The Expendables 2 is everything you’d expect it to be: fun, a bit brutal and definitely action-packed. The sequel to 2009’s ensemble action film, The Expendables, The Expendables 2 most definitely satisfied the appetite of action movie fans around the world for its over-the-top action shown by topnotch action stars of yesteryears: Sylverster Stallone, Jean Claude Van Damme, Arnold Schwarzenneger, Chuck Norris, Jet Li and Dolph Lundgren with the action stars of today: Jason Statham, Randy Couture, among others. Do not expect much about the film’s story, though. Similar to the first movie’s premise, this film centers on the group of mercenaries called the Expendables as they continue to perform certain job assignments to save the world. However, unlike the first film, its story evolved from fulfilling an apparently simple mission to seeking vengeance over a murder of one of their own.
It is certainly nice seeing again the action stars of the past generation mingling together. And even though their jokes and banters to each other are either a hit or a miss, a number pleased the audience hard enough to make them really laugh.
The non-stop action scenes look good because of the great editing done on the film. Utterly violent most of the time, these action scenes serve as a reminder to everyone how the senior action stars became who they are. Who knew that at their age (Stallone is 66, Van Damme is 51, Schwarzenegger is 65, Willis is 57 and Norris is 72), they could still pull off awesome stunts all throughout the movie? Their dedication could be definitely seen on the movie.
However, as I have said earlier, this movie lacks in the too important part of the movie called story. Call me serious but it just really lacks that certain pull to the heart for me to consider it deep in every sense of the word. It seems like no serious moments or outwardly deep dialogues can save the film from its relative hollowness. I just wish the writers of this movie had an objective in mind other than make millions of money. I mean, they can write a decent storyline that would make the characters develop more, can’t they?
Nevertheless, I would recommend this movie to those who want to have fun watching the action movie superstars of the 1980s and 1990s do both action and comedy. You can’t argue with that combination even though there’s not much story to back it up.
THE EXPENDABLES 2 movie rating by the pondering movie fan: 2.5 out 5