You get what you expect, which isn't good

Rating: 4/10 (15 April 2020)

When I sat down to watch The Expendables 2, I knew exactly what I was getting into from the start. I knew it was going to be over-the-top action and enough testosterone for 100 films combined. It delivered on expectations, but did nothing to exceed them. The plot is paper thin, there is a significant lack in logic, and none of the attempts at emotion did anything for me. I didn't totally hate the film because it is so silly, and rarely pretends that it's aspiring to be anything more. I also like a number of the actors in The Expendables 2, even if they weren't given much acting to do here. It has moments of dumb fun, and I can appreciate that in small doses. The worst aspect of The Expendables 2 is that they shoehorned in so many terrible cameos and references to their past movies. Bruce Willis at least had some purpose in the plot, but throwing in Schwarzenegger to awkwardly spout off "I'll Be Back" and "Yippee Ki-Yay" was painful to watch. Then there's the truly stupid Chuck Norris scenes that made me groan so hard I missed the next couple of lines. For what it is, The Expendables 2 is watchable, but if they had tried a little harder it could have been a bit better than a trashy action film.