The Expendables 2 (** out of ****)

The Expendables 2 is in my opinion slightly better than the 2010 original. That's not much of an accomplishment considering the disappointment that was a first. Most of the characters return here (some just cameos) for another mission. This time they must stop plutonium from falling into the hands Villain (Jean Claude Van Damme), yes that's really his name. My problem with this film is pretty much the same I had with the first. The series' gimmick is getting together all the big and often older action stars. For a movie with the old guard heroes there is a lot of new age cheaply done CGI. Would it have not been more fun if the film had used the special effects of old instead of computer generated blood? There is also the story which seems to have been written based on the actors thoughts. Chuck Norris' cameo suspends the already simplistic story(not in the good way) just for him to do something cool. The first film was much better with incorporating all these actions stars. The Expendables 2 is goofy fun and has some entertaining action scenes. However with no pay off nor anything memorable in this ensemble, the film is doomed to be mediocre.

** out of ****

(I decided to have a Van Damme picture since he's arguably given the best performance of the group in JCVD)