Nostalgia Heaven!

Rating: 9/10 (20 August 2012)

'THE EXPENDABLES 2': Four and a Half Stars (Out of Five)
Sylvester Stallone and the rest of the all-star action heroes that starred in the 2010 blockbuster (Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture and Terry Crews) reprise their roles for this sequel and they're joined by newcomers Jean-Claude Vann Damme, Chuck Norris, Scott Adkins, Nan Yu and Liam Hemsworth. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis (who had cameos in the original film) reprise their roles as well and play much bigger parts this time around. Stallone handed over directing duties to Simon West (director of such popular B action films as 'CON AIR', 'LAURA CROFT: TOMB RAIDER' and the 2011 'THE MECHANIC' remake also starring Jason Statham). Stallone once again co-wrote the film though, this time with Richard Wenk, Ken Kaufman and David Agosto. If you're a fan of the original and action films in general you're almost sure to enjoy this action lover's dream!
The story revolves around Barney Ross (Stallone) and his crew of mercenaries once again being put on a dangerous assignment by CIA agent Mr. Church (Willis). He tasks them with stopping five tons of plutonium from falling in to the hands of a ruthless terrorist known as Jean Villain (Van Damme). They fail and one of their men is killed. So now it's up to Barney and his men to not only stop Villain and save the world (basically) but also get revenge for their fallen comrade. They find help from a few other rival expendables including Trench (Schwarzenegger) and Booker (Norris).
The film has some amazing action scenes as one should expect featuring the cast it does. The story is once again almost non existent and the pacing a little slow (during the second act) as it's built much like a Bond film; blowing it's wad in the beginning and then building to a powerhouse conclusion while lacking the same kind of thrills in between. The movie does lack Stallone's directing touch as well (he's a much better director than West) but West is more than adequate in the genre too. I was a little disappointed the movie didn't take itself a little more seriously as it's constantly winking at the audience and plays itself out pretty tongue in cheek. Some would say it's more of a parody than an exciting action film and it definitely does have a lot of fun with itself. It you're just excited to see all of these guys together and relive the action genre's glory days you should be more than pleased. It is nice to see Schwarzenneger and Willis with more screen time this time around and actually getting in on the action but it's also a little disappointing to see so little of Jet Li as he exits the film pretty early on due to scheduling conflicts (I think). The opening delivers about everything you paid for in the price of admission though and then there's still almost 90 minutes of film to go. Stallone and Van Damme's fight scene is also one of the highlights of the film as well. Not quite as good as the original but for me and die hard fans it's still 'Nostalgia Heaven'!
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