Review No.171: The Expendables 2

More summer fun now as we enter the retirement home of action that is The Expendables franchise with Sylvester Stallone and buddies blowing more stuff up around the world. The plot of this new film is like the first one, somewhat unmemorable, however with an even bulkier cast plus a shorter runtime and a new director at the helm I found this one more enjoyable. The start of the film sees all of The Expendables from the first film team up to shoot down some bad guys or something before Arnie's Trench comes up and saves the day while soon after Jet Li says his goodbyes to the group. Bruce Willis' Mr Church then gives them another mission to go on with some new recruits namely Liam Hemsworth's idealistic Billy and Yu Nan as new technology expert Maggie Chan. While the group to retreive the mystery item for Church they're soon pounced upon by Jean Claude Van Damme's imaginatively named villain Jean Villain who steals the item, takes their weapons and kills poor old Billy presumably so he doesn't show up the rest of the oldies in the remaining battle sequences. From there the team travel to some desolate Eastern European town where Jean Villain is abusing the men as workers in a nearby plutonium mine and soon his men are on the case of our heroes thankfully though Chuck Norris is around to help them out however he doesn't stay too long as he is a lone wolf after all. From there it's business as usual as Stallone, Arnie, Bruce, Stath and the rest battle JCVD and his allies to the death but as there's a third film in the franchise I think we all know how things are going to pan out.

For me I wasn't a big fan of the first Expendables film finding it disorganised and over long while at the same time it didn't exploit the great cast that it was given with most of the scenes featuring simply on Sly and Stath. The sequel though is a vast improvement which I believe is mainly down to the fact that Sly has handed over directing duties to Con Air's Simon West, who knows what he's doing when it comes to ensemble acting pictures, and he tries to make the best film he can about a bunch of over-the-hill action heroes that he can possibly do. The Expendables 2, unlike its predecessor, doesn't take itself too seriously instead adding a lot of in-jokes about the catchphrases that our stars are best known for as well as some obscure jokes also. The fact that Arnie and Bruce are in the film a little more this time, after the former is officially out of the politics game, also adds to the overall feel of the film as a nostalgia-trip while seeing them fight alongside Sly and Chuck Norris is a treat all on its own. Talking of Norris his Booker is well-utilised and only has a minimal talking role which is good a thing as he's more useful when he's kicking ass and he does that a lot. As far as the rest of the cast is concerned with Mickey Rourke, who did all the acting in the first film, now departed it seems that Jason Statham has picked up that mantle and was actually fairly impressive however it is still his bromance with Sly that is the highlight of the piece. Elsewhere the other expendables don't do a lot, however Maggie Chan is slobbered over by her male colleagues to the point where she could've ordered some sort of employment tribunal while Hemsworth is at least given an emotional death scene. JCVD is always cast as a villain although he does have some of the more ludicrous lines of the piece he's able to pull them off because at the end of the day's it's Van-Damme whose even cool when wearing sunglasses in a plutonium mine. If you're coming to The Expendables to for a story and character development then jog on as there's little of that here however what there is plenty of enjoyable in-jokes, chemistry between the leads and the chance to see your favourite childhood action figures fight alongside each other. Personally I rather enjoyed The Expendables 2 which, while it had no story to speak of, survived because of the willingness of the cast to send itself up and West's competent direction so in summary a good summer action film which is all we can ask at the end of the day.

Verdict: There's lots of fun to be had while watching The Expendables 2 though due to the fact it has very little going on outside of its action scenes I can only award it 6/10

Review No.63: Safe

After appearances in films such as Crank, The Transporter and The Expendables it seems that Jason Statham is now Hollywood's go-to action figure picking up the mantle from guys such as Stallone and Willis. I have to say I was disappointed in his last venture The Mechanic which I found dull and uninspiring however with his new film Safe he has redeemed himself. Statham plays cop turned cage fighter Luke Wright who wins a fight he is asked to lose so is then chased by people who bet big money on the outcome of this encounter so in return Russian mobsters kill his wife and make him go on the run to be one of life's loners. After a year of living like this Luke is about to end it all when he sees Russian mobsters chasing a little Chinese girl named Mei onto a subway so he pursues them, kills them all and saves her. It turns out that not only the Russians but also the crooked cops and the Chinese triads are all after Mei as she can remember long numbers such as one to a safe containing many millions of dollars. Luke is now set on protecting the girl who essentially saved him from ending his life but this means rampaging his way through New York killing everyone who gets in his way while laying on the witty quips as he goes.

When I actually went to see Safe, at a free preview screening, myself and my friend thought that we had got the time wrong as the film had already started when we entered the cinema. Twenty or so minutes in the lights went up and a staff member told us that the film was actually meant to start at the time we thought so many other customers were ushered in and the film was screened from the beginning. I'm telling you this story as the part I watched twice was the build-up before the real action began we learnt of how Mei was transported from her native Shanghai and how Luke ended up the shell of a man he had become however I had to see two showings of the first twenty minutes before we got into full Statham territory. Once Luke had vowed to protect Mei we saw guns a blazing, Statham using a Chinese man to break his fall as he fell out of a hotel window and also a brilliant sequence in a casino safe. Writer/director Boaz Yankin plays to Statham's strengths not giving him a lot to say other than some quips my favourite being a response to one of the mobsters telling Luke that he has massive balls to which he replies 'yes, it's amazing I can still walk.' Much of the acting is left to young Catherine Chan and she does a good job bringing this frightened girl to life as she learns what business is really all about. My criticism of the film is that not all of the part I watched twice was really necessary as I don't see the point in a lot of character progression if most of those characters are going to be finished off by Statham before the end of the film. For the most part though this was a fun ride while maybe not as entertaining as the first Crank film I would say that it was better than The Transporter franchise in terms of Statham's overall opus. This is brainless action at its finest and if you're looking for a good action caper that won't tax the brain too much then this is it.

Verdict: A film which plays to its target audience, contains Statham in his element and most of all is fun I'll give this an entertainment-packed 7/10