100 movies: The Expendables 2

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100 movies of 2012
Every year I set myself a target, usually of about 100, of films to watch. These are new films. Not new, new films. But films that are new to me. Any time I’ve seen a new one, I post a bit of a brain dump of my thoughts on the film here. Enjoy!

The Expendables 2The Expendables 2 (17/08/12)

Mr. Church reunites the Expendables for what should be an easy paycheck, but it doesn’t go to plan. Their quest for revenge puts them deep in enemy territory and up against an unexpected threat.

Once upon a time it was okay and perfectly normal for you to be just an action hero. You just starred in action films. There was no amount of weight put on the films you were in. They were pure entertainment. Viewers didn’t care that the plot or dialogue was something that sounded like it was written by a child. All the viewers cared was that the action levels were high and stayed that way.

Somewhere along the lines, this sort of film was lost. Some would say for the better. Not me. When The Expendables hit our screens just a couple of years ago, I welcomed it. Yes, the dialogue was bad. The plot laughable. But it was a return of the action films from the 80s. Those silly, over the top action films that was just plain action and nothing else. What that film also brought back was some of the legends of that era. And you know what? They were all pretty damn good all bundled up into one film.

The Expendables 2 takes the same template as the first one. It feels like a slightly tighter and slicker film. But effectively it’s the same, simple story. Bad guys vs. Good Guys. Good guys win. Though, you could argue that here for the Good Guys there’s a much stronger motivation for them to go after said bad guys, than in the first film.

All the guys are back for a second round. Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzeneggar have much larger parts than their previous cameos. Chuck Norris is a welcome addition too. Though it’s not just a bunch of old guys. There’s some new blood in the shape of Liam Hemsworth and he’s definitely a welcome addition. Freshens things up and creates some new relationships within the team.

The film starts as it means to go on. Action. Blood. Bullets. Explosions. Everything skips along at such an incredible pace too. Sure it’s not a hugely long film, clocking in at just about 102 minutes. But it still feels a lot shorter than that.

There’s plenty of humour. Possibly more than the first. The majority of it is silly lines and throwbacks to all of their previous films and stuff they’ve done before. Which did make me laugh. Especially the Chuck Norris moments. It’s good they can poke fun at themselves.

The final showdown between Stallone and Van Damme was totally worth it. Brilliant fight scene. And you know what trailer making people? Unlike with The Bourne Legacy and countless other action based films out this year, all the best bits were NOT in the trailer.

It’s not a highly intelligent film. It never set out to be. It is what it is. A big, dumb action film. And for that, it did good. Oh and those Hemsworth boys? Boy do they have good genes!
Rating: 4/5

Read on to see all the films watched this year…

63 Films so far this year

  1. The Tourist 1/5 (02/01/12)
  2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 5/5 (03/01/12)
  3. World’s Greatest Dad 2/5 (14/01/12)
  4. Haywire 3/5 (19/01/12)
  5. Dead Snow 3/5 (20/01/12)
  6. The Artist 5/5 (21/01/12)
  7. Priest 2/5 (05/02/12)
  8. The Muppets 5/5 (15/02/12)
  9. Faster 4/5 (19/02/12)
  10. Chronicle 4/5 (22/02/12)
  11. Safe House 4/5 (24/02/12)
  12. Reservoir Dogs 4/5 (25/02/12)
  13. This Means War 4/5 (02/03/12)
  14. The Royal Tenenbaums 3/5 (03/03/12)
  15. Reign of Fire 3/5 (04/03/12)
  16. Dear John 2/5 (04/03/12)
  17. Road to Perdition 5/5 (05/03/12)
  18. The Three Musketeers 3/5 (06/03/12)
  19. The Eagle 2/5 (10/03/12)
  20. Everybody’s Fine 2/5 (14/03/12)
  21. Frankenstein 4/5 (15/03/12)
  22. Love and Other Drugs 2/5 (15/03/12)
  23. You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger 2/5 (17/03/12)
  24. The Big Lebowski 5/5 (18/03/12)
  25. The Hunger Games 3/5 (23/03/12)
  26. Headhunters 4/5 (07/04/12)
  27. Super 1/5 (07/04/12)
  28. The Cabin in the Woods 5/5 (13/04/12)
  29. Watchmen 4/5 (14/04/12)
  30. The Hurt Locker 3/5 (21/04/12)
  31. Avengers Assemble 5/5 (26/04/12)
  32. 22 Bullets 2/5 (28/04/12)
  33. Bad Teacher 1/5 (29/04/12)
  34. Red Riding Hood 1/5 (04/05/12)
  35. A Perfect Getaway 4/5 (05/05/12)
  36. Ca$h 1/5 (13/05/12)
  37. Kung Fu Panda 2 3/5 (14/05/12)
  38. Everything Must Go 2/5 (24/05/12)
  39. New York, I Love You 2/5 (25/05/12)
  40. Beginners 4/5 (26/05/12)
  41. Prometheus 4/5 (03/06/12)
  42. The Tree of Life 2/5 (04/06/12)
  43. The Lovely Bones 3/5 (05/06/12)
  44. Snow White and the Huntsman 3/5 (06/06/12)
  45. The Devil’s Backbone 4/5 (07/06/12)
  46. Britain in a Day 5/5 (11/06/12)
  47. The French Connection 4/5 (15/06/12)
  48. Insomnia 3/5 (16/06/12)
  49. Rebel Without a Cause 4/5 (22/06/12)
  50. A Lonely Place to Die 3/5 (26/06/12)
  51. Killer Joe 3/5 (29/06/12)
  52. The Amazing Spider-Man 4/5 (03/07/12)
  53. Raising Arizona 4/5 (04/07/12)
  54. Horrible Bosses 4/5 (06/07/12)
  55. Broadcast News 3/5 (07/07/12)
  56. We Need to Talk About Kevin 4/5 (07/07/12)
  57. Miller’s Crossing 4/5 (18/07/12)
  58. The Dark Knight Rises 5/5 (20/07/12)
  59. 21 Jump Street 5/5 (29/07/12)
  60. The Mystery Team 3/5 (07/08/12)
  61. The Help 4/5 (11/08/12)
  62. The Bourne Legacy 3/5 (13/08/12)
  63. The Expendables 2 4/5 (17/08/12)

