Another fun action flick full of veterans from the 80s & 90s, better than the first

Rating: 7/10 (17 November 2015)

Released in 2012, "The Expendables 2" stars Sylvester Stallone as Barney Ross, the leader of a group of mercenary veterans who are hired by the CIA to do their dirty work. In this case their mission is to go to Albania to retrieve something that was on a plane that crashed; they're accompanied by technical expert Maggie Chan (Nan Yu) to make sure they get it. When one of their younger members is murdered by a villain so villainous his name is Villain (Jean-Claude Van Damme), their quest for revenge brings them to Bulgaria, an abandoned Russian military base, a friendly village and a mine of enslaved workers. Chuck Norris has a glorified cameo while Charisma Carpenter reappears in a small role.
The Expendables franchise is a great way to get all those action stars from the 80s & 90s together for a fun action flick that balances quasi-seriousness with amusing moments and over-the-top action scenes. This one's even better than the first IMHO. Maggie works well with the team and they should've kept her for the third one; Nan Yu's a cutie who's intelligent and formidable to boot, plus she has good chemistry with Stallone. The Bulgarian sequences are top-rate.
The film runs 103 minutes and was shot in Louisiana, Bulgaria and China.
GRADE: B