Expendables 2: Mash-up smash-up

The sequel works better primarily because it has the good sense to poke fun at the legacy of its aging stars.

Oh, what a difference a little self-deprecating humour can make. The first Expendables, which starred every A-List action star you can think of, was largely a disappointment. It turned out to be an underwhelming action film, featuring has-been stars that provided little more than nostalgia value.

The sequel, which features more action, more stars and more corpses, works better primarily because it has the good sense to poke fun at the legacy of its aging stars.

Unfortunately for the all major stars on display, not all of the film’s plentiful humour seems intentional. I hate to use a cliché, but the script in Expendables 2 is so bad that it’s good. If the film’s predecessor was like a grenade that didn’t go off, then the Expendables 2 is like the explosive that took out its target as well as the guy throwing the bomb.

The film stars Sylvester Stallone (Barney Ross), Jason Statham (Lee Christmas), Jet Li (Yin Yang), Hale Caesar (Terry Crews), Randy Couture (Toll Road), Dolph Lundgren (Jensen), Liam Hemsworth (Billy the Kid), as the Team Expendables, an elite group of mercenaries. Our heroes are deployed to rescue a Chinese businessman from Nepal where they also help a mercenary, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger (Trench). In a scene stealing moment where reel life imitates real life, it is revealed that Arnold’s character has a strong historic rivalry with Sylvester Stallone’s character.

After the mission, Barney is forced into an assignment by Mr Church (Bruce Willis). The team is soon caught off guard by arms dealer Jean Vilain (Jean-Claude Van Damme), at which point the mission becomes personal one for the expendables.

The film is professionally choreographed though the look is almost too gritty. The action sequences are fairly entertaining with all the muscle on display which, along with all the humorous moments, just about makes up for the lack of muscle in the film’s head.

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, September 23^rd, 2012.

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