The Expendables 2

[Michael Gary Scott]

such a fun entertaining movie better than the first.

[Jay Beezy]

All I can say is this:Stallone: "I heard you were bitten by a king cobra."Chuck Norris: "I was, and after five days of agonizing pain, the cobra died."

Right out of the Chuck Norris joke book.

[CDK]

LOVED IT! Better than the first, lot's of laughs, big action, and JCVD was very good as the villain. The only thing I really wanted to see and didn't this time was for Dolph to get his 'moment' like the other big boys did, Arnold, Sly, Bruce, Li and JS all did, hell even big Chuck Norris did, so for #3 let Dolph get his.

[Hatebox]

I... quite enjoyed it. I was hoping there'd be more Arnold than there was, and when he turned up again there was nothing for him to do. Ditto for Willis. That's actually a major problem for a movie that sells itself on these ageing stars getting back in the game: the novelty of seeing them onscreen wears off in seconds and it's not enough to have them show up and just shoot stuff because that's what everyone else has been doing. I know the audience for this movie are more easily pleased than most, but c'mon.The humor was astonishingly bad, it got to the point where I hoped they'd stop trying. And I say that as an Arnold fanatic. I laughed at 'rest in pieces' but that was it.Van Damme was good, he seemed to get the balance between self-awareness and while it seriously enough for us to care. Statham probably had the best fight scenes and almost made me want to see other stuff he's been in. The Asian chick was also a nice addition and didn't feel too forced. I was glad when Hemsworth got killed, he was so goody-goody it came as a relief. I found Norris kind of irritating - how is anyone not yet sick of him as a punchline to a joke?I'd watch a sequel but in the hope that it'd have a better script and actually gave the superstars something to do.

Edited August 20, 2012 by Hatebox

[Hatebox]

Also, the CGI was really awful in this movie.

God yes. I know the budget wasn't that big, but this was cheap TV show bad.

[Gopher]

The whole movie is cheesy and campy and somewhat self-aware but only the shootouts at the beginning and the end (plus that great fight between Stallone and JCVD) worked for me. That's enough for me to put this above the first movie, but the middle hour is very dreary and makes you wonder why Arnold and Willis couldn't have tagged along for the whole movie. Also, it's abundantly clear they were aiming for PG-13 (there's not a single F-bomb in this movie!) until the internet exploded and Stallone confirmed an R rating. That was the funniest, least convincing CGI blood I've seen on screen in a while.

Edited August 21, 2012 by Gopher

[CJohn]

Also, it's abundantly clear they were aiming for PG-13 (there's not a single F-bomb in this movie!) until the internet exploded and Stallone confirmed an R rating. That was the funniest, least convincing CGI blood I've seen on screen in a while.

I agree with this. Same bullshit that happened with Prometheus.

[Gopher]

At least in Prometheus there was Noomi's killer c-section scene that probably couldn't have been shown with a PG-13. When in TE2 you have Arnie saying 'Yippie-ki-yay' without that other part, you know what they were going for.

[Jay Beezy]

For the third they better aim for the R-rating with non-CGI blood.

[CJohn]

At least in Prometheus there was Noomi's killer c-section scene that probably couldn't have been shown with a PG-13. When in TE2 you have Arnie saying 'Yippie-ki-yay' without that other part, you know what they were going for.

There were ways to cut that scene into a PG-13. There are only 2 f-bombs in that movie. That is the limit for PG-13 movies.I also notest the lack of 'motherfucker' in the end of that line. That was the moment when I said to myself 'John, you are seeing a PG-13 Expendables movie with awful CGI blood, face it'.Tbh, the movie in Portugal was rated 12 or Over so yeah...

[YoursTruly]

I thought the majority of the film was lazy and brain dead, but there were some inspired action sequences, and JCVD and Chuck Norris completely owned every second in which they appeared on screen.

[Kvikk Lunsj]

I wonder if the blood was add last minute to make it rated R?

[Ozymandias]

There were ways to cut that scene into a PG-13. There are only 2 f-bombs in that movie. That is the limit for PG-13 movies.

Theres multiple scenes in Prom that wouldn't have made a PG-13 rating at all. I don't think PG-13 was ever considered after production started. Plus, Alien only had a few F-bombs as well and the only R-rated scene in that one was the chest burst. And it wasn't until Aliens and Alien 3 when there was a ton of swearing..

Also, it's abundantly clear they were aiming for PG-13 (there's not a single F-bomb in this movie!) until the internet exploded and Stallone confirmed an R rating. That was the funniest, least convincing CGI blood I've seen on screen in a while.

Yep, we can all thank Chuck Norris and his Bible for this. He INSISTED that the language and violence be toned down a lot if he was gonna be in the film. After the huge backlash they panicked and slapped on all the blood GCI after the fact, but the film was already shot and thats why theres not much swearing. I remember when this happened, it was quite awhile after production started. I think this could be one of the things hurting the film at BO. Its noticebly tamer than the first and that was a huge selling point of the original. Sly chickened out and caved. I would've told Chuck to go fuck himself. Expendables 2 definitely felt like there was something missing from it, and that was it. Edited August 23, 2012 by Shpongle

[YoursTruly]

I would've told Chuck to go fuck himself.

And then he would have hit you with so many rights you would have begged for a left.

[baumer]

I saw it a second time and I liked it more. I still wanted more Jet and more Dolph, but the middle didn't bother me as much as the first time. Still didn't like it as much as the first, but still enough to give it an 8. The first was a 9.

[The Movie Man]

Too much complaining from some above - and I wanted to pick one to comment on, but I am too tired.Anyway, the movie was better than I expected and had lots of great laughs and fight scenes.Only thing that bothered me was Van Damme shouldn't have killed the kid - that made no sense - as the kid did nothing - Statham deserves it more....or he should have killed the whole group.Cause without killing the kid, they may not have even came after him...but after killing him, and leaving the others alive, they sure as hell were.

[The Movie Man]

I saw it a second time and I liked it more. I still wanted more Jet and more Dolph, but the middle didn't bother me as much as the first time. Still didn't like it as much as the first, but still enough to give it an 8. The first was a 9.

I have to see the first again, but Jet probably either wanted too much money or they wanted screen time for others. And Statham had the big Jet Li fight at the end. And they made it easy for him not to be around, he was dropping off the bad guy.I thought Dolph was fine...they gave him enough..being the burnout, being smart, shooting the guns, and hitting on the girl.....and he was basically in the second group of stars.

[Hatebox]

Only thing that bothered me was Van Damme shouldn't have killed the kid - that made no sense - as the kid did nothing - Statham deserves it more....or he should have killed the whole group.

It didn't make a lick of sense... but I still laugh out loud remembering how audacious the method of killing was.

[Blankments]

Saw this yesterday, and liked it. I was assigned to see it for a school newspaper review, so it was probably the best homework I've ever had. I'll link the review here when it is published, but for now I give it a B+.

[Prime Mover and Shaker]

Great fun, great nostalgia. In the airport, when Willis, Stallone, and Arnie busted through that glass, with Norris coming in from a different angle, shooting the hell out of everything, I almost crapped myself (in a good way ).