The Expendables 2 Review

Action flicks seem to have blended together in modern cinema; no matter which big name actors are placed behind the wheel of a Ford mustang or the barrel of a massive minigun; their fast paced sequences tend to devolve into constant noisy, desensitising explosions and gun battles with the little in the way of character development replaced by clichéd one liners. ‘’The Expendables’’ is just one of the many action series to fall into this trap, boasting the biggest ensemble action cast to date but failing to provide worthy action to justify the actor’s reputations. A sequel was inevitable and now the team of action all-stars returns in what doesn’t really do much that the original already did, instead placing the focus on adding more heroes to its roster in order to justify the series main draw.

For the second installment in the action hero mash up, the team (who eventually recruit Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chuck Norris and Bruce Willis) seek revenge upon Jean Claude Van Damne’s Jean Vilain, a former French Foreign Legion member who threatens the world with weapons grade plutonium and also murders a younger member of their team near the beginning of the movie. Judging by the numerous action heroes present in the Expendables film series or having watched the original, most would probably think of an over the top, explosion filled summer blockbuster that more than ups the ante and provides some of the greatest thrills of any action flick ever released; sadly other than the furious assault on the senses that is the opening sequence, in which the team breaks into a guarded stronghold in China to rescue one of their own, you’ll find that ‘’The Expendables 2’’ often cuts down on the action it claims to deliver instead treating us to slower paced dialogue scenes that attempt but never fully succeed in fleshing out the characters and their miniscule camaraderie, and the use of each individual character is often heavily unbalanced, severely diminishing the sense that the movie brings together all the biggest names in action movies. For instance Jet Li is only in the movie for about fifteen minutes and we are only treated to a measly minute of what the actor is famous for, brilliantly choreographed fight scenes; it’s as if the ensemble cast grew too large and someone had to be pushed out of the movie for another star to take their place. This constant use of extended dialogue scenes drags down the film’s pacing, always getting in the way of the movie’s high points and as a result ‘’The Expendables 2’’ feels restricted and irregular for what it attempts to accomplish.

As for the cast themselves, they’re fairly basic in terms of characterisation; most of the crew are action stereotypes, gruff and muscular military grunts ‘programmed’ to carry out their mission, showing no mercy or regard for others or their enemies. This is made evident when the team comes across a Russian village whose families have been forced to work in the plutonium mines and the team openly refuses to help them, claiming to be out for their own revenge; this causes quite the disconnect with the protagonists; true, many action movies conform to these stereotypes nowadays but before in movies such as Predator and Die Hard, strong but simple characterisation was used to allow the audience to engage with the characters and ultimately care more about their fate. Only Stallone and Statham come remotely close to portraying actual characters, the others may as well be playing themselves having no depth or character to them whatsoever, although ironically this ends up moderately fitting the film’s vibe of a mindless action flick filled with eye popping explosions and not much else. Another wasted opportunity stems from Liam Hemsworth’s ‘’Billy the Kid’’; his death comes early in the film but rather than using this to draw varied emotions from his comrades for the rest of the film, they simply bury him and move on refusing to show any more feelings that would diminish their ‘’manly’’ reputations which ends up making the team all the less likeable. In the midst of all this mediocrity, Van Damne somehow manages to present the team’s antagonist with a much needed layer of depth missing from rest of the ensemble cast, thanks to the sinister methods in which he conducts his master plan. Unlike its predecessor the dialogue in Expendables 2 leans towards the comedic side, often involving tongue in cheek uses of some of the action stars most famous lines; from ‘’Knock Knock’’ being painted on one of the crew’s assault vehicles to Willis and Schwarzenegger’s exchange of ‘’I’ll be back’’ and ‘’Yippee Ki Yay!’’ in the film’s final act; this injection of comedy works to the film’s benefit, mirroring the ridiculousness of eight of the crew being older, yet still charging head on into battle. Outside of these comedic moments the delivered lines stay true to the simplistic plot and vibe of the movie, swinging between the common campy and loud dialogue present in just about every over the top action film in the 2000s.

In terms of its action set pieces on offer, ‘’The Expendables 2’’ makes a hefty effort to harken back to the days where real explosions and effects were most prevalent rather than excessive computer generated effects, though mainly in its opening scene; this sequence is by far the best part of the movie and reaches closest to the film’s wish to become the ultimate action flick. Many different vehicles, intense gunfire and quick cuts between all members of the team work in tandem to generate a feast to the eyes and ears sure to blast all audiences back in their seats. Most of the other scenes however are mostly hit or miss and sometimes filmed quite poorly; the biggest offender is the mine scene in which the team crashes their jet head on into the tunnels at which the audience in treated to a nauseating series of interior shots where the camera wildly wobbles and shakes giving audiences a very restricted view of the action taking place. The final scene is also lacklustre, relying too much on plain gunfights rather than tense situations or death defying stunts to entertain the viewer. 

    

‘’The Expendables 2’’ and the series as a whole frequently boasts the biggest and best action cast known to the general movie goer but all that fame and talent goes to waste if the film and its action set pieces cannot hope to sit alongside the movies that made its cast famous in the first place, despite the opening scene being a blast to watch and the film’s increased emphasis on comedy drawing some laughs. As Arnold states it best at the end of the movie ‘’we belong in a museum’’ and when all is said and done ‘’The Expendables 2’’ once again fails to stand on its own, destined to be branded as another mere tribute to the action stars long past their time.

 

Rating: 2.5/5 Stars