for its final 30 minutes alone.

Rating: 7/10 (20 August 2012)

It definitely seemed a good move by Stallone to pass the torch on to Simon West and let him sit on the director's chair this time. Seemed that with the first "The Expendables" movie Stallone had a hard time balancing things out. The result was a pretty disappointing movie, in which not even the action come across as anything all that great or exciting. This definitely improved with this movie and while it's being far from a great one, it's being a pretty decent and entertaining genre flick!
Please don't ask me what this movie was all about, since I simply absolutely had no idea. But in all fairness, this often had been the case with big overblown action movies and it really doesn't make them any less spectacular or entertaining to watch. It's simply being a movie to have a good and fun time with and not to take too seriously.
And luckily the film-makers and actors took things not that serious either. It's the main reason why this movie works out much better and is simply being more fun than its predecessor. The movie and its jokes are more self aware this time around and they didn't just attempted to create a big action flick but also one that delivers on a more entertaining level.
So there is more fun, the action is better but those are not the only things this sequel improved on. Thing I also really liked about this movie was that it focused more on the team aspect. Everybody gets their moment to shine in this and basically every cast member gets to show off their action skills. Yes, even Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis get to do some serious action related stuff this time around. And it really is awesome seeing them fight literally alongside, along with Sylvester Stallone as well. It helps to make the final 30 minutes basically a fan boys dream and it also are the movie its final 30 minutes that are being the movie its best minutes, which sort of makes you wonder why the rest of the movie, as well as its predecessor, weren't being more like this as well.
And the movie brings in even more big action movie stars from the past this time. Jean-Claude Van Damme is being a pretty good villain, though he shows up in the movie pretty late and also gets to do far too little. Oh well, at least he was being good and enjoyable when he did appear on screen and is still in pretty good form as well, even though he is well in his 50's already. And I admit, it was also awesome to see Chuck Norris in this. Yes, his character is quite pointless and just an excuse to have Norris pop up in this movie but he perhaps was being the most fun character out of the entire movie and I actually do hope they bring him back and make him a part of the team for the next sequel. It's sort of funny how I know basically everything about this guy and his movies but this probably was being the first movie, in which he stars, that I had ever seen. Perhaps it should be time to pick up some of his earlier movies and have a blast with them as well.
Of course there are plenty of flaws in this movie, mostly story related but I'm simply happy about it that this movie at least learned from some of the mistakes it made with the previous movie and this one is simply being a good and enjoyable genre movie to watch. Still not as great and awesome as it by all rights should be but they are more on the right track with this one and lets all hope "The Expendables 3" is going to be the ultimate Expendables movie, that everybody is hoping and longing for, ever since the first movie got announced.
7/10
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