THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
The Expendables was an entertaining action flick that had quite the spark in 2010. With it being a moderate financial express, it was a no brainer for Lionsgate to make a whole new franchise out of it and only one followup makes it all worth it.
PLOT
The Expendables 2 follows mercenary Barney Ross and his team of comrades take part of another rescue mission in Nepal. His team includes: Lee Christmas, Yin Yang, Gunner Jensen, Hale Caesar, Toll Road and young sniper Billy 'The Kid' Timmons. Together, they rescue a Chinese businessman who was captured by Nepalese militia. Ironically, they would also free Ross' former coworker Trench Mauser who was the first to be assigned to the mission. When they supply him with enough weaponry to leave on his own, the group leaves Nepal with the asset unharmed and Yang would leave with him to escort him back to China. Shortly after returning to New Orleans, CIA agent Mr. Church would assign Ross to retrieve an item from a downed airplane in Albania and sends one of his own, technical expert Maggie Chan to go with him. They do succeed in finding it but get ambushed by a criminal group called the Sangs. Their leader Vilain and his right hand man demand the item for themselves in exchange for Billy's life who they hold at gunpoint. With hesitance, Maggie and Barney give it up but Vilain kills The Kid anyway and his group flees via helicopter. The expendables would be devastated, especially Barney, as they all knew he was planning to retire and move to France with his girlfriend Sophia (Nikolee Noel). With such grief, all agree to take vengeance and kill Vilain. Upon this loss, Maggie would confess the item was a computer that contained digital blueprints of an abandoned mine filled with tons of plutonium Vilain will use to sell on the black market. Barney's team would land in Bulgaria which is the latest known spot Maggie could trace based on the computer's tracker. They stay at a military base overnight until getting ambushed in the morning by more Sangs. Thankfully, they get saved by another mercenary named Booker who commonly works alone. Since he prefers to keep it that way, he guides them to a villain that opposes the Sangs before departing. There, they find it's village to be mostly inhabited with female villagers protecting their children due to the Sangs taking the eldest of males and using them to dig the mines for the plutonium. When the Sangs arrive for more villagers, the expendables fend off the place by ambushing them. When they find the mine, Barney deliberately crashes his Albatross aircraft into the area, leading to him and the team try to rescue the abducted villagers. However, Vilain has already taken all the plutonium and tries to trap everyone in the mine by detonating explosive charges. Thankfully, Church and Trench are able to track Barney's team down and free everyone from the mine. The two and Booker would then join the expendables in intercepting Vilain at a nearby airport. While everyone wipes out the Sangs, Lee would kill Hector on his own. Barney then gets revenge for Billy when killing Vilain personally and provides evidence of victory when providing his head to Church. With the CIA retrieving the plutonium, Church gifts Barney a biplane in order for him to return to the United States. Before departing with Church and Trench, Maggie would recommend Barney to keep in touch; Booker would depart with them as well to find more mercenary business elsewhere. The film would end with Barney and his team having to Billy before returning to the States; Ross would later donate Billy’s earnings to Sophia in France.
THOUGHTS
2012 was a fun year for me as I recall spending the summer binging on action films from the 80s and 90s to prepare for the extravagance this would provide. That decision would be totally worth it because boy this was some dope ass shit. Director Simon West really stepped it up a notch and made the standard on how fun this genre can be from time to time. I was in awe of the grainy filter that was onscreen as it made the whole atmosphere feel vintage. And the editing felt improved to make each action sequence intense yet cool as they should be. Scene to scene, I was hooked and I'm glad I felt that way. When you start from the Nepal chase to the Bulgaria shootouts to the incredible airport finale, I couldn't ask anything better than that. Besides the said scenes holding up very well, I identify this as the franchise's best because it tells a story on how brotherhood can become. Whatever kind you have, you know you have good people who care about you if they have their own way to do right by you and if you're aware of that, you're set for life. It was pretty straightforward to pick up on and I'm glad to see it play out thanks to the mix of new and returning characters. Sylvester Stallone leads the charge as the leader Barney Ross who has seen comrades come & go yet will honor them to the end. He has compassion for others more than himself because he doesn't think there is anything of his life apart from all the missions he's done. That doesn't change how he's bonded with an array of people who've meant well like him. The death of Billy triggered him because he saw himself in him, someone who is willing to change to make himself happy and that is where we quickly bonded with Liam Hemsworth so fast in his performance. The guy was building a better future for himself where he had the option to stop fighting and it was taken from him in the blink of an eye. Barney also felt at fault because he instructed him to find a vantage point that led to him running into his own demise. Luckily, Ross has one of few chances to get even and succeeds. On top of that, he's got people who will follow him to the end because his motives will always be selfless and never selfish. Jason Statham still has a strong mark as Lee because his loyalty comes off the strongest compared to the others and he anticipated Barney to declare going after the Sangs because he would've made the same call in his shoes. The coolest thing about him here is that he appears he get faster in the field the older he gets because the speed he went to take out multiple targets with his blades was wickedly fast, especially in the church that was part of the ambush. And seeing him go toe to toe with the vicious Hector, who was well played by martial artist Scott Adkins, that was intense in it's own right because it's not everyday you see someone get decapitated by helicopter rotors. I still admire Randy Couture's Toll Road & Terry Crews' Caesar who believe