Friday, August 17, 2012

The Expendables 2



Runtime: 103 minutes

Directed by: Simon West

Starring: Sly Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Nan Yu, etc.

From: Lionsgate

This movie... it's saved the summer for me, a summer of not much happening movie-wise and when I did see a few movies I felt let down by it. I was hoping this would be good as I dug the first one; despite the short kerfuffle about what rating this would get (the whole PG-13 thing just left a bad taste in my mouth; I didn't finally feel 100% comfortable until it was announced a few weeks ago that this would indeed be an R; turns out, it was a hard R) I was hoping this would be befitting all the new and old school action stars.

Yes, yes it was.

I saw it at its midnight debut. I picked a giant screen showing; it was at a Regal Theatres joint and their new RPX system. The picture didn't always look fantastic but the sound always was great, and it was LOUD too. That was pretty nice during some scenes, especially. The crowd there wasn't too large and there were some nincompoops around, but I was still able to enjoy the film... oh yes I did.

The basic plot is that the whole gang is there, with a new member (Liam Hemsworth; yep, the soon to be Mr. Miley Cyrus) and they end up dealing with the villainous Jean Vilain (yes, that's Jean-Claude's character name) and his group, including the underrated Scott Adkins, a guy who deserves a much bigger career than has currently. They have to work with a dame (Nan Yu) but she holds her own.

That's about as much plot as you need to know. It certainly seems like a story from the 80's; things are simplistic, stuff don't always make sense, thre are corny one-liners, etc.... and I dug it all! No matter what you thought of the first time, this blows it right out of the water. I mean, simply kicks its ass. More than once during the movie I was reminded of the various epic moments you saw in Fast Five. The opening to this movie is comparable to the ending of Fast Five. No kidding. It was that stupendous. There are great action scenes, MANY sons of bitches getting killed, graphic violence, humorous moments, one-liners... most action fans should love this. I sure as heck know I did. I thought it was amazing.

In fact, I say this is now my film of the year. That's how much I loved it. I'll be seeing it again at least one more time on the big screen. If you enjoy action movies/the best films of all the old guys who appear here, then this is a MUST-SEE. You must see it ASAP. The movie manages to be as awesome as the cast it has.

I'll be back Monday night.

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