[2012] The Expendables 2

[Guest Markgway]

When I saw this I had three troublemakers sitting in the row behind me.

Seat-kicking... packet-rustling... chatting... giggling...

Teens, right? No. A trio of old ladies! PENSIONERS!

And they laughed at EVERYTHING, even the trailers (apparently Sam Raimi's 'The Possession' is a comedy).

They have ratings to keep kids out of films... can we have one now for these elderly gangsters?

[sifu iron perm]

When I saw this I had three troublemakers sitting in the row behind me.

Seat-kicking... packet-rustling... chatting... giggling...

Teens, right? No. A trio of old ladies! PENSIONERS!

And they laughed at EVERYTHING, even the trailers (apparently Sam Raimi's 'The Possession' is a comedy).

They have ratings to keep kids out of films... can we have one now for these elderly gangsters?

The OG's...Old Grannies.

[Guest Markgway]

And one of them had a walker. So they were armed and dangerous.

[ShaOW!linDude]

When I saw this I had three troublemakers sitting in the row behind me.

Seat-kicking... packet-rustling... chatting... giggling...

Teens, right? No. A trio of old ladies! PENSIONERS!

And they laughed at EVERYTHING, even the trailers (apparently Sam Raimi's 'The Possession' is a comedy).

They have ratings to keep kids out of films... can we have one now for these elderly gangsters?

Are you for real?

I would never have imagined that. I mean, not only their actions, but their choice of films.

[Cesare]

Gang of old ladies!

[ShaOW!linDude]

Hah! Yeah, next time you should dress up like a flasher with a BOO sign hung around your neck, Mark. That'll teach 'em not to mess with you.

[makone]

Hah! Yeah, next time you should dress up like a flasher with a BOO sign hung around your neck, Mark. That'll teach 'em not to mess with you.

Yeah, but if they are the blue rinse with thick makeup variety, that could prove fatal.

i`ve just been sick a little.

[DiP]

Never intended to watch it at all but ended up doing so anyway. As much as this ain't my type of film, there were some surprises that made the film more entertaining. The opening action set-piece (particularly Jet Li's fight scene) and Scott Adkins' moment were definite highlights. And the one-liners were very funny and memorable as well. The downside is that Jet is replaced by a female and the latter shoot-outs get repetitive and boring after a while. Overall, it's superior to the original but not by much as an overall film - simplified and conventional film-making done for the sake of entertainment.

[Guest Markgway]

As much as this ain't my type of film

Was Sparkle sold out?

[DiP]

Not sure if I get the joke but literally yes, the beginning and Scott Adkins' fight had the spark to impress. That's about it.

[Fightingfist]

How is this film? the first one was great.

[makone]

If you liked the first, you should like this one too.

It`s as good if not better, i can`t decide.

I loved em both.

[OpiumKungFuCracker]

Was it just me when during the Stallone vs Van Damme fight scene towards the end when Stallone had the chain wrapped around Damme's neck, he said something in sort of a whispering voice and to me it felt incredibly awkward... At that point the movie went from fun roller coaster thrill ride to serious dead toned/psychological thriller, lol... Did you guys remember what Sly said before he killed Damme??? Oops, Spoiler alert!!!!!!!!!!!!

[hanshotfirst]

"Glory days well they'll pass you by, glory days in the wink of a young girl's eye glory days, glory days..."

Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band

Opening with the most literal possible bang, The Expendables 2 closes out summer movie season in high style. When Sylvester Stallone's bid to establish his stardom, as well as that of his cohorts first hit two years back, critics yawned. And admittedly, they sort of had the right to yawn. In spite of its knockout cast ("Ever movie has a hero. This one has them all," bragged one poster, with one of the coolest taglines in recent memory.), the film was a largely flawed affair, full of way too much shaky cam, rather poor editing, rather poor special effects, a largely disappointing waste of a once-in-a-lifetime cast, rather clumsy fight scenes, and many other problems. Still, in spite of the fact that I'm beyond sick the endless 80s revival, in spite of its innumerable problems, I enjoyed the hell out of the film anyway.

