Big guns, big muscles, big explosions . . . catch phrase. We are all very familiar with the prototypical action hero formula defined by forefathers Stallone, Willis and Schwarzenegger. So familiar that near the end of the ‘90s, audiences decided to in fact, not be back. The appetite for action had not dissipated, just evolved. Films like “The Matrix,” 1999, and “Kill Bill Volumes 1 and 2” (2003, 2004) ignited the craving for more sophisticated story telling alongside the daily recommended serving of “beat ‘em up, kill ‘em up.” So when co-patriarch Sylvester Stallone decided to prove that the “old republic” still had what it took to draw in the crowds with “The Expendables,” in 2010, some people slighted its box office success as capitalizing on the mere curiosity of fans to experience a heavy artillery version of “Ocean’s Eleven.” Two years, $100 million and a “The Expendables 2” later, it seems that there may be a much more powerful and underlying factor in play whenever these craftsmen of cliches unite.
Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone, “The Expendables”) and his all-star team of mercenaries must make good on a debt payable to Mr. Church (Bruce Willis, “Red”) in the form of what should’ve been a very manageable mission. But “shockingly” things do not go as planned when Ross and company are ambushed by Vilain (Jean-Claude Van Damme, “JCVD”), the most unsubtly named bad guy in movie history, redirecting the motley crew toward a crusade of revenge.
In true over-the-top sequel fashion, writers Sylvester Stallone and Richard Wenk (“The Mechanic”) dialed up the already conspicuous and parody boarding dialogue to levels that forge catch phrases out of even mundane conversations. Another possibly deliberate byproduct of this Bizarro version of “The Magnificent Seven” is that bad acting can be just as contagious as good acting. Usually these guys are in films where the supporting cast is composed of more classically trained actors that can sometimes make the star’s own performance look superior, à la Stallone in “Rocky.” But when these action heroes have only each other to rely on, there is an evident and comical caveman regression of skills, infecting even a legitimately good actor like Bruce Willis. Though, on the flip side of this flip side, an actor like Jason Statham ("Killer Elite"), whose been permanently sentenced in the court of public opinion as nothing more than an extreme action star, comes across like Laurence Olivier in comparison. At least Statham could deliver lines that didn’t sound like they had just been freshly “sharpied” on a cue card.
Even with all its inherent flaws, intentional or not, “The Expendables 2” does manage to incorporate a higher quality story than the original with the additions of Chuck Norris (“The Delta Force”), Liam Hemsworth (“The Hunger Games") and Jean-Claude Van Damme, who all legitimately contributed more value to the film than just an additional name on the posters. Director Simon West (“The Mechanic”) should actually be commended for using every piece of the ensemble cast to its fullest potential and keeping happy what must have been the largest collection of egos since the ’85 Chicago Bears.
The popular opinion that the story, script and acting in the first film were not even up to par with some of the cast member’s individual cinematic flops, truly solidified it as a pure novelty act without a solid mandate for a sequel. However, the concept of just throwing a gaggle of legendary and modern action stars together and yelling “action,” did not fade away as it should have. Even detractors of the film yearned for a second attempt. Not for the unrelenting action sequences, not for the discharge of a small country’s entire arsenal and certainly not for the original plot. Evidently, the mere close proximity of these genre giants to one another is something that has yet to jade audiences. Until then, they’ll be back!
Story: 5.5
Acting: 4.0
Writing: 5.5
Captivation: 7.5
Replay Value: 7.5
Total = 6.0 out of 10