20 Comments

  1. Sounds like a fun time, I enjoyed the first Expendables quite a bit and am looking forward to catching this one some time soon.

  2. I’m definetly going to see this one, I liked the first movie a lot – as a huge Jason Statham fan I have to say that it was actually one of his better movies 🙂 Great review!

    • Ahhh the Stath! You know what? He’s found his film niche I think with these films. He’s not the greatest actor in the world, but he’s great in The Expendables. Hope you see it soon!

  3. I was badly disappointed by the first one. I will wait for the rental for this one even though it seems like more people are enjoying this one.

    • Hmm, you’re probably making a good move if you were disappointed by the first one. It’s definitely better, but then I enjoyed the first two. It takes itself a bit less seriously. The action quota’s still high though.

  4. Hi Jaina! Glad you liked this. I love the old 80s action films, especially Willis’ and Shwarzy baby’s but the first Expendables was completely underwhelming and forgettable so I’ve got low expectations for this. Probably best as perhaps I’ll enjoy it as much as you did!

    • The first film was no masterpiece and perhaps I was just awestruck at all these guys getting together in one film, but I still enjoy it.

      Low expectations going into this second one is probably a good idea. It’s a heck of a lot of fun.

  5. Awesome, keep hearing good things about this one. I wasn’t sold on the first, but I have a feeling I will like this more based on what I have read. It’s been a while since I saw a fun, mindless action movie anyway.

    • Mindless action was the only thing this summer’s blockbusters was missing. This filled the gap perfectly.

  6. Billy the Kid = Agent Coulson ??

    I enjoyed this, but was also let down as well.

    the best of the film: Chuck Norris and Jean Claude! Glad you enjoyed it for what it was.

    • Ahhh too true! All heroes need their motivation 😉

      Is it too much to ask for there to be a Chuck Norris gag reel where he just reels off the Chuck Norris jokes?

  7. I enjoyed it more than the first one and although some of the jokes didn’t work most of them did. I was a big fan of those eighties and nineties action movies as well so it’s great to see those stars in movies like this. As for Hemsworth, I thought he looked familiair…now I know why 🙂

  8. It was alright… I definitely enjoyed it.

    But I’d kill to see one of these movies have half a decent plot. You know? Dont get me wrong, I had fun, I gave it a good grade, its just that this movie needs to be taken with a grain of salt in a big way. LOL

    • Yeah, I know what you mean. Half decent plot would be good. But I just keep coming back to the fact that the majority of films these guys are known for aren’t exactly the most intelligent.

  9. Seriously, I don’t know how you do it, but you did it again — made me want to watch a film I otherwise would have said NO too! When I see the trailers, I do think “cheesy, just an action film” but then I read your review and thought “omg, she’s right! this is exactly the “action films” of the 90s. it IS great”. Gosh, now I want to see this and see if I can catch all of the references the actors kinda make about themselves!!!!!

    • You might just enjoy it Lisa! Honestly, it’s all a lot of silly fun. When I was younger and watched all of the films these guys were in individually, I never would have thought for one instance that I’d see them all in a film together!

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