August 19, 2012



What an action-packed film full of famous faces (and muscles) and one-liners. The Expendables are back, assigned to save a Chinese businessman.  As they are celebrating a completed job, the leader Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) is confronted by Mr. Church (Bruce Willis), who gives him another mission – prevent the contents in a safe from getting into the wrong hands.



And, of course, in the middle of the mission, it gets into the wrong hands, Jean Vilain (Jean-Claude Van Damme). Tech guru Maggie (Yu Nan) informs the crew that the device Vilain stole is a blueprint to a mine where plutonium is buried.



The crew sets out on a mission to not only retrieve the device, but to avenge a member’s death. After a few explosions, shootouts, fights, and with the help of the lone wolf Booker (Chuck Norris) and Trench (Arnold Schwarzenegger), they eventually beat the bag guy and save the world.



Simple enough. Most of the one-liners were delivered by Schwarzenegger and Willis, while much of the action and fighting involves Jason Statham, Stallone and Van Damme. Some of who are past their prime, but still have what it takes to make a good action film. Throw in Dolph Lundgren, Terry Crews, Jet Li and Randy Couture and you have every male’s fantasy action film…again.



This film held my attention much more than the first. Going in, you really have to take it for what it is, a fun action flick with classic action stars. It was pretty violent and bloody, which I guess is to be expected with all these action guys. It was a little hard trying to figure out the characters names, because quite frankly, I kept calling them by their real names. I thought Liam Hemsworth’s character was kind of random, but it showed the little bit of a softer side for Stallone’s character.



I don’t think the film would have worked if the guys didn’t poke fun of themselves. So it was only fitting that the last line in the film was Schwarzenegger saying they all belong in museums. Cheesy, yes. Fun, yes.



Check this film out in the theater, because you really can’t appreciate the action and explosions on a small screen.

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3 stars.