Nearly 2 years ago to the day, I reviewed the original Expendables and was expecting my childhood to be reignited. Alas that wasn’t to be as the first movie that saw the likes of Sly Stallone, Arnie Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis share the screen along with some seriously heavy action hitters. Namely Dolph Lundgren, Jason Statham, Jet Li as so on. So here we go again, and lets begin by saying my childhood has been reignited. BOOM!
Expendables 2 is the movie the original should have been. There is a far better balance between the large cast, which sees all the gang back together and then adds Liam Hemsworth, Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme into the mix. With so many big names on the big screen, I was expecting the thing to fall apart ala the original. Thankfully, they’ve got it right. Some characters are used sparingly and it never feels like they all have to try and crack the one liner. Its a far more organic crew this time round.
Led by Barney Ross (Stallone) this violent bunch are back on a quest for revenge and encounter a bad ass dude called Vilain (Seriously!!!!!) played by JCVD. As you can imagine, shit blows up ALOT of the time. Forget about the plot here, it really is ridiculous, involving a computer one minute and a bunch of plutonium the next, coupled in with the revenge thing. With such a cast on offer, you come to see shit blow up, shit get shot and shit punched and kicked out of dudes. And The Expendables 2 delivers this by the tonne.
The action sequences are unbelievably over the top and will leave you smiling, ducking and picking your jaw up off the ground. Besides the non stop action, expect enough hilarity as well.There are a number of genuinely hilarious scenes here which will have you choking on your popcorn. They’re very wink, wink, nod, nod to the audience and they work. Not once do the cast take their roles too seriously and this makes the humour even more convincing. Schwarzenegger and Willis have genuinely a brilliant chemistry together and share one of the funniest scenes of the year. Again, its all more organic, compared to the original. Nothing seems forced on the one liners.
Performance wise, well what do you expect. All are incredibly likeable, and are really only playing themselves. This is what audiences have come to expect from their 80’s idols. Christ, I could spell Schwarzenegger before I could spell Schwarz and it gives me goosebumps to see the big Austrian Oak on the big screen again, this time doing what he does best. Besides the 80s legends, the new, younger crew are spot on. Liam Hemsworth in particular is a sight to behold and his a great presence about him.
The Expendables 2 is a vast improvement on the original. Its frantic, funny and absolutely fantastic. Leave your brain at the door and savour every minute. This is how you do an action movie!!!
