Rating of
2/4
"The Expendables 2" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 04/13/13
Sly and his team of fellow gun-totin' geriatrics is called in to retrieve a computer hard drive that contains a map showing the whereabouts of a mine full of plutonium. The Expendables is probably the film the term 'geriaction' was coined for and it was a load of obnoxious, braindead, gratuitous shit. For the sequel, we once again dive into the world of the American male mid-life crisis which contains the same cocktail of fat-necked has-beens exterminating the most villainous villains imaginable with a variety of weapons grade phalli whilst reliving the good old days of the Cold War. The original film's gleeful representation of some unnecessarily graphic violence was its downfall but thanks to the addition of some innocent villagers to protect, this is far more in the spirit of classic kitsch TV show The A-Team and is much more palatable as a result. The cartoon violence on show here is much less repulsive in its representation, we actually get to see Chuck, Arnie and Bruce join in on the carnage rather than just regurgitating a couple of lines and disappearing as happened in the first film and Jean Claude Van Damme actually makes a far more entertaining bad guy than he ever did a hero. Of course the plot is inconsequential, the characterisation as sophisticated as a hollow point to the face and the dialogue immature and bone-headed, but The Expendables 2 has something the original sorely lacked; the necessary sense of irony and fun which makes it all amusingly idiotic rather than just plain idiotic.
