The Expendables 2

Rating: 6/10 (21 August 2012)

The first film was okay, and a good excuse for nostalgia with some of the greatest action movie stars of the 1980's and 1990's, it was debatable whether I wanted to see a sequel, but with a couple more great stars and the critics preferring the follow-up, I had to see it, from director Simon West (Con Air, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider). Basically the film opens in Nepal where the band of high skilled mercenaries, "The Expendables", are there to rescue a Chinese businessman and the rival of leader Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), Trench (Arnold Schwarzenegger, in one of his first roles since retiring as Governor of California), and martial artist Yin Yang (Jet Li) makes sure the VIP gets home safely. Ross then gets his next mission when he is forced by Mr. Church (Bruce Willis), since he owes him a favour to make them even, he and his team have to find a crashed aeroplane and retrieve the item inside, accompanied by tech genius Maggie (Nan Yu). The mission goes well until team sniper Billy 'The Kid' Timmons (Triangle's Liam Hemsworth, Chris's brother) is captured by Jean Villain (Jean-Claude Van Damme) and at gunpoint demands the item back, and even though he gets it eventually he sticks a knife into Billy's heart, killing him, and gets away, the gang swear revenge on the life of their young companion. The item is revealed by Maggie to have contained blueprints documenting the location of five tons of plutonium abandoned by the Soviet Union in a mine, Villain and his accomplice Hector (Scott Adkins) intend to steal and sell it. The team led by Ross, with blades specialist Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), sniper Gunner Jensen (Rocky IV's Dolph Lundgren), weapons specialist Hale Caesar (White Chicks' Terry Crews) and demolitions expert Toll Road (wrestler Randy Couture), they head for the mines. They are infiltrated by a group of Villain's soldiers, the Sangs, but single-handed Booker (Chuck Norris) saves them, and before departing he tells them that they can get help from the nearby villagers who are against Villain, they are all female and trying to keep their children safe. All the men of the village have been taken by Villain and forced to work in the mines to get to the plutonium, they have never returned to their families, and when the Sangs return to take more villagers the mercenaries kill them and stop this from happening. The Expendables stage a surprise attack in the mines by crashing their plane, which they survive, but explosives trap them inside the caves, but soon enough Trench and Church show up to rescue them and to join them in the fight, and they also help the male villagers to escape. The heroes go into battle with the villains in the airport, where the plutonium is ready to be transported, but The Expendables, plus Trench, Church and Booker kill all the bad guys, Christmas decapitates Hector with a rotating helicopter blade, and Ross and Villain fight to the death until the villain is stabbed. Church, who calls it even with Ross, Maggie, Booker, and Trench all go their separate ways, the team get a new plane since their old one was ruined, Billy's girlfriend Sophia (Nikolette Noel) gets a large sum of money and his letter to her, and The Expendables all give a final toast to Billy. Also starring Amanda Ooms as Pilar and Novak Djokovic. Stallone, not directing this time, is much more prominent than possibly the original film, Van Damme is fantastic as the often intense villain, Willis gets more screen time to kick ass, Schwarzenegger is the butt for most of the best jokes, Norris gets a funny and cool entrance and shoots up, and the other cast members (besides Li who is hardly on screen at all) get their time to make laughs and thrill as well. The story is more organised than the first film was, the nostalgia of action man stuff is definitely much more entertaining than before, the fights, gun play, explosions and blood spill is highly engaging and exciting, and with many of the most well-loved stars of these kind of films you can slip right into it, a great fun action comedy. Good!