The Expendables:
A group of bad-ass mercenaries are sent to take down a Latin-American warlord, only to discover he is the puppet of a corrupt CIA agent. The acting is satisfactory, and the characters are great. Sylvester Stallone (who served as director on this film) plays Barney Ross, the leader of the "Expendable" mercenaries. Jason Statham plays Lee Christmas, Barney's right-hand man and apprentice. Jet Li plays Yin Yang, a martial-arts master who has a rivalry with Gunnar Jensen. Dolph Lundgren plays Gunnar, who is a brutish, somewhat psychotic mercenary, who picks on Yin Yang. Terry Crews plays Hale Ceasar, a giant-size black mercenarie with incredibly big muscles and weapons. Randy Couture plays Toll Road, a wrestling mercenarie, who dukes it out with Steve Austin. Mickey Rourke is Tool, a minor biker character who Barney consults for advice. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin plays Dan Paine, a huge, brutal enforcer for the villains. Eric Roberts (Sal Maroni from The Dark Knight) plays James Munroe, the malevolent and sinister CIA agent. Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger appear in cameos (uncredited) as Mr. Church and Trench, even though the two are credited in many ads and posters. As you see, almost all the main cast are action stars, new and old. The action scenes are well done, although with some obviously digital blood. From the opening scene, to the car chases, to the fight between Lundgren and Li, to the final fights between Couture and Austin, and the showdown between Roberts and Stallone. The humor is okay, and the music is good too. I was disappointed that Schwarzenegger, Willis, and Rourke were not more involved, but The Expendables is a satisfactory action film, with good acting and humor so pick it up some time. 3/5 stars. (The film also had a mor elimited budget than the usual action fodder.)
The Expendables 2:
The mercenaries are back, with two new members. They are now facing a bigger threat. A rival mercenary group, led by the pure evil Jean Vilain (Vee-lan), who threatens the world with nuclear war. The acting is, again, satisfactory. Rourke, Austin, and Roberts do not return. (Due to the fact that Austin and Roberts were killed at the climax of the last film.) Stallone and Statham return as the heroic duo of Barney Ross and Lee Christmas. Jet Li barely appears in the film, the opening makes it seem like they're going to showcase his fighting more, but he just quits the team right after. Liam Hemsworth (Chris Hemsworth's little brother) plays Billy the Kid, a new addition to the team, who's pretty cool, until they kill him off like 20 minutes in. That scuked. he is replaced off the bat by Yu Nan as Maggie Chan, a omputer hacker and fighting expert. She's okay. Terry Crews, Dolph Lundgren, and Randy Couture reprise their roles, with Lundgren having a thing for Chan. Chuck Norris plays Booker, in a borderline cameo role. He almost had the film rates PG-13. There's a cheesy scene where they even tell a Chuck Norris joke. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis expand their cameos into minor roles, but they get some bad-ass lines (where they steal each others lines, and recite their famous quotes) and bad-ass scenes. Jean Claude-Van Damme plays Vilain, who kills Billy, and becomes Stallone's nemesis. Scott Adkins plays Hector, Vilain's Russian right-hand man, who is a brutal knives master, who becomes Statham's rival. The action scenes are good, but since the film was re-rated R at the last minute, much of the gore is obviously CG. But, the opening scene, the rading of the munderground mines, the scene in the abandoned Russian base, the shoot-out at the airport, and the final fight between Stallone and Van Damme are all bad-ass. The music is good, and the humor is okay. The Expendables 2 is a good action film, that tops the first, and delivers some good thrills. 3.5/5 stars. (Still a lower budgeted film.)
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