Movie Review: The Expendables 2

Sylvester Stallone. Bruce Willis. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Chuck Norris. Jason Statham. Jet Li. Jean Claude Van Damme. The Expendables 2 could've been one massive clusterf*ck - bringing in more action stars into the mix compared the previous film - but this was possibly one of the best action films this year. Seriously. It was so good that it had me gripped until the end.

Sure, the story was weak, contrived and almost non existent in parts, but that fact didn't matter to me in the slightest way. I mean, this was NEVER marketed as a "story" kind of film in the first place so clearly the story was just there to support - yes, that's right - the action. I appreciated how the film didn't take itself too seriously and the very tongue and cheek demeanor of the film was actually quite refreshing.

Of course, the action sequences were bone crushingly good. It was a tad far-fetched, unrealistic and way over the top, but that was part of the idea. Explosions, rifles and guns, hand to hand combat, you name it. It definitely kept me on the edge of my seat, and occasionally threw me off it. Haha. I thought the action set-pieces were executed well and most of the stunt work were better than I expected.

But between the excitingly stylized action scenes, I thought the actors were actually pretty good. No one will win an Oscar for any of their performances here, but I liked how they're not afraid to wink at the camera - figuratively, of course - and have fun with the material that they were given. Chuck Norris, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger had the funniest one liners and offered some fine support to the cast.

Ultimately, the film had it's flaws like most action films, but I seriously can look past that. The Expendables 2 was an appropriately violent and over-the-top film that had everything one could want in a genre piece of this kind. Plus, it was exactly what it sets out to be - a blockbuster film that's guaranteed to entertain with these big action guys in one film.