Expendables 2 accomplished everything the first Expendables set out to do but didn’t. Being the avid action fan that I am, I loved the first film, overall, despite its flaws. Now we have a sequel that flies higher and explodes so much harder, giving audiences the fun action romp they’ve been looking for.
In Expendables 2, the eponymous group of mercenaries is back to their usual shenanigans, killing baddies and saving the innocent. New to the group of seasoned action stars is Liam Hemsworth, playing Billy the Kid, a young vet sporting major sniper skills, and Nan Yu as Maggie, a badass chick dropped into this group of macho men. Together they all set out to stop the biggest, meanest villain ever, the oh-so-cleverly-named Vilain (JCVD), from getting his hands on four tons of plutonium.
The Expendables 2 is every bit the awesome, cheesy, action-packed flick I hoped it would be. JCVD nails his performance as the villain. Schwarzenegger and Willis take turns spouting off one liners so cheesy it’ll clog your arteries, and share a lot more screen time than the first film. In fact, the audience will be super thrilled to see Stallone, Willis, Schwarzenegger, and Chuck Mother-Freaking Norris battling baddies together. Awesome doesn’t begin to describe it.
Liam Hemsworth’s superior acting skills made him kind of stick out from the rest of the cast…in a good way. Whereas most of the other characters were two-dimensional paragons of manliness, Hemsworth’s character had some depth to him, and he portrayed the depth with a thespian skill that almost seemed out of place.
A few other things this Action Chick loved: I loved Jason Statham’s fight when he was dressed like a priest, loved JCVD vs Stallone, loved Willis, Schwarzenegger, Stallone fighting together and the shot of them appearing through the glass, love the opening fight sequence that seemed to last for at least 20 minutes with unique spins on the classic maneuvers, and loved the goofy ‘90s action cheesiness of Chuck Norris’ scenes.
I do wish there were more hand to hand fights from Crews, Lundgren, Nan, and Couture but there just wasn’t a whole lot of time to feature everyone. Even so, everyone did get a moment to shine and the film was balls out fun and full of action. If you love action, particularly action from the ‘80s and ‘90s, this movie was made for you.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Expendables 3 coming soon, so I’d like to toss out my list of a few faces I’d like to see included.
Action Chick’s suggested cast list for new actors in Expendables 3:
Clint Eastwood
Wesley Snipes
Donnie Yen
Milla Jovovich
Michelle Rodriguez
Tony Jaa
Vin Diesel
Michael Jai White
The Rock
Channing Tatum
Chris Hemsworth
Jackie Chan
Angelina Jolie
Any other awesome people will just have to wait until Expendables 4, and there are so many other action ladies that they need a film all to themselves.
Time Until Action: ~ 1 second! BOOM!
Action Rating: 5 Action-gasms out of 5.
This is the Action Flick Chick, and you’ve just been kicked in the ass!
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I didn’t like The Expendables 2 as much as you did. While this movie was funnier I didn’t think it was better. It lack the heart and character development the first one had. It was great that Willis and Schwarzenegger had bigger role…most of the others were basically just extras including Li and Lundgren (my fave from the first film). It was awesome seeing JCVD back on the big screen but his character was not very special. Just the basic typical shallow bad guy. After the first film I expected so much more so I guess that’s why I was so disappointed. It was ok but it didn’t blow me away.
I think Roddy Piper needs to be involved in the 3rd one as well. And Michael Dudikoff and Sho Kosugi if they can be convinced.
I would even take cameos from any of them, they don’t need to be major parts.