The sequel opens with an incredibly loud action scene full of vehicles with hilarious saying written on them to indicate that this isn't being taken very seriously. The Expendables are raiding a bad guy to save a Chinese billionaire. The Expendables are Rambo, Wong Fei-Hung, Ivan Drago, a Former Football player with Big Muscles, a Former MMA Fighter, The Transporter, and though we don't know it yet, The Guy From The Hunger Games. Wong Fei-Hung gets the film's best fight scene early on, a spectacular one-take showdown where he kills everyone with frying pans that looks for all the world like Corey Yuen Kwai or Yuen Wo Ping's work, though no Hong Kong choreographer is listed in the credits. Still, I'd SWEAR it was. Anyway, the Expendables find the Chinese billionaire and John Matrix the Terminator, who was sent to rescue him before them, but got captured. They all bail out, many one-liners are traded, and Wong Fei-Hung goes back to China and is sadly not in the rest of the movie.

Relaxing in a bar after the job, The Guy From The Hunger Games reveals to Rambo that he has a girl waiting at home and wants out of the violence game, and even shows us her picture. Those of us who've watched enough 80s action movies, which is likely everyone since no one who hasn't will likely be sitting through this movie, know that that means he is so, so dead. Rambo is visited by John McClane, who tells him he owes him and he is therefore going to take his team to pick ups some secret plans from a safe in a downed airplane. He insists they take along a woman who is a safe-cracker, played by Chinese actress Yu Nan because Jet Li Lian-Jie is now gone and they apparently needed one to get the film into wide release in China, as well as to add a little female presence, probably at the behest of the producers. And Donnie Yen Ji-Dan didn't want to be in it, because he hates us all. So the Expendables go to Bulgaria, where all the same producer's direct-to-video movies are filmed and this one was too in order to keep the budget down. The safe-cracker is The Character Who Is Named Maggie Cheung, But Inexplicably Isn't Played By Maggie Cheung. They get the item from the safe, but of course nothing goes according to plan. The evil Vilain shows up, who is so evil that he has a foreign accent, is actually named villain, always wears dark sunglasses even in deep tunnels, and after two decades in this country, has an accent that is still goddam impenetrable. He and his evil henchman Yuri Boyka kill The Guy From The Hunger Games and then fly away.

The object they gave him turns out to be map to plutonium from the Cold War, the last time most of these guys were actually popular. He's using slave labor to mine it and then wants to kill the slaves, because he's an evil European bastard with an accent. John McClane is angry that it fell into evil hands, but Rambo, Ivan Drago, a Former Football Player with Big Muscles, a Former MMA fighter, The Character Who's Named Maggie Cheung, But Inexplicably Isn't Played By Maggie Cheung, and The Transporter all ignore him and go to take revenge for themselves in the name of The Guy From The Hunger Games. Much ass-kicking and exploding ensues, they save a village full of women who cannot help themselves because their husbands have been kidnapped to work in the plutonium mine. This being the 80s in all but name, the women, in spite of having guns, cannot help themselves. So Rambo, Ivan Drago, a Former Football player with big muscles, a Former MMA fighter, The Character Who is Named Maggie Cheung, But Inexplicably Isn't Played By Maggie Cheung, and The Transporter save them, but then get into trouble, but are saved by Chuck Fucking Norris, who comes and makes meta jokes about how he is awesome because he Chuck Fucking Norris while the music from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly plays. Exactly why he shows up other than because, presumably, the writers had written themselves into a corner, is unclear, as he disappear again after making a Chuck Norris Joke.

They attack and get stuck inside of the mine, but fortunately John Matrix the Terminator shows up again with John McClane and they all get out and a giant gunfight ensues. Like, gigantic. Like the 80s plus CGI gigantic. Chuck Fucking Norris comes back, and everyone fires tons and tons and tons of guns because they're now too old to do actual stunts. The characters make various meta references to the characters they've previously played, Yuri Boyka and the Transporter throw down in a good if not great fight scene, ending in an awesome death, and Rambo and the Muscles from Brussels fight each other in a scene that involves very little martial arts and lots of beating the shit out of each other. Rambo is the screenwriter, so of course he wins, cutting off the Muscles from Brussels head with a knife. Because Rambo still doesn't like Ivan Drago, in spite of Lundgren trying to hook up with her throughout the whole movie, he doesn't get the girl. The Character Who is Named Maggie Cheung, But Inexplicably Isn't Played By Maggie Cheung bids goodbye to Rambo, who brushes her off like he did Giselle Itié and Julie Bends, because he is too old, but he still has a love interest because he is of course heterosexual. Poor Ivan Drago.

