Emag.co.uk Entertainment News Leader
Stallone’s gang of grumpy old men are back and out for blood when one of their own is killed in action.
After Sylvester Stallone gave fitting send offs to his two iconic characters with Rocky Balboa and Rambo, 2010 brought around the ultimate action legends team up with The Expendables. Making $275M worldwide, a sequel was quickly put into development but when your cast have a combined age of 573 you can’t hang about.
There was some concern from fans when it was reported that Chuck Norris would only agree to make a cameo if the violence and swearing was toned down. He confirmed the rumours in an interview with a Polish newspaper.
“In ‘Expendables 2,’ there was a lot of vulgar dialogue in the screenplay. For this reason, many young people wouldn’t be able to watch this. But I don’t play in movies like this, due to that I said I won’t be a part of that if the hardcore language is not erased.”
Thankfully the lack of profanity hasn’t effected the violence, the daring opening rescue of Trench (Arnie!) is suitably action packed and contains at least two moments that will make you wince. It’s here where the movie delivers on all the counts that it should, epic set pieces, heavy gun fire and cheesy dialogue.
Despite the shaky plot there’s much fun to be had with this bigger but not better follow up. The ruthless and aptly named arms dealer Jean Vilain is played by a superbly evil Jean Claude Van Damme who just about steals the show. Dolph Lundgren is back but this time his insane character Gunner is played for laughs, new recruit Liam Hemsworth does little more than show up and look handsome and Bruce Willis is back in a bigger role as the shadowy Mr Church. This also marked the first proper acting job for former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger since leaving office, he’s a bit rusty but he still knows his way around a machine gun.
Expendables 2 is a nostalgic love letter to the action flicks of the 80s and 90s, at times the constant self referential jokes start to wear thin with all the puns and re-hashes of one liners from action movie past. Arnie says “I’ll be back” at least three times and even gives Willis’s famous “Yippee Ki-yay” an airing, this almost feels like a fan made movie or extended funny or die video than a $100M blockbuster.
Walking a fine line between serious action movie and spoof the uneven tone might put some people off, but those looking for perfect post pub viewing will find it thumping good fun. The final fight between Stallone and Van Damme is impressively brutal, the two aging titans knock seven bells out of each other and the battle is one for the ages.
Director Simon West previously worked with Jason Statham on The Mechanic but he’s best known for his work on Con Air. Sadly it doesn’t quite hit the same heights, but gives it a good run for its money in the dumb but fun category. It’s not under delusions of being anything more than a loud, violent action movie that is a throwback to logic free pieces of entertainment those people of a certain age grew up with.
Earlier this year a director’s cut of the first film was released on Blu Ray, containing 17 minutes of new footage so hopefully the sequel will follow suit as there are quite a few scenes that feel they have been trimmed down.
Arnie and Sly will be back on the big screen together next year in The Tomb and as Expendables 2 muscled its way to over $300M a third entry is already in the works. Harrison Ford, Clint Eastwood, Wesley Snipes and Nicolas Cage are all on the producers wish list, but filming isn’t expected to start until 2014. There’s even talk of an all female spin-off with the likes of Linda Hamilton (Terminator), Michelle Rodriguez (Avatar) and Katie Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica). Could a crossover movie be in the works?
Expendables 2 is out now on DVD, Blu Ray and digital download.
