The first film did moderate business at the box office. In their hey day, any one of the lead stars could have doubled the takings had they been at the height of their box office power. But times have changed almost thirty years have passed. The stars are looking older. But can they still walk the walk?
The answer is a resounding yes, they most certainly can.
For me in some respects this movie has something fundamental in common with "The Avengers Assemble ",a film that came out earlier this year. The storyline of the film is of little consequence, as its only purpose is to bring this group of characters together for some action packed fun. At the end of the day you are not paying for an Oscar winning Screenplay, you are paying to see some of biggest action stars of the 1980's together for the first and possibly only time ever. I say first time, as there are the same actors from the first film here again, with a few new additions to the cast.
Church is the man who assigns the missions to Barney Ross and his team of Expendables. Church feels that the team let him down after their previous mission did not go the way he had hoped. And he feels that he is owed one by the group. So he assigns Ross and Co. to venture off to track down a fallen plane, the hold of which contains a safe and within the safe is a device which contains the location of a huge haul of plutonium, and the mission is to get the device before anyone gets their hands on it.
Before we even get to this part of the film, there is a brilliant action packed opening sequence, where the team are sent to retrieve a kidnapped Asian business man, and his rescuer, who has also been kidnapped. Cue a great start to this movie.
As mentioned, there some new names in the cast, ranging in age from a sprightly 22 to a geriatric 72. Though not naming any names.
As one would expect, the plan to obtain the device does not go to plan, and it soon is in the hands of chief villain 'Villain', as played by the Muscles from Brussels himself, Jean-Claude Van Damme. Nice to see him back on screen.
Thankfully the major improvement from the first movie is that both Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis are given more screen time. There are also a couple of surprises along the way, both take place within the first 30 minutes of the film.
I have to say that as much as I was looking forward to seeing JCVD on screen, the biggest surprise was Chuck Norris. He is someone that has never really made an impact on me, but he is given a great entrance, and plays his scenes very well. There are some good in film gags, involving several of the actors on screen. This provided quite a bit of humour.
Revenge is sought by The Expendables, I won't explain why, as I do not wish to ruin the film, but this is when the cavalry arrives in the shape of 'Church' played by Bruce Willis, and 'Trench' played by Arnold Schwarzengger. It all leads to a huge shoot-out in an Airport. All the big players are there, armed to the teeth, doing what they do best. And this is what your admission ticket is for. It really is quite a spectacular sequence, brilliantly executed, with a bit of humour, but just seeing these great faces from the 80's, killing everything in sight, one more time. Fantastic.
EXciting.....EXplosive....EXactly what makes a great trip to the Cinema......8 out 10
PS - At the time of writing this review, the film is the second week of its release, and has suffered at the Box Office, but so has every other major film on release in the US. More the timing than the film, but I hope it makes enough money to give Lionsgate and Millenium the incentive to make "The Expendables 3". We so need to see the likes to Wesley Snipes and Steven Seagal in the third film. Fingers crossed.
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