Overall, I liked this better than the first. West seems to get that the whole thing is a big joke from a bunch of past-their-prime stars, and unlike Stallone's straight-faced melodrama, he treats it as such. As a result, this one is way more fun. It has to hold the world record for the most one-liners, presumably because most of these guys aren't used to much more dialogue than that and some don't speak much English. I was hoping for more from the fights because I pine for the Hong Kong glory days, but fight choreographer Don Thai does generally good work, though the Statham-Adkins smackdown could've been better, IMO. Unlike Stallone, West believes in using a tripod, and as a result, his action sequences are much more fun because you can tell what the hell is going on. It's nice and lean at 102 minutes, and it's generally a fun trip back to the days when a movie was sold solely on its musclebound stars, every good guy was an upstanding guy with big pecs, every villain was an evil mustache-twirler with a foreign accent because that indicated he was bad, and everyone bled gallon and gallons of blood. Somewhere, Ronald Regan is smiling. Of course, in this case, most of the blood is that hideous digital stuff, but hey, at least it's not rated PG-13. All the fun that could be expected. Lets hope for one more go-round with more Jet Li and Donnie Yen and then maybe the 80s can FINALLY be over and we can move on. But until then, I won't lie. This was fun, and I will buy it. Yipee-Kai-Ya, I'll be back, I must break you, I'm the most complete fighter in the world!

[DarthKato]

Was it just me when during the Stallone vs Van Damme fight scene towards the end when Stallone had the chain wrapped around Damme's neck, he said something in sort of a whispering voice and to me it felt incredibly awkward... At that point the movie went from fun roller coaster thrill ride to serious dead toned/psychological thriller, lol... Did you guys remember what Sly said before he killed Damme??? Oops, Spoiler alert!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks OKFC. Thats like running someone over and then honking your horn to warn them to get out the way:tongue:

[Lionclaw]

"Glory days well they'll pass you by, glory days in the wink of a young girl's eye glory days, glory days..."

Bruce Springsteen

Opening with the most literal possible bang, The Expendables 2 closes out summer movie season in high style. When Sylvester Stallone's bid to establish his stardom, as well as that of his cohorts first hit two years back, critics yawned. And admittedly, they sort of had the right to yawn. In spite of its knockout cast ("Ever movie has a hero. This one has them all," bragged one poster, with one of the coolest taglines in recent memory.), the film was a largely flawed affair, full of way too much shaky cam, rather poor editing, rather poor special effects, a largely disappointing waste of a once-in-a-lifetime cast, rather clumsy fight scenes, and many other problems. Still, I'd be lying through my teeth if said that in spite of the fact that I'm beyond sick the endless 80s revival, in spite of its innumerable problems, I enjoyed the hell out of the film anyway.

The sequel opens with an incredibly loud action scene full of vehicles with hilarious saying written on them to indicate that this isn't being taken very seriously. The Expendables are raiding a bad guy to save a Chinese billionaire. The Expendables are Rambo, Wong Fei-Hung, Ivan Drago, a Former Football player with big muscles, a Former MMA fighter, The Transporter, and though we don't know it yet, The Guy From The Hunger Games. Wong Fei-Hung gets the film's best fight scene early on, a spectacular one-take showdown where he kills everyone with frying pans that looks for all the world like Corey Yuen Kwai or Yuen Wo Ping's work, though no Hong Kong choreographer is listed in the credits. Still, I'd SWEAR it was. Anyway, the Expendables find the Chinese billionaire and John Matrix the Terminator, who was sent to rescue him before them, but got captured. They all bail out, many one-liners are traded, and Wong Fei-Hung goes back to China and is sadly not in the rest of the movie.

Relaxing in a bar after the job, The Guy From The Hunger Games reveals to Rambo that he has a girl waiting at home and wants out of the violence game, and even shows us her picture. Those of us who've watched enough 80s action movies, which is likely everyone since no one who hasn't will likely be sitting through this movie, know that that means he is so, so dead. Rambo is visited by John McClane, who tells him he owes him and he is therefore going to take his team to pick ups some secret plans from a safe in a downed airplane. He insists they take along a woman who is a safe-cracker, played by a Chinese actress because Jet Li Lian-Jie is now gone and they apparently needed one to get the film into wide release in China, as well as to add a little female presence, probably at the behest of the producers. And Donnie Yen Ji-Dan didn't want to be in it, because he he hates us all. So the Expendables go to Bulgaria, where all the DTV movies are films and this was too to keep the budget down, with the safe-cracker with The Character Who is Named Maggie Cheung, But Inexplicably Isn't Played By Maggie Cheung. They get the item from the safe, but of course nothing goes according to plan. The evil Vilain shows up, who is so evil that he has a foreign accent, is actually named villain, always wears dark sunglasses even in deep tunnels, to paraphrase a friend of mine, and after two decades in this country, has an accent that is still goddam impenetrable. He and his evil henchman Yuri Boyka kill The Guy From The Hunger Games and the fly away.