in Barney his path is worth taking, but I gotta broaden the spotlight to Dolph Lundgren again because he got the chance to show off more depth for Gunner than before. While he may not be the brightest of the group, he's still smart in his own way because he actually tried to put his knowledge to use in terms of chemical engineering. Making a handmade bomb is an obvious risk that backfired, but it was better than doing nothing until they gained cavalry. It was a blessing for Stallone to get Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the same film and share the scene for the first time during the first time. It became a bigger blessing to see them kick ass together as their respected characters. For a minute, Willis makes it easy to dislike Church because he came off as someone who was over reliant on others and never making an effort on his own, something Barney dead on called him out on. Thankfully, those fair choice of words would inspire him to step up and be the helping hand for once. Apart from all the Terminator references, Arnie made Trench stand out because he avoids relying on others as much as he could until there's no other choice for him. The example comes from how Barney saves him for once, which he returns the favor. I already thought Caesar looked cool with an AA12, but I can't deny Trench does as well because it's just the ideal substitute for a mini-gun that guarantees damage. Going into the other new characters, I enjoyed Yu Nan as Maggie because despite getting put in a plethora of intense situations, she does her best in being just as calm as who she works with, if not calmer. The only time that doesn't happen is when the Sangs get the jump on her and the expendables which nobody was ready for. She couldn't help it when giving up the item because she wanted to save Billy just like Barney was trying to do. Like the others, she redeems herself with every Sang she took out. Originally, Ross didn't want anything to do with her because he thought she would distract him due to being one of Church's followers. But as things progressed, the respect was high whenever she proved herself in action. Although she never came back, I'm sure they kept in touch because I don't see why not. For someone who used to watch reruns of Walker, Texas Ranger, I was fucking stoked to see Chuck Norris be a part of this film as Booker. He does the bare minimum like Church & Trench, yet still looks cool anyway. He literally was the one man army and that's what makes him screen time so memorable. Although that is his preference on contributing for the greater good, that doesn't mean he won't change it up which is why helped Ross' team in the end. They had a common enemy and saw no reason to not better the odds. Since he doesn't come back in the sequel either, I'm sure he's enjoying being a lone wolf elsewhere. The biggest improvement this sequel had from the predecessor that boosts watchability is the choice of antagonist. At the time, I don't think there was any better choice than getting Jean Claude Van Damme as Vilain. The guy had a mindset colder than Steve Austin because he was efficient enough to get the jump on the good guys before they ever knew who he was. His eyesight to be power hungry with the plutonium he was intending to sell is terrifying because his goals were way higher than others and he was always ready to whatever it took to get the ultimate payday. If kidnapping villagers to do his bidding wasn't shocking enough, I would easily say how he literally kicked a knife into Billy's heart. Thankfully, he was stopped before he could score another income. Had he finished off the rest of the expendables, it's a given he would've succeeded but that's just the typical consequence of being clouded by your ego. I don't kid when I say I enjoy watching this movie more than I should, but fun won't excuse the issues I picked up during a re-watch. For instance, the Nepal sequence was a cool opening but why was the front gate open? That was a rookie mistake for the militia because it wasn't like Barney's team was trying to blend in. I know action films are known to ignore logic, so you bet I was confused to see a motorcycle perfectly crashes into a helicopter after Barney revs it up but doesn't ride it. it's cool that it works but it shouldn't have. I thought it was great for Jet Li to shine as Yang when getting to kick some ass with some kitchen pans, but you're missing a whole opportunity for him to not be around for a rest of the story. I know he went to China to return the billionaire home, but he would've been just as much as helpful as the other characters that help during the climax. Now I know there's no way Barney would've not guessed the Sangs ambushing them to get the case, but is it really worth Billy finding a vantage point in a fog? He's lucky that wolf pack didn't get to him first within that fog. It is cool for Barney and Caesar to rely on their own strength to hold the door for Maggie, but if it was that strong to hold on to, why didn't they use stuff from the crashed plane to hold it for her? That would've been way smarter to do because Maggie wouldn't have been in a hassle to get the case. Knowing this, I don't even want to think of what they would've done if the door was closed. Another thing, if Vilain was waiting for Barney's team to get the case first so he could take it from them, where was the chopper he came from? Those things aren't silent, so it's a surprise Barney never saw it when he landed nearby. Also if Maggie had a tracker for the case and knew she lost the trace because the Sangs went underground, why didn't they go straight to the mines? They would've stopped Vilain from getting all the plutonium out of the mines even if they died doing so. Another thing that weirded me out is how Maggie waits until the next day to tell Barney the name of the gang they're after when she got the information from one she tortured the night before they took shelter on the abandoned street. She could've told him after walking out of the bar and I don't see a reason not to. Lee is still a badass to use brass knuckles instead of signature blades to take out Hector, but since he used up his blades on the other henchmen before him, he should've packed more to not ever need brass knuckles. Other than that, this movie is still a blast to get through. In short, The Expendables 2 is a definitive action classic from the 2010s for being the ideal homage of the past films that inspired it. If you're an action lover that enjoyed the first one, this film is meant for you.
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