The Expendables 2 (2012)

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, almost everyone else who survived the first movie except for Mickey Rourke for some reason, plus more

Director: Mark Price

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1764651/

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Expendables_2

It is action time again! The Expendables are back, this time to take on a terrorist who is threatening to unleash a whole bunch of platinum on the world. Can they stop him?! Well, the villain is played by Jean-Claude Van Damme, so probably...OR WILL THEY...?!!!

This movie basically gives you what you want and more. It opens up with a great action sequence and carries on with a lot of back and forth between the characters. Not really much more I can add to that, to be honest. Oh yeah, it also has a climax with Stallone, Willis and Schwarzenegger all firing guns at the bad guys. That right there is worth the price of admission!

If I had to name two problems with this film, it would be these:

First of all, the plot. It is not a bad plot per se. It is just that the first film had them taking out a dictator of a small country, while in this one they are up against a terrorist played by a guy who has not had a good movie since...umm...wait...has Van Damme ever had a good movie?! By the way, the name of his character is Vilain. Get it? Because he is the villain?! Haha, that is so cleaver. Anyway, kind of a minor difference, but its just doesn't seem like the stakes are quite as high and makes it so that the middle drags a bit.

Secondly...the in-jokes. You know how in the first film they had the (awesome) scene with Stallone, Willis and Schwarzenegger and they made a joke about the last guy wanting to be president (yeah, do not see that happening anytime soon, Arnold). That was fine and it worked well. But in this movie, they are FLOODED with in-jokes! By my own count, there are at least one Die Hard, one Rambo, and three Terminator references. Oh yeah, Chuck Norris is in this as well. Well, there is no way that they will make a joke about...they did, didn't they? You know how in the scene from the first one where Willis asks the other two if they "are done [verbally] sucking each other's dicks?"? Apparently they were not.

But you know what? I don't care. That is the point of the whole franchise! It is a tribute to action movies, with all their awesomeness and cheesiness rolled into one! I admit, even when the in-jokes did get kind of annoying, I still laughed at them. So if that is what they want to do...go for it!

Overall, this movie does not quite match up to its predecessor, but as far as squeals go, its pretty cool. So if you liked the first one, you'll probably like this one as well. I recommend it.

P.S. I know I spent a lot of time making complaints about this one, but to be honest, this has more to do with the fact that I am writing this about a month after I was suppose to post it. So do not take it the wrong way.

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