The object they gave him turns out to be map to plutonium from the Cold War, the last time most of these guys were actually popular. He's using slave labor to mine it and then wants to kill the slaves, because he's an evil European bastard with an accent. John McClane is angry that it fell into evil hands, but Rambo, Ivan Drago, a Former Football player with big muscles, a Former MMA fighter, The Character Who's Named Maggie Cheung, But Inexplicably Isn't Played By Maggie Cheung, and The Transporter all ignore him and go to take revenge for themselves in the name of The Guy From The Hunger Games. Much ass-kicking and exploding ensues, they save a village full of women who cannot help themselves because their husbands have been kidnapped to work in the plutonium mine. This being the 80s in all but name, the women, in spite of having guns, cannot help themselves. So Rambo, Ivan Drago, a Former Football player with big muscles, a Former MMA fighter, The Character Who is Named Maggie Cheung, But Inexplicably Isn't Played By Maggie Cheung, and The Transporter save them, but then get into trouble, but are saved by Chuck Fucking Norris, who comes and makes meta jokes about how he is awesome because he Chuck Fucking Norris while the music from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly plays. Exactly why he shows up other than because, presumably, the writers had written themselves into a corner, is unclear, as he disappear again after making a Chuck Norris Joke.

They attack and get stuck inside of the mine, but fortunately John Matrix the Terminator shows up again with John McClane and they all get out and a giant gunfight ensues. Like, gigantic. Like the 80s plus CGI gigantic. Chuck Fucking Norris comes back, and everyone fires tons and tons and tons of guns because they're now too old to do actual stunts. The characters make various meta references to the characters they've previously played, Yuri Boyka and the Transporter throw down in a good if not great fight scene, ending in and awesome death, and Rambo and the Muscles from Brussels fight each other in a scene that involves very little martial arts and lots of beating the shit out of each other. Rambo is the screenwriter, so of course he wins, cutting off the Muscles from Brussels head with a knife. Because Rambo still doesn't like Ivan Drago, in spite of trying to hook up with throughout the whole movie, he doesn't get the girl. The Character Who is Named Maggie Cheung, But Inexplicably Isn't Played By Maggie Cheung bids goodbye to Rambo, who brushes her off like he did Giselle Itié and Julie Bends, because he is too old, but he still has a love interest because he is of course heterosexual. Poor Ivan Drago.

Overall, I liked this better than the first. West seems to get that the whole thing is a big joke from a bunch of past-their-prime stars, and unlike Stallone's straight-faced melodrama, he treats it as such. As a result, this one is way more fun. It has to hold the world record for the most one-liners, presumably because most of these guys aren't used to much more dialogue than that and some don't speak much English. I was hoping for more from the fights because I pine for the Hong Kong glory days, but fight choreographer Don Thai does generally good work, though the Statham-Adkins smackdown could've been better, IMO. Unlike Stallone, West believes in using a tripod, and as a result, his action sequences are much more fun because you can tell what the hell is going on. It's nice and lean at 102 minutes, and it's generally a fun trip back to the days when a movie was sold solely on its musclebound stars, every good guy was an upstanding guy with big pecs, every villain was an evil mustache-twirler with a foreign accent because that indicated he was bad, and everyone bled gallon and gallons of blood. Somewhere, Ronald Regan is smiling. Of course, in this case, most of the blood is that hideous digital stuff, but hey, at least it's not rated PG-13. All the fun that could be expected. Lets hope for one more go-round with more Jet Li and Donnie Yen and then maybe the 80s can FINALLY be over and we can move on. But until then, I won't lie. This was fun, and I will buy it. Yipee-Kai-Ya, I'll be back, I must break you, I'm the most complete fighter in the world!

That was a very entertaining review. Good job.

