Great Stars, Great Action, Great Fun

Rating: Null/10 (19 August 2012)

The Expendables 2 (2012)
*** (out of 4)
The Expendables go on what's supposed to be a simple mission but when one of their own is killed they plan to take vengeance against a terrorist (Jean-Claude Van Damme) who's behind it. I enjoyed the first film very much and this one is also a lot of fun and I might put it a notch above the first one because this one here never takes itself too serious and instead it really does feel like Action Hero Heaven has opened up and the stars are just kicking back and having some fun. They get to fire large guns, say silly one-liners and the body count here is probably ten times bigger than any of their previous films put together. The movie certainly earns its R-rating because the violence is pretty much non-stop and the gore level is off the charts. It's never graphic or disturbing, all of it is done in good taste and it remains entertaining from start to finish. Stallone, Lundgren, Willis, Schwarzenegger, Crews, Courture, Liam Hemsworth, Li and Statham are all incredibly fun here and the chemistry among them is great. It's clear that everyone is having a good time with the material and I really liked how well they played off one another and the film was in such good spirit that each of them can make fun of themselves. Chuck Norris gets an extended cameo here and his scenes are downright terrific as the filmmakers clearly have some fun with him going around blowing people away. His introduction and final shots are classic. To me the real standout was Van Damme who makes for a perfect villain and I really hope this gets him into some more pictures. I haven't been following his DTV stuff so it's been a very long time since I last saw one of his movies but he's so cold and evil here that I wish he had more screen time. Director Simon West keeps the energy level going high from start to finish and there's no question he knows how to make things go boom. THE EXPENDABLES 2 is a lot of fun and it shows what these throwback action films should be like.