A [Celluloid Hero] Double Feature – The Expendables & The Expendables 2

The Expendables (2010) & The Expendables 2 (2012)

The first Expendables movie was something of an action fan's fantasy. Combining legendary action stars like Stallone, Lundgren and Willis with newer faces like Statham, Crews and Couture created a perfect storm of weapons, explosions, one-liners and adrenaline.

Plot? What plot? By the time I watched the second movie, I pretty much forgot what the first one was about. Some bad guy kidnaps a girl and the good guys want her back, or something. Getting her back required a large amount of ammunition, sweat, and corny jokes. Obviously, no one goes into these movies expecting Shakespearian standards, so the nonsense is acceptable. I feel like the sequel was a bit smoother in the story, a straight-forward revenge movie.

The action is the key in both movies, and never fails to impress. The explosions are huge, the gunfights are epic, the fistfights are brutal, the death scenes are that great combination of laughing and cringing at the same time.

The only real drawbacks seem to be surrounding the cast. There were people i wouldn't have necessarily chosen for this sort of movie, and there were also guys I felt were missing. The sequel made up for that by getting rid of a few characters while bringing in some new ones. There is a rumor of a third one being in the works, so we can only assume some newer action stars will be added to the lineup.

There is some difficulty in rating a movie like this. Obviously the plot is weak and the acting is cheesy; the thing is, no one cares. It's all about having fun, watching things explode, and seeing the heroes we grew up with flexing their muscles one more time.