Review: The Expendables 2

The first Expendables film was a disappointment for me, it lacks depth and the action scenes were a little rushed. So is the sequel an improvement on the last one or not? Before my review here is a short synopsis.

Synopsis:
The Expendables are back and this time it’s personal… Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), Lee Christmas (Lee Statham), Yin Yang (Jet Li), Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren),Toll Road (Randy Couture) and Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) — with newest members Billy the Kid (Liam Hemsworth) and Maggie (Yu Nan) aboard — are reunited when Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) enlists the Expendables to take on a seemingly simple job. The task looks like an easy paycheck for Barney and his band of old-school mercenaries. But when things go wrong and one of their own is viciously killed, the Expendables are compelled to seek revenge in hostile territory where the odds are stacked against them. Hell-bent on payback, the crew cuts a swath of destruction through opposing forces, wreaking havoc and shutting down an unexpected threat in the nick of time — six pounds of weapons-grade plutonium; enough to change the balance of power in the world. But that’s nothing compared to the justice they serve against the villainous adversary who savagely murdered their brother. That is done the Expendables way...

Story:
The story is the typical formula for an action film, ye old revenge flick some might say. Despite this line of story, it still delivers a fairly good amount of story. The dialogue and one-liners are acceptable, some are funny but some are cringe worthy.

Acting:
The acting is not an improvement over the last one so there's not much to say. However I did like JCVD's performance, Chuck Norris' cameo but the actor that really stole the movie for me is none other than Arnie, seeing him for the first time on the big screen was awesome and I can't help but smile when I hear him say "I'm back" and also the part where he rips the door off the smart car, wow just epic!

Action/Violence:
This is definitely an improvement over the last one, the action is just intense and the violence and bloodshed was at the right tone.

Direction:
Another improvement over the last one, Simon West direction was better than Sly's but like the previous one I also felt like something was missing in this one.

Cinematography:
Almost like the previous one, so not much to talk about.

Overall:
This film is definitely an example of a sequel better than the original (but this ain't saying much). The last 20 minutes was just pure awesomeness and action orgasm. In my opinion this is a must watch for the baction fans of the 80's. I give this a solid 3/5.