So where do I begin? Let’s begin with the modern cinematic action hero. We are now living in a world distant from the Reaganite cinema of the 80s, where heroes were a one man army/unstoppable killing machine who disposed of countless faceless villains with a never ending supply of bullets and cheesy one-liners. Then we had Jason Bourne and a new type of hero. They are remorseful over who they kill, show emotions and have sensitive sides. They get wounded and are conflicted and ultimately fight for truth, their freedom or a girl.
Towards the beginning of this century there was little demand for action films or masochistic heroes until 300 (2006) came out and brought back the type of hero we all grew up with. Then Sylvester Stallone returned with new Rocky and Rambo movies, which received critical praise, good box office returns and inevitably led onto every fanboys dream movie, which tried to assemble every action hero we know and love into one film. What’s not to like? The Expendables (2010) was silly but fun and I won’t go into too much depth as I am reviewing its sequel, which was met by lukewarm reviews, yet somehow grossed more money than The Dark Knight Rises (2012) in China.
Joining Stallone are Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Jean-Claude Van Damme (as the villain) and the legend that is Chuck Norris. However I did hear a rumour that Norris would only get involved under the condition that there was no swearing in the film. Hmm. Why does America have such an issue with sex and bad language in films, when in reality violence and murder have more serious implications that affect us all?
But enough of that, I wanna see some steroid-looking men shoot people with big guns, a car chase, some bromance and the odd head exploding!
The plot of the sequel sees Barny Ross (Stallone) and his crew of expendables sent by CIA Agent Church (Willis) to the former Soviet Union to retrieve something of great importance before it falls into the hands of a villain named Vilain (pronounced Vil-aine), played by Van Damme. But you never have to worry too much about plot in a film like this, as it’s a classic battle between good and evil which you know the bad guys are going to lose. You just want to see the imaginative ways in which they do.
I’m happy to say that like Aliens (1986) and The Godfather Part 2 (1974), this sequel is better than its predecessor is every way. The plot is more coherent, the action sequences are bigger and bloodier, the soundtrack fits better and above all the overall tone is more cohesive and flowing. As Stallone states in the film’s making of ’ featurettes, the first film was an experiment where he chucked everything into the mix and thus it’s a bit of an uneven film.
Here he has had time to get to know the characters and allowed for each of them to have their moments making it feel like much more of a team’ mission. And then there’s the humour and one-liners. The Chuck Norris one is gold dust but I admit that I didn’t like a few of the stars using each other’s catchphrases. However this film tends to blur the lines between the fictional film worlds and our own by using fan knowledge and nostalgia, even referencing a particular actor’s MIT degree, while Arnold’s entrance is reminiscent of Total Recall (1990, the good one).
The sequel opens with a staple of the action genre: an exhilarating opening scene involving the rescue of someone in peril behind enemy lines and including several exploding heads (yes!). It then continues along the traditional beats involving big action set pieces, loss, humour and the stereotypical showdown for the film’s finale. But it does leave room for the inevitable part 3 to close off the trilogy, for which I hope they try not to go down the recruit new blood’ route.
But this film is dumb, stupid and macho, which is just the sort of thing anyone who grew up on 80s action films will expect and relish. It has a few plotholes and many things that just don’t make any sense, but it’s best to just turn your brain off and enjoy the ride. One of my main issues with the film is the fact that Jet Li has an early departure after a silly fight scene involving frying pans. Seriously, there was little point in using him at all, and then he is swiftly replaced but another token Asian for the group (Maggie, played by Nan Yu).
My second issue is the character Billy, played by Liam Hemsworth. With his colourful jumper and sensitive side, he represents the modern conflicted man with emotions we see in today’s action films. He’s an ex solider who wants to start a life with the girlfriend he met while in Afghanistan, and his troupe was inadvertently killed by friendly fire. It’s just too corny! SPOILER ALERT!!! And then Billy gets killed by Van Damme while the rest of the Expendables watch helplessly. With his dying breath he tells Stallone that he has a cheesy letter in his pocket for his girlfriend and Stallone decides to avenge him. Well thank God he’s dead as we can now return to his testosterone filled piece where the only emotion comes from the woman. END OF SPOILERS.
However this film is a big fun cheese fest with a deranged performance from Van Damme, the same chemistry between the cast that worked so well in the first one, especially between Stallone and Statham. Some characters are underused but their screen time is balanced and I would have liked to have seen more of the excellent Terry Crews, who I fell in love with in Idiocracy (2006).
But this is a film set in its time, giving that audience exactly what they want and should not be compared to modern classics such as The Raid: Redemption (2011).
You’ll also be pleased to know picture quality of the Blu-ray is amazing and the 7.1 surround sound is absolutely awesome, enabling you to hear every bullet and every explosion as if you were really there (although the menu did take ages to load). On the features front, there’s an audio commentary with director Simon West, but I just went straight to the documentaries.
Gods of War: Assembling Earths Mightiest Anti-Heroes’ is your generic making of ’, which features Stallone in a very nice shirt (insert sarcasm). One of the film’s five producers says It’s about bringing back the action audiences missed and the actors who could pull it off’ and he’s right. They compare shooting this movie with the first, where Stallone struggled as director and actor, and how he could now relax and get more out of the cast with West in the director’s chair. They praise Chuck Norris, the many improvised lines, Arnoldisms’ and hint at a further sequel.
On the Assault: The Real-Life Weaponry of The Expendables’ is an interesting extra with actor Randy Couture in a Las Vegas gun range demonstrating some of the guns from the film. This is very informative with facts and stats on each weapon, and uses montages from the film and slow-mo when Randy is shooting each weapon. This is essentially gun porn and an advert for the gun range. Disappointingly though, the machine shotgun is absent.
The few deleted scenes include: photos on the plane, an extended first meeting with Stallone and Willis, Maggie asking jumper boy then Stallone why they are called Expendables, Statham asking the boys about getting a girlfriend, Maggie fighting faceless villains with a hockey stick and more Terry Crews and Randy Couture at the airport. The first lot should have been left out but not the latter airport scenes, as they would have been worth including in the film.
The Gag Reel is a great extra for a film so cheesy, and we see that Van Damme is nuts (but in a funny way), more of Terry Crews and the whole troop enjoying themselves.
Overall Verdict: Ultimately this is just what you want from an action movie involving the legends you grew up with. Don’t expect a game changer, just grab some beers and mates and enjoy this violence fuelled homage to testosterone filled cinema of the 80’s. Come get some.
Special Features:
Audio Commentary with Director Simon West
Gods of War: Assembling Earths Mightiest Anti-Heroes
On the Assault: The Real-Life Weaponry of The Expendables
Deleted Scenes
Gag Reel
Reviewer: George Elcombe