Yes...we did not need this film to be made. We also didn't need 21 Jump Street (the movie) to be made. I'm not saying this is as good as that..I'm just saying look what that ended up being like. The Expendables 2 features nostalgic faces-both old and new and scattered humor (most of which fails.) We get Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham and Terry Crews among others returning but then we get Jean Claude Van Damme, Nan Yu, and Chuck Norris returning.
As it is..I have to discuss all three of these people. First..Van Damme who makes a fantastic villain and proves he's actually a pretty good actor steals every scene he's in. Next...Yu fits in surprisingly well considering this is her first American action film. And finally...Mr. Cool himself Norris returns to the big screen for one last action film. His cameo would have been so much better, however if they had not shown it in the trailer. I was almost tempted not to mention him just in case there was one person who had not seen the trailer who is reading this. As it is, though.....Norris kills it like always.
The film does feature many self-referential jokes that we, as an audience understand. However...none of these jokes are funny. There is an exchange between Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis in which one repeats the other's trademark line. It wasn't funny...it was just dumb. I even know it was meant to be funny because there was a pause between that and the next action scene clearly meant for people to laugh. Also...there are multiple scenes in which someone makes a bad joke and everyone starts laughing. The audience is supposed to join in this laugh but we just can't.
As it is..I can not quite recommend The Expendables 2. Almost all of the action is cool and Van Damme is deliciously evil as the bad guy but the sixty percent of the film that is dialogue based just does not work. Wait for it on Netflix or Redbox...you'll be much safer that way.
(2 and 1/2 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated R for strong bloody violence throughout)
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