Delivers exactly what you expect - a big dumb action movie

Rating: 6/10 (27 September 2012)

What I love about this film is that it offers no pretenses or attempts to be something that it's not. The Expendables 2 is a big dumb action movie - exactly what its audience wants.
After the events of the first film, Barney Ross and his band of mercenaries are once again called into action, this time to retrieve a top-secret device from a military plane that was shot down in Albania. Unfortunately this plan goes awry and one of their own is killed. The Expendables then must pool their resources and skills together once again in order to combat their new nemesis, Jean Villain, played by the Muscles from Brussels himself, Jean-Claude Van Damme.
I enjoyed that in this film The Expendables were motivated to act by revenge as opposed to money, as in the first film, as this makes their mission much more sincere and personal. Likewise the humour in this film is cranked up a notch, both physical and verbal, a highlight being Dolph Lundgren's Gunnar Jensen delivery of many pathetic attempts at seduction to Yu Nan's Maggie Chan, to the audience's amusement.
Whilst much humour can be found in the film, there are many flaws with the script, ensuring countless cringe-worthy moments, for example the consistent use of Chuck Norris jokes in relation to his character Booker. Likewise, I found myself awkwardly shifting in my seat during the scene in which the mercenaries recount what they wish their last meal to be, with Maggie Chan describing a traditional Chinese dish as "sexy".
It's a welcome sight to see so many action movie icons condensed into one film, although some, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Chuck Norris, are not given enough screen time, and seem to be randomly thrown into the movie as deux ex machinas. Nevertheless, it still is a wondrous sight to witness Schwarzenegger, Norris and Bruce Willis standing side by side, mowing down rows of bad guys with automatic weapons.
As can be gathered, the action (and violence) is extraordinary, with bombings, airplane crashes, knifings, shootings, decapitations and neck-snappings filling up the screen from start to finish in its infinite goriness. The Expendables 2 really isn't a film for the faint-hearted.
Whilst the script and some of the characters need some obvious refinement, this is expected. It shouldn't come as a surprise that The Expendables 2 isn't nominated for a Best Original Screenplay award. Rather, it fills this void with a plethora of classic action stars and stunning, testosterone-fuelled action in a tribute to the action genre and its place in the 1980's. This is exactly what its audience (and I myself) wanted and expected when watching this film, nothing more, nothing less.
6/10.