The Expendables 2

Ratings: 8.8/10

Film Class: A

Genre: Action

Comparing The Expendables to my early post on The Raid: Redemption, the former makes the latter look real bad. I understand it's not a fair comparison, but Hollywood is truly Hollywood, the leading district for film makings. 

The Expendables is an elite group of mercenaries who would normally take up assignments for money. However, they find themselves fighting for a cause when faced with an adversary who made the mistake of pissing them off.

The Expendables 2 pack more action, more one-liner (maybe more) jokes, and more coolness than most other action films. The reason is simple... on which what sells this movie... the classic "action heroes" during my younger years. Terminator, Rambo, Universal Soldier, Die Hard and Transporter all features 1 kick-ass action "hero", each so successful at least trilogies were made, and not surprisingly, they're all, yes ALL in this one freaking show. 

Like how Jason Maraz would say it, 50, no, 1,000 ounce of awesomeness. *major spoilers ahead* It's a pity we didn't see much of Jet Li in this sequel, but the increased screen time for Bruce Willis, Arnold and Chuck Norris was more than what I had wished for. Most characters had their own screentime/heroic/comedy moments. I loved the new addition to the team, the sniper kid. By kid I don't mean a young boy, but that's what they call him. 

However, I wasn't too fond of the choice of the female lead because there was nothing real cool about her. Jean-Claude Van Damme's the evil villain this time round, even though the word "villain" in itself means "evil" but another "evil" is necessary to show how bad he is. Still, he's not a character that one can truly loathe because come on, we all know him to be the heroic Universal Soldier after all. 

I thought Jason Statham's 5-minute scene of knife throwing sucked the coolness off everything else. Imagine him being dressed in a priest's cloak, pulling down his hood and throwing knives at high speed at his enemies. One shot, er.. one pierce one kill. Accuracy, speed, lotsa stabbing, blood splattering and cool poses. That was easily one of the most awesome knife fighting scenes I've seen. 

Chuck Norris's appearance was the best comic moment, whopped with Dolph Lundgren's constant eccentric humor, I was laughing, wide-eyed gasping and cheering for all the characters in this fun-filled  entertaining classic. It's a classic in the making, in the present age with all the classics in it. 

And as one of the characters mention, "They should belong in the museum", I thought it was apt. Not because they were old and soon to be forgotten, but because they were all legendary and will always be remembered. 

The Expendables, ironically, will never be expendable. I've mixed feelings about a 3rd, if there ever will be one. But The Expendables 2 sure tops my list of Coolest movies. Sometimes it's not just the action, but with the characters and the humor which makes the whole deal...