This weekend, I had the choice of seeing The Expendables 2 or ParaNorman. On one hand, I knew TE2 would be a funny yet dumb action movie and I would be able to see a lot of stars that have not done too many roles lately. On the other hand, ParaNorman looks like a great stop motion feature. We don't get too many of those and I loved Coraline, so I don't think it would disappoint. For whatever reason, I chose to see TE2. So was it how it was expected to be?
Yes. This was pretty much the best dumb action movie.
For starters, I really don't remember too much about the 1st one despite seeing it about 2 months ago. It was, of course, your typical action movie that has one of the best casts ever. At least with these movies, they are aware of what they are. They weren't made to be these deep stories to win Oscars, they were made for fun. It was very smart to have these action stars in it since it really does pull a nice nostalgic factor. It is almost like a huge crossover as well but makes you wonder about what if it was an actual one. Stallone as Rambo, Norris as Walker, VAN DAAAMMMME as Guile, etc. Regarding the cast, one of the reasons I wanted to see this is to see how AHHHNALD, Chuck Norris and JEAN CLAUDE VAAAN-DAAAAMME would do seeing as they have not done anything in a while. How did they do?
AHHHNALD was very awesome. I'm glad with this film and his next one he's going back to his roots and playing his age. Speaking of his age, damn did he get old. He looks so different compare to his previous performances! At least he is still able to do things and be himself though. VAAAN DAAAMME hasn't aged well face wise. He wears sunglasses the entire time and when he takes them off, its a little dark and you can't see too much of his face. His eyes are a little puffy and wrinkled. The rest of his body looked fine, surprised he could keep up staying buff. Regardless, he played a nice bad guy. He was very menacing and wasn't overly cheesy. Chuck Norris did awesome as usual, and he looked great while doing it. BUT WHY WAS HE BASICALLY A CAMEO? He was just in and out! At least he was awesome the parts he was in. This movie does prove that regardless of age, you can still be bad ass and have a good time doing it.
The movie itself did get boring at some parts. I think those boring parts where a definite contrast to the ones with action. The action itself was pretty good but of course, there were some parts where you don't understand what's happening. It was fast pace and the shaky cam didn't help much. At least the story was easy to fallow, it wasn't really the big focus in this kind of movie. It also felt like a lot of characters where throw away. Like they didn't get as much development as others or they were just there for whatever. Like why is Jet Li only in this for 5 minutes? Where's Mickey Rourke? Who's this lady? Speaking of the lady (yeah she really just is THE LADY) I'm not sure how to feel about her. I liked how she didn't need to be rescued or was screaming her head off the entire time, but they didn't show her do cool things like the other guys and sometimes made her look incompetent. She wasn't annoying, but she was no Ripley or Sara Connor either. Stallone, Statham, Gibson, and Lundgren where very good characters and I liked the way they played off each other. The relationships were very well presented as well as their personalities and made them very fun to watch.
What makes this movie watchable is the one liners. My god, every one liner you can think of managed to be in this. Such as:
Stallone: "Booker, I heard you got bit by a cobra."
Norris: "I did, and after 5 days of agonizing pain...the cobra died."
Statham:"I now pronounce you...husband and KNIFE!"
-head pokes out with a cigar in his mouth- AHHNALD:" I'M BACK"
Stallone: "Rest in pieces!"
AHHNALD:"Who's next? Rambo?!" (what the hell is this universe....)
All of them were very funny. It's very ironic that Chuck Norris told the best Chuck Norris joke of all time!
Overall, it wasn't bad but it was the kind of movie to leave your brain at the door and have fun with it. Like I said, it is aware of what it is.Throughout this movie, I kept sighing and muttering to myself "dammit" and "what the hell?" but was still laughing with all the ridiculous stuff. I still wish I saw ParaNorman instead (and I will this weekend) since this is probably just something to wait to rent or it comes on TV. Still entertaining enough!
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