The Expendables 2 - A Nonstop Badass Testosterone Fueled Thrill Action Joyride

2010 saw the release of The Expendables, a movie that set out to use and exploit every possible action movie trope in existence and pair it with an all star cast. Needless to say, it succeeded and a sequel was released on August 17 of this year. I apologize if this delay seems a little late, but school has just crawled back into my life, which means I won't be able to spend as much time as I would like playing the games, watching the movies and reading the comics that make this blog work. What's important however is that I have seen it now and think it's one of my new favorite action movies.

The plot is this: After a sequence in Nepal, Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) has a new job for Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) and his mercenary group The Expendables to retrieve an important item from a downed plane. To aid in this operation, he sends Maggie Chan (Yu Nan) with them to the site. However, they are ambushed during the job by Jean Vilain (Jean-Claude Van Damme), an arms dealer who wants to use the item to locate a large stockpile of Plutonium to make lots and lots of money. After an event within this first encounter, Ross leads his group on a quest to stop Vilain from accomplishing his goals and finally be even with Mr. Church.

This time around, I felt that the plot was actually more coherent and believable for an action movie. All of the actors do their part to help, with Van Damme doing a surprisingly good job as a villain (yes, the villain's name is Vilain), a cold and ruthless one at that. There's also some new blood in the form of Liam Hemsworth, who some may recognize as Gale Hawthorne from The Hunger Games, as a new recruit named Billy the Kid, who does well for his role and I think a couple more roles in movies like this one could lead to a good film career. While some characters are shoved aside, such as Yin Yang (Jet Li) leaving early on and Toll Road (Randy Couture) barely speaking at all, this is understandable due to the expanded roles of Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger as well as a brand new character played by none other than Chuck Norris. I liked Willis and Schwarzenegger playing off each other in their scenes, the latter even manages to steal the show from time to time, but Norris' acting admittedly felt a bit wooden compared with the rest of the cast (though he is better than Keanu Reeves). Then again, he likely wasn't hired to act well.

That is where the meat of this movie kicks in: action that contains so much testosterone in a single frame that it puts other action flicks to shame. This movie has it all. We're talking fist fights, gun fights, explosions, chains as a weapon, missiles, explosions, knife fights, tanks and explosions. I can't really say too much about the action sequences so that I don't take too much away from them, but believe me when I say that they are all incredibly awesome and will make you say phrases akin to "Whoa!" and "Holy [expletive]!" Sometimes, I couldn't help myself from laughing with joy and merriment.

Speaking of laughter, this movie, like its predecessor, was laugh out loud funny at the right times. A lot of the humor came from quips regarding each actor's careers, as well as an inevitable Chuck Norris joke adapted to suit his character Booker. While cute, some of these feel a little cheesy later and a little out of place. On the other hand, they do help to ease the tension while watching the movie.

A minor complaint that I have though is that sometimes, when looking at a given scene, you can sort of tell what's going to come next. While I'm not going to give examples, though I will mention that one involves Billy the Kid, I will admit that these and minor plot holes do not detract from the sheer awesome onscreen.

It's very clear that The Expendables 2 doesn't take itself seriously, a fact established in the first ten minutes where you realize that everyone is just there to be totally badass, nor does it try to. You can tell that everyone involved had a lot of fun working on the movie, with the end result being a product that is well worth the money and simply does not fail to entertain. Fans of action movies and the first Expendables will definitely enjoy this one, though I encourage older viewers to give it a shot as well. It delivers on all levels and for that I am deeply satisfied.

The Expendables - This Movie Isn't

When I had first heard of The Expendables in 2010, I couldn't help but be a little curious when I saw the sheer number of action stars involved in the project. With a cast ranging from Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis to Jet Li and Mickey Rourke, how could you not be? However, it would be a couple of years before I finally saw this picture after purchasing the DVD. Thus far, I do not regret doing so.

The gist of the plot is as follows: A group of mercenaries known as the Expendables are hired by the CIA to eliminate a dictator on a small Caribbean island. Besides a couple of subplots, one of which has bearing on the events of the movie, this is basically all that happens. For the most part the smaller plot points of the movie are difficult to follow, not helped by the fact that a few of the actors, such as the aforementioned Stallone and Rourke, mumble a great amount of their dialogue.

On the other hand, the action scenes are simply amazing to watch. There are explosions abound, usually after some spectacular feat on the part of the mercenaries. I especially praise one scene with an Albatross vehicle, which provides a feast for the eyes as a cloud is spectacularly ignited by a single bullet to annihilate a group of mooks over a long pier. Equally praiseworthy are the scenes involving either guns, such as one where Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) blasts through grunts like a knife through butter thanks to some special bullets, or combat involving martial arts, including a scene where Lee Christmas (Jason Statham) knocks out a group of people on a Basketball court for personal reasons, ending with a knife through the ball as a warning. Segments such as this display the amazing fight choreography, as also shown when Yin Yang (Jet Li) displays his fighting prowess about halfway through the movie against Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren).

As I watched the film, I noticed a surprising amount of humor thrown in, which helped make some of the scenes less serious and offer some balance. These instances are well-timed, but the cameo from Arnold Schwarzenegger becomes even funnier thanks to some real world context in the jokes. On the other side of the scale, the action can get very bloody since those on the receiving end of bullets tend to pop like meat balloons or otherwise have their insides splatter all over the place.

To sum up the experience of this movie would be very simple: The Expendables is a true action movie through and through. While the story does seem to be pushed off to the side, it allows the action elements, the meat of the movie, time to shine. With an all-star cast and music that helps drive them along, it creates an experience worthy of at least one viewing. If you're a fan of 80's action flicks or have a familiarity with at least one of the actors attached, you surely won't be disappointed.