We’re coming up to the end of the summer movie blitz. The Expendables 2 happily rounds out the summer action season by going all out with the explosions, action heroes and fighting. The million dollar question about the sequel to the epitome action flick is that does it live up to it’s marquee action actors or is just a passable action flick? Well read on to find out.


The Expendables 2 takes place after the events of the first movie following the mercenary group The Expendables. Led by Barney Ross (Stallone), the mercs have been living up moderate success, even inviting on newcomer Billy the Kid (Hemsworth) as the sharpshooter support. Ross then meets up with an unexpected guest; Agent Church (Wilis) of the CIA from the first movie. Blackmailed into one more mission from Church, Ross takes his team to retrieve an important military document before it falls in the wrong hands. Things go awry when they meet up with Jean Vilain (Van Damme), an opposing mercenary group who wants the military information for themselves so much so that they kill Billy the Kid. Driven by revenge, The Expendables now seek out Vilain to make him pay for what he’s done and along the way they meet some unexpected allies.


Lets start with the awkward parts first. The writing while it is more less solid and with a few minor loopholes here and there you can’t really fault the movie. Like the first movie, The Expendables 2 contains a paper thin story. Other than a few meager ties to the first film, the rest is just a solid revenge story led by some action movie stars, who arguable should not be allowed to show any emotions or feelings.

Speaking of emotions, the filmmakers thought that it would have been a good idea to give one of the action heroes soft, sappy lines, all of which don’t fit the characters nor the actors themselves. I didn’t once believe that Stallone wanted to say something touchy feely and that really bothered me because I couldn’t hear a single word he was trying to say. The other characters were just like were in the last film as well. Special mention as always to Terry Crews who is not only over the top with his character but is also the most fit for the role seeing as how he’s buffed out to the top.Other guest appearances that you should look out for is the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger and for the first time in over five years Chuck Norris.


Do you like action flicks? Well good because right off the beginning this movie drops you off into what could only be described as a final action sequence in your average action movie. After a nail biting first act there’s a lull in the action to set the movie up for more action sequences because what you’re really here is to see things explosions, gun fire and mayhem. If you’re any red blooded male who enjoys a healthy, gratuitous amount of violence then The Expendables 2 should aim to please you.

Unfortunately the one point that this movie excels at is also it’s downfall. I felt that there was almost too much action and too much explosions. A lot of the action scenes were so over the top that it just seemed unnecessary. All the way from the terrible one liners (which I’ll get to in a second) to the scene with four of the mercs unloading all their clips into one guy. The violence is far more graphic this time around so if you’re squeamish you should probably avert your eyes.


The one liners, yet another double edge sword for this movie. They manage to fit in a ton of Chuck Norris references in the movie including an ever popular Chuck Norris joke all the way to him being referenced as the lone ranger. Arnold and Bruce don’t get away scot-free either with references to their roles from Terminator and Die Hard.

At the end of the day this film is one of the most over the top, most insane action movie projects to date. The amount high-octane set pieces combined with some of the biggest name actors is just insane. I almost passed out due to the amount of violence and explosions just in the first half of the movie, which is saying something. Worth watching? Yes. But the filmmakers and actors go all out this time around.