Expendables 2 : Unité spéciale

Due to nostalgia this film is greater than the sum of its parts. If you are looking for a realistic action flick, this isn't it. Expendables 2 is even less realistic than the original Expendables. This movie doesn't even take itself seriously, which is a good thing. Part of the effort and energy of the film, particularly the writing, seemed to be to get all the great actors into the film including their "signature" lines. For example, you'll hear Arnold say "I'll be bock". That's really the main enjoyment is the nostalgia of those action stars and my there are so many! So this is a recommendation if you are a real fan of these action stars and their of the last thirty plus years.

While on a mission one of the "Expendables" gets himself killed, this leads the crew to go on a mission of revenge. But is it too much to handle?

I was severely disappointed in the first Expendable film, the mediocre action, the use of CGI blood and the unimpressive villain ruined the experience. So I was hoping that the second time around they would correct these issues. I can safely say, they did and they did it in spades. The big change is Stallone is no longer behind the camera, so he is more focused on his role of Barney and his mind isn't split between two separate places. The biggest change though is the tone, The Expendables 2 does not take itself seriously at all and neither did I, so I had a blast watching what is ultimately a parody of the action genre.

I can look past the acting, lack of story and plot because the film doesn't try to give you one. It's a simple film with a simple purpose. Get as many of these big guys into one film, make it a guys flick with lots of action and killing and they succeeded. The biggest misstep this film has is the motivation behind the revenge. The wrong person dies. A character is killed off that we have almost zero emotional connection with, it would have made more sense if it were another character that disappears early on in the film. It seems this character's sole purpose was to have these characters get their revenge on, which makes it less engaging for the viewer.

I was surprised at how underwhelmed I was by the action in the first film, here it is more stylized and fun. The film steps on the gas from the very beginning and almost never lets up. We are thrown into this action sequence at the start, which is better than anything the original had to offer. A more competent action director is behind the lens this time, Simon West who gave us Con Air and the more recent Mechanic. He understands what is needed and delivers some wild action sequences.

As I mentioned before, the film does not take itself seriously and it has a very tongue and cheek demeanour about it. It's not afraid to wink at the camera, specifically when Chuck Norris enters the screen and steals the show with the funniest line in the entire film. The film is full of one liners you would expect from an action film. During a fight, one characters exclaims, "Let's wrap this up" he then proceeds to take a chain and wrap it around another character's neck to choke him out. Another scene we have a bad guy get shot a dozen times by everyone and Stallone retorts, "Rest in pieces". Finally, my favourite, Stallone says "heads up" then proceeds to throw a head to some people. Yes, this movie is violent, so no fear about the PG-13 rating.

So what about the guys? Well, they all come back, some have a lot more to do than others. Lundgren is basically the comedic relief. Crews and Courture again get short shifted and feel like background characters. Schwarzenegger, Willis and Norris all have more in depth cameos and finally Van Damme shines as the villain. Van Damme really deserved more screen time. We are introduced to him, then we cut back every so often as he tries to steal his plutonium, then we have him fight at the end. He deserved more screen time, so did his right hand man, Scott Adkins. Both are more martial arts type fighters than big gun shooters and since this is a Stallone film, this is a big gun shooting movie. They get their fight sequences, but both of them I thought could have been a bit longer. Especially the Van Damme/Stallone fight.

So in the end, The Expendables did exactly what the first film should have done. It's a hilarious parody of the action genre and has non-stop excitement from start to finish. This is finally the film from these guys that I've been waiting for.

I disagree with some people feeling that this film was no better than the first. It is easily better than the first, which is a very hard thing to do (normally). I thought the first movie wasn't brill but it was OK, it was kind of what I expected but I did expect a bit more in the fight scenes and I felt that Jet Lei just like the story wasn't up to much. Everything Stallone is doing here is a great idea and it has a great feel to it. Expendables 2 has finally got to where the first one should've been. This one is far more enjoyable, the action / fight scenes are better, which is mainly why we watch these sorts of films, but also the characters and their relationships with each other are better. Some of the scenes are pure genius. Some of the scenes are not but hey ho. I am really looking forward to a 3rd instalment but I do feel that they will take it too far and end up with some of the most annoying and worst ones appearing like Steven Seagal and Vin Deisel... I hope not! If they do then they might as well go the whole hog and get the Heather Small bird from M People on there to just totally annoy us all!!

Expendables 2... Anyone who is between the age of 30 and 60 that remembers the best 80's action flicks with the likes of Arnie, Stallone, Bruce Willis, van damme in will know that these films didn't ever really have great acting in, it was all about the action and the fight scenes. Expendables 2 has got it going on! Really enjoyable film.

A decent fun action flick that won't disappoint you. I hated The Expendables and was disappointed about all the hype. But this one was a way better film. There actually is a story and talking and not 100 mins of action. This film has cheesy one liners and will not win an academy award but if you're looking to ease back and relax with some buddies to a no brainer-flick this is a good one. Good action and decent screenplay and bad-ass characters featuring Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and Jason Statham and more bring a solid action flick that I hope the sequel will be like this one and not like the first one. This is one of Stallone's better action flicks.

I must admit, the hype for the first film was too much and in the end, we all got some intense 80s style action but with a poor story. This sequel however actually has a story, a story of revenge. The first film introduces the gang so we get to know them. The second however, we already know the gang so now we actually see how they truly are and how they work. This film is better since the rest of the team (other than Stallone) get more screen time and they have their humor moments. Van Dammne played a very very very very very AWESOME villain, and towards the end of the film, he shows even at the age of 50, he is stronger than ever. Arnie and Bruce Willis had a great screen time too with perfect humor, seriously the chemistry between those 2 and the rest is great. Speaking of chemistry, Dolph Lundgren's role is MUCH better now and very enjoyable. Chuck Norris, you'd be surprise how he is. The cast was great, the story is better, the action is MORE intense, there is great humor. In conclusion, Expendables 2 brings back the 1980s action style with it's teaspoon of humor. Enjoy the film!