Two years after The Expendables, which I expected a lot from but which disappointed me, comes the second installment in which the who’s who of eighties action movies flex their muscles, spit out their one liners and look though as much as possible. So is this second installment better than the first one?
Now I usually describe the story here, but really there is not a much of it. All you need to know is that the team is sent out on a mission and it involves a lot of fighting and shooting. The team has a new member in the form of Billy (Liam Hemsworth). He’s an expert sniper and as an actor I thought Hemsworth really added something to the movie, because let’s be honest, all those action stars are not well-known for being able to act.
With so many actors in the movie it’s hard to give each and every one enough time in the spotlight. Which in the Expendables means that Jet Li almost is not present except for one big fight scene in the beginning after which he disappears. Statham and Stallone get most screentime and Lundgren’s character is shown more and also is quite funny. These actors are not comedians, so the timing sometimes is way off, but they will manage to put a smile on your face. In the first one Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger made a small cameo. In this sequel their roles have expanded slightly. Don’t expect them to feature the whole movie, but once they do appear they manage to put a big smile on your face by the taglines they say. Jean-Claude van Damme has fun in being the bad guy and is a joy to watch.
This second installment in the series felt better directed and as I was watching this I cared a lot more about what was going on. It’s still not a cinematic masterpiece, but these type of movies don’t need to be. This is a movie filled with big action stars, guns, fights, explosions and tough talk and sometimes that is all you need.
Score: 7
Ooh better than I thought. Maybe I should give this a go after all!!
So you are back from holiday Scott? Hope you had a great time and nice to see you around again. I was starting to miss your articles on FRC!
This was a nice, nice surprise mainly due to the nostalgia and the fact that it NEVER takes itself seriously. When it comes to this movie, the key word for me was FUN.
No, it definitely knows it’s making fun of itself and that helps making it enjoyable 🙂
Solid review.
I felt the action scenes lacked style in the first one, but it wasn’t a terrible movie just not one I’d pay to see. The name brand recognition of everyone involved ensures that this will be the type of movie that will easily come your way, whether you see it it in a second run theater, netflix, or your lirbrary may even carry it. Sooner or later these movies will be on FX, TBS,TNT, Spike ( is that still a channel?) etc.
I did pay to see it (well my girlfriend as I saw the first one on my birthday as well). When I see it on tv I will watch it though, they are fun to watch
Agree about the addition of Liam Hemsworth – he brought a nice bit of freshness to it all.
Like you, I enjoyed the film for what it was. Good, silly, action.
Yes he did. And it was good and silly with lots of action…
Sounds like this is more entertaining than the first which I thought was horrible. Never again would I pay money to see it on the big screen, but should be worth a rental.
Yeah, it was more entertaining to me.
Loved it a lot more… It was complete brainless entertainment with just the right amount of humor. It showed that everyone was having fun making the film.
Yeah, definitely clear they had fun making it!
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