In 2010 Sylvester Stallone reunited the child within me, and I am not talking Disney fantasies. The Expendables was quite significant in terms of all those big names in one explosive whirlwind leading to a nostalgic spotlight in relation to the 80's action genre. What was a mindless concept from Sly, it was obvious he carried the gruesome portrayal of Rambo (2008) and brought it to the streets which consisted of explosive scenes and disturbed characters.
Expectations were high for the sequel. Was there a chance that Arnold Schwarzenegger would play a bigger part this time around? Chuck Norris and Van Damme were also popping up in trailers. It looked exciting on paper so let's find out.
So after an introduction of pure carnage and to be frank, quite ridiculous stunts, Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) is cornered by Church (Bruce Willis) as he once again seeks to assemble Barney and the gang for a routine mission that goes excitingly wrong.
According to Church, Barney cost him 10 million from the previous mission so this would be the last of any dealings between Barney's mercenaries and Church. A sense of portrayal is exposed when Christmas (Jason Statham), Gunner (Dolph Lundgren) Hale (Terry Crews) and Co are found to be set up, resulting in immediate pay back and a path of destruction from the guys. The "Villain", who is titled eh, Villain, is the legendary (Jean-Claude Van Damme). Jean plays the role of a heartless Russian who is mindset on a cave full of heavy artillery leading to what he believes will create world war 2012. Yes, looking to start another world war...not on Sly's watch!
So it is from there we witness once again as Sly's expendables attempt to raise their credibility as well as save the day as they bump into Friends of old and older. (you know who).
The anticipation of the cameos we wait so eager for comes a lot sooner than expected. The action scenes and overall acting was genuinely poor. I prayed for a Schwarzenegger appearance to help make this better than it's predecessor. Trench (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is an old friendly rival of Barney and coincidentally bump into each other through-out the film as this sequel shows it's stupidity as Trench and Booker (Chuck Norris) appear in the most random of places failing to explain any logic on how and why they are there?. Booker is the lone wolf who can't help but throw in his own Chuck Norris jokes every so often.
I enjoyed this film for what it is. And what is it? well it is an all out war of the best with a plot that was thought up in the space of 30 minutes or less. To see Arnold and Van Damme back on screen was amusing and exciting. With all these egos, and with their history, neither are ever short of a quote or two...or three!
The testosterone in this film is laughable and I couldn't help but think Sly is bigger than ever as one of his veins looks the equivalent to my left leg.
One cannot help to be entertained by the stupidity of this film as we witness the over-reaction of splattered heads, cringe one liners and mundane comedy. Unfortunately, I personally enjoyed the previous more as their was a better character in the enemy and supplied that touch of drama with Micky Rourke's involvement. Jet Li's Yang who also went missing through the sequel...unexplained really. I suppose that defines a Stallone movie in 2012.
So with a Mickey mouse storyline and a wider cast, the Expendables 2 failed to live up to the entertaining scenes in the original. I was not hoping to be blown away by actors performances but as a fan of the majorities cast, I felt, once again, manipulated in terms of the apparent involvement of Arnold and the rest that was used to sell the film.
Overall: Enjoyable if you forget your brain like I did with it's promotion supplying a better hype than the overall movie.
