Essential plot rundown: Some more old guys get together to kill people, while trying to stop the villain. But, who really care about the plot, right? The story isn't the attraction here, it is seeing all of our favorite action heros together on the big screen.
This is a fun movie. But, there were a lot of things that irritated me. So, let's start at the beginning. The movie kicks off with a high explosive action sequence. However, the editing was bad. This whole scene felt really choppy and disjointed. And the following scene felt weird too. I don't know if it was the editing or the dialogue, but it felt kind of choppy and off too. So, it was kind of a disappointing start. However, the rest of the movie flowed fine.
At one point, it was announced that The Expendables 2 was going to be rated PG-13. I didn't find out it was R until like a week before it came out. And that is one of the film's weaknesses. (I also had the same complaint with the first one). It feels like it was filmed to be PG-13, then in post, was spruced up to get an R-rating. There is a lot of blood in this film; but it all looks CG. There were like two shots that looked like they were practical FX, and not done it post. BUt, everything else looks fake. It looks like they were planning for a PG-13, then decided to go for an R during post. So, they had to digitally add in the blood, but got carried away with it, adding way more than necessary. Somebody gets stabbed and blood squirts out like 5 feet. It was distracting.
Another thing that bothered me was the sound during two specific scenes. I am no expert on sound, but it sounded like they literally had only one sound effect, that they were forced to reuse multiple times. Also distracting. And the dialogue was bad. There were a few times where somebody would say something, but it felt out of place. The dialogue itself was something that any normal human being would say in that situation; but it was weird hearing them say that in the movie. Also, because it is full of action heros who became famous by using one liners, they try to force those same one liners into the movie. I didn't mind the fact they they were referencing and using these lines, but they don't do it properly. A lot of them feel forced, like they were written into the scene only so they could be checked off the list of one liners. And some are overused.
And Jet Li disappears after the opening scene. Why didn't he stay the whole time? I don't know. However, he was replaced by another Asian actor, but her acting was horrible. In fact, most of the acting was subpar, save a few exceptions. Liam Hemsworth is among new faces in the film. And he feels out of place. Everyone else is pretty much well known, middle aged action people. He is some twenty year old who's been in like two movies. But, after seeing the purpose of his character, I could understand why he was cast. It also was fun/cool/whatever to see the other new faces. I knew they were in the film, but for some reason, I had forgot until they appeared on screen. It was exciting to see them.
And I'm not sure exactly who "they" were, but from judging by the credits, they were probably a bunch of Bulgarians.
So, overall, it is a fun movie. It is not well made, but there is something about seeing all of our favorites together on the big screen. If you get the chance, watch it. But you won't be missing out if you don't.
But that's just my opinion...
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