[Guest Markgway]

Amusing review. But I don't want the 80s to be over. What's gonna replace them? We NEED old-fashioned, testosterone-driven, muscle-bound, hetero action heroes with impenetrable accents. I don't want my action blockbusters to star meterosexual weeds.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

yet another The Expendables 2 review:

“Who do you think you are, Rambo?”

I was looking forward to this film almost as much as I was looking forward to Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. I thought the first film was decent (I missed it in the theater) but used way too much of the shaky-cam action that obscured too much of the action. So when I heard Simon West (Con Air) was directing and that they got back Jet Li (though lost Mickey Rourke) and had Jean-Claude Van Damme and Chuck Norris I knew I was in. I sure as hell was not going to miss this in the theater.

The cinema I go to has different size theaters and screens so I was happy that I got the big theater for this film and its access to the balcony restroom that most do not know about. It was rather empty, being typical for late August (school is back, though weather was mild with a high of about 96F that day) and a mid day showing, but I am not complaining though I do want this movie to do well at the box office. I liked how almost all of the trailers were male action oriented: The Last Stand, Dread, Jack Reacher, Bullet to the Head and Lawless. The odd one out was The Possession. I was pretty pumped up the previous male machismo trailers and the inordinate amount of chai tea I had consumed before I arrived.

If you are a fan of Jet Li, he is in only the first 10 minutes, later replaced by a surrogate female version Maggie (Nan Yu: Speed Racer). I am glad they got him in it though because he had prior commitments (being The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate I suppose) which almost prevented him from being in the movie; his fight scene is pretty cool though a bit short (I would even state that this scene was possibly directed by Corey Yuen). His exit does leave the possibility of him coming back.

The beginning is a symphony of unfettered mass destruction with little CGI and plenty of old school pyrotechnics and stuntmen. The action was an improvement on the first with better cinematography, less chaotic quick-cut editing and a less spastic camera. After the impressive prologue, we get to the story. Church (Bruce Willis) calls in a favor that Ross (Sylvester Stallone) owes him. Ross is to use his team to escort Maggie (Nan Yu) to pick up contents of a safe of a recent plane crash. It is supposed to be an easy assignment. They are ambushed by a villain (Jean-Claude Van Damme) and his cohorts led by martial artist and b-movie star Scott Adkins, who has some honor and respect for the Expendables, except for new recruit Billy (Liam Hemsworth who currently is known as Thor’s brother, no not Loki), and lets them go. Always a mistake to do that for future combatants, but JCVD needs the challenge later on. Now what is Ross going to do but “Track 'em, find 'em, kill 'em.”

I had a few issues with the movie. I thought the gravitas of the situation could have been raised. I would have thought that the importance of that much plutonium would seem more of a danger than how it was portrayed in the film. Also some of the relationship plotlines were meandering like Lee Christmas ’s (Jason Statham) fiancé (possibly to make it realistic, possibly because of the script revisions) and as always in a team concept film some of the players are relegated to the background like Randy Couture and Terry Crews though seriously with this cast how could they not be.

But I had so much fun with this throwback to 1980s action films. The action scenes were well done and I had a better time with this than the first one. There were plenty of in-jokes for fans and I am impressed by the physical shape of those involved. It is funny that the backstory about Gunner and his Chemical Engineering degree and being a Fulbright scholar is actually Dolph’s real life story. The Chuck Norris cameo as Booker, named after his character in Good Guys Wear Black, was cool (no chance of him being in the third though). There was even a Chuck Norris fact thrown in. Add in parts from Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger and you have quite the assembly of aging action stars. All proving that they are still quite relevant.

Now please get Steven Seagal, Mel Gibson, Nicolas Cage, Steve Blackman and Jeff Speakman for the third film.

No additional extras during or after the credits. At the end the film was decidated to Kun Liu who was the stuntman that was killed on set during the filming in Bulgaria.

Simon West Interview: http://www.trailerad...view-simon-west

Box Office Mojo Article: http://www.boxoffice...?id=3507&p=.htm

Expendables 2 News Archive: http://www.expendabl...ws-archive.html

Dolph Ludgren Interview: http://www.cinemable...vies-32521.html

[Guest Markgway]

Hasn't done well in the UK. Only grossed £4.32m in two weeks. Compare that to the £25.6m TED has earned in 4 weeks. Christ, even this shit http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2147365/ made more money last weekend!

