Review: 'The Expendables 2'

Lionsgate

When The Expendables was released two years ago, the selling point of the film was that if there was an all-star event for action film legends or stars, The Expendables would be that event. With the average age of the film’s cast being over 51 though, old, washed up action stars in the same movie quickly became the accepted description of The Expendables, leaving it the butt of many jokes. This didn’t slow it down on the road to success, as it did fairly well at the box office and was, for the most part, an enjoyable film. Because of these factors, the latter more than the former, the crew is back for The Expendables 2 and somehow the plot is even less complex than its predecessor, something that I didn’t think could be accomplished.          

This time around, one the expendables is killed by arms dealer Jean Vilain (Jean-Claude Van Damme) and yes, you guessed it, the avenging of his death becomes the goal of the crew. At first, it appears that the mission and the story that would be put into focus would involve the expendables stopping Vilain from finding and selling plutonium, but with the murder of one of the crew members within the first twenty minutes of the film, solving the larger problem at hand takes a back seat because as soon as Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) says ‘Track ‘em, find ‘em, kill ‘em’, the plot shifts to that and only that.                                                               

If an audience member is looking for a higher quality film than The Expendables in the sequel, they will have to look extremely close and chances are, they still won’t find it to be of any higher value. The Sylvester Stallone and Richard Wenk penned script is as basic as they come leading to very choppy dialogue, and the appearance that the cast has no chemistry whatsoever (this could be the case regardless of a weak script). Dolph Lundgren’s sexed crazed dialogue is cringe worthy and, with to no surprise, the film is laced with a heavy dose of the cast reciting each other’s famous catch phrases. It is also very interesting how this film’s script makes it very difficult to classify the primary genre. The Expendables 2 is sold as an action film and it is full of its fair share of action sequences, but there is an attempted joke or two in nearly every scene. Even the action at time is supported by humor.                                                  

I’m not sure if the term ‘acting’ can be used when describing a film like this. The term ‘not applicable’ may be the best term to apply here. With the plot and screenplay that I previously described given to the cast to work with, even if a single performance or several performances knock it out of the park, it would be an overwhelming task to attempt to find it. The first go around featured Stallone and Jason Stratham sharing a majority of the screen time. Stratham, along with the rest of the cast, is now barely in a supporting role. This time, it’s Stallone’s movie as he is in practically every scene but on an unimportant note, word’s such as ‘great’ or even ‘good’ cannot be used to describe his performance.                                      

It is easy to say that The Expendables 2 is far from a great film as the plot is so simple that it could be one of a straight to video release, the dialogue is extremely choppy and the acting takes a back seat (maybe even placed in the trunk) but its purpose isn’t to be anything more than this. The Expendables 2 is not a film that will put you on the edge of your seat for what is to come next, it is not a film that will force you to think or even one that will make you care, but it never did have these goals though. Its goal is to allow the audience to lay back and just relax and that’s exactly what it does as it embraces its own silliness. So if all cares and thoughts can be left at the door, one will have a hard time not enjoying The Expendables 2 as it is, for the most part, a lot of fun.      

Grade: C