The Expendables 2
“The Expendables 2” isn’t, what one might call, a “great movie,” but it definitely out-gunned its 2010 predecessor in this reviewer’s mind. There’s not a lot more to this story, but for someone who waited all film last time for Stallone, Bruce Willis, and Schwarzenegger, and didn’t get it, I consider myself rewarded this time out.
There isn’t a whole lot more to the story than there was the first time, although a subplot with Liam Hemsworth’s sniper adds a bit of what one might call “gravitas” to the narrative. Even more so, this is just an excuse to bring some of the biggest names of ’80s action cinema and beyond together for a thriller that amounts to little more than 90-plus minutes of head-smashing, blood-splattering moviemaking. Director Simon West (“Con Air,” “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider”) keeps things moving while Stallone, Jason Statham, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Dolph Lundgeren, Jet Li, Hemsworth, Willis, Schwarzenegger, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Chuck Norris keep things blowing up at a breakneck pace that doesn’t add up to a lot of nourishment, but is definitely more appetizing than what we got the first time we ate here.
