The Expendables 2 Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: The elite mercenaries are back, and this time they must stop a crimelord from getting ahold of weaponized plutonium.

Review: While continuing in the same style as the first film, this sequel tries to up the anty. We have more famous stars (hooray, Chuck Norris!), more action, higher stakes, and a little more depth to the plot. While on the surface it may seem like they greatly improved over the first, the overall experience is only slightly improved as there are some new annoyances. There are more plot contrivances this time around which could be better or worse depending on your outlook; I know there are some that are more entertained when the plot is more asinine than it should be. There is the odd addition of a woman to the team and she serves to pretty much replace Jet Li (grr!). I wouldn't have a problem with this had it been an established action star like Michelle Yeoh, or someone along those lines, but who the hell is Nan Yu?! Also, the main villain started off cool, but then just faded into the background until the final battle which was a waste. Although, it was hilarious to see Jean Claude Van Damme in the role of a bad guy for once, and he seemed to relish it. I especially enjoyed the banter between the actors because they began to reference each other's film roles and real life incidents. This addition felt like the writers were having more fun with the audience than in the first which was greatly appreciated and added more heart to the movie. I will say this film's increase in scale and writing opened up the possibilities for more famous stars and more refinement to the homaging. Here's to hoping that if there's a part 3 down the line, we get a film bigger and badder while possibly having a decent plotline. Like the first, go into this with the expectation of this movie as a tribute to older action films. This was a more solid action film than the first, but I still feel like there's a lot of room to improve. Definitely worth a watch if you enjoyed the first movie, but I'd recommend casual viewers to give this one a go compared to the first since there isn't much continuity between the movies anyway.

Notable Moment: When Trench and Church are fighting side by side at the airport and stealing each other's infamous catchphrases.

Final Rating: 6.5/10