The Expendables 2

The Expendables 2, it turns out, is much closer to the all-out collection of action superstars that Sylvester Stallone initially promised for the series’ first film. With Stallone passing the directing responsibilities to Simon West, the film brings in some more of the biggest action stars around. Though even more importantly, the film places the over the top action at the lead with tongue in cheek comedy accompanying it. The Expendables 2 rarely takes itself seriously, which allows for the audience to laugh with the characters as opposed to at them.

The story follows the Expendables team into a plot to stop a villain named “Vilain” (Jean-Claude Van Damme) from selling a ridiculous amount of plutonium to terrorists. So from that end, this is a pretty straight forward action movie. But when every other scene dramatically unveils a different action icon, the standard plutonium caper gains a different element. From Arnold Schwarzenegger’s back and forth with Bruce Willis and Stallone to Chuck Norris dropping a “Chuck Norris Fact” in between Lone Wolf McQuade references, it’s obvious that this movie was made with very clear intentions and awards season was not one of them.

Take out the gimmicks and the big names and the movie isn’t amazing. There are a number of well-choreographed fight scenes with the likes of Jet Li, Jason Statham and the final showdown, which was choreographed by Van Damme himself. But for the most part it’s just “shoot ‘em up” and explosion style action. The dialogue isn’t good, but very little is terrible so that should be seen as a victory. I can’t help but rooting for The Expendables 2 because the movie is so much fun. If you fall in that niche demographic who has watched enough action movies to appreciate the scale of this one, then you’ll probably enjoy it. For those pessimistic computer chair critics out there, watch out for the 20 roundhouse kicks coming your way from the credible cast members.

Each film earns either zero, a half or a full arrow in five categories. The categories are Acting, Writing/Directing, Emotion, Innovation and Overall Impression. The arrows are added up to equal the full score.