[OpiumKungFuCracker]

What is Keith Lemon's schtick???? I see him a lot, is he like a comedian/ an actor what??? Should I dive into his work or steer far away???

[Guest Markgway]

Keith Lemon is a creation of 'comedian' Leigh Francis.

Francis is quite possibly the most unfunny 'talent' I've ever seen on TV.

It's hard to describe how awful he is.

His popularity (on this and other diabolical shows) is utterly inexplicible to me.

[Takuma]

The Expendables 2 (USA, 2012) - 2.5/5

What happened Stallone? A bullseye with Rambo, then these two. Packed with awful CGI and clearly shot in pg-13, with computer generated blood splatters only added in the post production after a fan outcry for an R-rating. Editing an improvement from in the previous film, storyline rather passable for an action film, too. Jet Li only does cameo, and Schwarzenegger is merely embarrassing, getting most of the with self ironic jokes so lame and obvious even an 80's steroid hero wouldn't consider them witty. Lundgen, on the other hand, is his usual awesome self, though the highlight is Van Damme with his solid villain performance. Passable viewing despite under-estimating genre fans, and there's hoping the originally planned pg-13 version would suffice some day - clearly it would be a superior film for being the (almost) exact same edit only without the distracting elementary school level blood effects.

[DarthKato]

Amusing review. But I don't want the 80s to be over. What's gonna replace them? We NEED old-fashioned, testosterone-driven, muscle-bound, hetero action heroes with impenetrable accents. I don't want my action blockbusters to star meterosexual weeds.

Couldn't said it better myself. I applaud you sir:smile:

[hanshotfirst]

It did look like his work. Doesn't Jet work exclusively with Yuen Kwai on all US films?

Mostly, and he did the Besson co-production Kiss of the Dragon too. Yuen Wo Ping did his other Besson picture Danny the Dog (or Unleashed as its known to me) as well as The Forbidden Kingdom

I believe the fight choreographer for Jet Li's scene was actually Guk Hin-Chiu

I have solved this mystery! You are right! He's buried deep within the end credits as the stunt coordinator for the Hong Kong unit (I wonder who was the director for that unit, one of the second unit guys? Li has a stunt double listed who presumably doubled for him for the bits not shot in HK.). It was difficult to spot him, but he's credited the name DeeDee Ku. There're a couple of other names as well, I tried looking them up on HKMDB, and at least one who was the "stunt rigger" was an member of Ping's wire team too. Tried looking up a couple of the other names, but they appear to have been Romanjitized rather poorly. In any case, with the exception of who directed that scene (presumably West or the second unit, with the director having final say), mystery solved! It's been bothering me!

Weird, when I saw it that scene wasn't that dark, and it was very clearly Jet's face. Loved that his action was shot in one long, uninterrupted take. This bit made me grin like a goon.

Yes, especially after the hash Stallone made of it in the last film. The other fight coordinators on this movie did decent work too, though I do wish the Statham Adkins smackdown had been better.

Amusing review. But I don't want the 80s to be over. What's gonna replace them? We NEED old-fashioned, testosterone-driven, muscle-bound, hetero action heroes with impenetrable accents. I don't want my action blockbusters to star meterosexual weeds.

Well, we could always trying moving forward and making proper films with action in them. But that'd be no fun .

[mpm74]

The Expendables 2 (USA, 2012) - 2.5/5

What happened Stallone? A bullseye with Rambo, then these two. Packed with awful CGI and clearly shot in pg-13, with computer generated blood splatters only added in the post production after a fan outcry for an R-rating. Editing an improvement from in the previous film, storyline rather passable for an action film, too. Jet Li only does cameo, and Schwarzenegger is merely embarrassing, getting most of the with self ironic jokes so lame and obvious even an 80's steroid hero wouldn't consider them witty. Lundgen, on the other hand, is his usual awesome self, though the highlight is Van Damme with his solid villain performance. Passable viewing despite under-estimating genre fans, and there's hoping the originally planned pg-13 version would suffice some day - clearly it would be a superior film for being the (almost) exact same edit only without the distracting elementary school level blood effects.

Totally agree. One of the worse movies I've ever seen. Expendables Part 1 is The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly compared to this.

I think Sly used whatever "talent" he had left with the last Rambo and Rocky movies. Guy isn't even trying now.

At least Simon West has an excuse to suck.