REVIEW: “Expendables 2” aware of limits

Is there any better way to end a summer than with a movie about muscles, guns, explosions, knifes, round house kicks, more guns and bigger explosions?

“Expendables 2” touts the largest assembly of explosive testosterone seen since, well, the last “Expendables.” It stars Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, and Dolph Lundgren as the eponymous mercenaries, the Expendables. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis play two of Stallone’s rivals, who eventually team up with the Expendables for no real reason, except to shoot lots of people because they want to.

Jean Claude Van-Damme plays the main antagonist Jean Vilain—the heartless leader of a group of mercenaries known as the Sangs. Rounding out the cast is Chuck Norris, who plays Booker, “the lone wolf,” a mysterious character who comes and goes throughout the movie as he pleases. Almost every macho action hero from the last 30 years appears in “Expendables 2”—except for Steven Segal, thankfully.

The film revolves around the Expendables seeking revenge after the Sangs kill a member of their team. There are plenty of special effects in “Expendables 2,” but the film mostly relies on hand-to-hand fighting. The explosions and stunts are real, and add some tension to this shoot- ‘em-up movie.

While the movie definitely delivers in explosiveness, it lacks on storytelling; but that’s alright. In a movie where the armored trucks can drive though buildings, the airplanes can shoot torpedoes and every character has at least 10 guns, one bowie knife and a satchel full of grenades on their backs—there really isn’t much time to develop the plot or the characters. The only reason people see this type of movie is for the action. The characters don’t have to be real or fleshed-out, even if all the actors are just playing paper-thin representations of the characters they are famous for — which is especially true for Schwarzenegger.

But it’s good to see Schwarzenegger back doing what he does best — killing lots of people on the big screen, even if all of his dialogue is just a direct reference to the “Terminator.” It’s been about 10 years since his last major acting role and unfortunately his ability to deliver lines has suffered.

My only real gripe with this film is the length of Li’s performance. It’s unfortunate that he had such a small amount of screen time. Li is one of the best fighters in the film, and an important counter balance to the other more muscular characters, yet he’s only in the first 15 minutes. After the initial rescue operation, he inexplicably parachutes back to Hong Kong. One would think he would return whenever the Expendables are in a jam, but he doesn’t. He’s just gone.

“Expendables 2” will never rank up with the classic action movies like “The Terminator,” “Predator” or “Die Hard.” The thing is – it doesn’t have to. “Expendables 2” doesn’t take itself too seriously; it’s humorous, not serious. It’s just fun to watch.