by Jesus Ibarra

Special coupon for Dinuba Platinum Theatre at the end of this review.

The Expendables return to fulfill your action star nostalgia quota for the month. After a successful first film, Sylvester Stallone returns with a star-studded cast that includes: Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris, Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Liam Hemsworth, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Bruce Willis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. That is a lot of star and a lot of testosterone. OK I am not going to bore you with the plot because really does the plot matter when you have some of the most prolific action stars since the since the eighties. It delivers with the action, over the top kill sequences and the stars look pretty good doing it.

My favorite thing about the movie was Sylvester Stallone’s and Jason Statham’s characters bromance. Their banter and digs at each other was realistic and quite humorous. Other than that, I thought the film was ok. A lot of the winks and nods to the stars former action star characters and franchises felt entirely forced into the movie, especially considering that the first movie was much more subtle on their references and had an element grounded in reality. The directing and editing was all over the place with some scenes feeling weird being together. This was incredibly evident when the awesome action scenes took place. I also missed the emotion from the first one that gave us the idea that these guys are old, tired, and only do mercenary work because it’s all they can and know how to do; which is a great metaphor for ageing action stars who made their money back in the day.

I also missed Mickey Rourke, who I am sorry was the only one of these guys who can still act. He played a great scene in the first one and gave it a lot more emotional and realistic anchor. Aside from these things, make no mistake this is a fun film and judging from the reactions from my fellow moviegoers incredibly enjoyable. Considering that, there aren’t a lot of fun action movies left to watch so definitely go check this one out.

The Expendables 2 is now playing at Dinuba Platinum Theatres 6. Showtimes can be found on their website.

Print this coupon and enjoy a special discount for Kings River Life readers only!

Jesus Ibarra is 20 years old and an ongoing contributor to our Teen Talk section; with a love of all media, he’s always on the lookout for the best finds.