The Expendables 2 gathers the biggest roster of action stars of its era, then hands them a computer holding the location of 5 tons of refined weapons-grade plutonium. Simon West directed the 2012 sequel from a script by Richard Wenk and Sylvester Stallone, based on a story by Ken Kaufman, David Agosto and Wenk. It is the follow-up to The Expendables (2010) and the second film in the franchise. Brian Tyler returned to score it. It runs 103 minutes and scored 51/100 on Metacritic.
Trailer, via Lionsgate Movies.
Barney Ross and the Nepal Rescue
The team flies to Nepal to pull a captured Chinese businessman from Nepalese militia. Barney Ross leads. Lee Christmas handles blades. Yin Yang fights hand to hand. Hale Caesar carries the heavy weapons. Toll Road blows things up. Gunner Jensen is unstable. Billy the Kid is the group’s youngest and newest member.
They free the businessman and bring back Trent Mauser, Ross’s rival. Yang leaves to escort the businessman to China. In New Orleans, Billy tells Barney he plans to retire at the end of the month and live with his girlfriend, Sophia.
The Albania Ambush
CIA operative Mr. Church forces Barney into a job: recover an item from a downed plane in Albania. Church attaches technical expert Maggie Chan. The team retrieves the item, then Jean Vilain and his Sangs ambush them and take Billy hostage.
The Expendables hand over the item. Vilain kicks a knife through Billy’s heart anyway and flees by helicopter. Barney finds a note for Sophia on the body. They bury Billy and swear revenge.
Five Tons of Plutonium
Maggie explains the item: a computer holding the location of 5 tons of refined weapons-grade plutonium, left in a mine abandoned by the Soviet Union after the Cold War. Vilain means to dig it up and sell it on the black market.
The team tracks the computer’s signal to Bulgaria and stays overnight at an abandoned Soviet military base. The Sangs ambush them there the next morning.
The Cast, Assembled
- Sylvester Stallone as Barney Ross, the team’s leader, who insisted on performing his own stunts despite his doctor’s advice after surgeries for a broken back and neck injury from filming The Expendables
- Jason Statham as Lee Christmas, knife expert and former SAS soldier
- Jet Li as Yin Yang, limited to the opening by schedule conflicts with Flying Swords of Dragon Gate
- Jean-Claude Van Damme as Jean Vilain
- Chuck Norris as Booker, an homage to the 1978 film Good Guys Wear Black, where Norris plays John T. Booker
- Arnold Schwarzenegger as Trench
- Bruce Willis as Church
What Each Star Brings
| Actor | Character | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Stallone | Barney Ross | Leader, revenge plot |
| Statham | Lee Christmas | Knives, workingman’s hero |
| Lundgren | Gunner Jensen | Chemical engineering degree, combat stress |
| Couture | Toll Road | Demolitions, “the glue that holds all of these dysfunctional guys together” |
| Hemsworth | Billy the Kid | Newest member, killed early |
Stallone folded Lundgren’s chemical engineering degree and personal history into Gunner Jensen.
Chuck Norris and the Cobra
Norris gets the clearest joke. Booker says a cobra bit him and the cobra died, a nod to the Chuck Norris facts. It is the only gag the movie trusts.
A $100 Million Budget and a Stuntman’s Death
Principal photography ran 14 weeks from September 2011 on an estimated $100 million. Locations included Bulgaria, Hong Kong and New Orleans. A stuntman died accidentally during the Bulgaria shoot, and filming caused environmental damage there.
The film opened in Europe on August 16, 2012, and in North America the next day. It grossed $315 million worldwide, with its greatest success outside North America.
The Verdict on The Expendables 2
The cast is the whole pitch, and the movie keeps wasting it. Jet Li exits after the opening. Norris, Willis and Schwarzenegger appear as guests in their own franchise. Van Damme is the one new piece that works, because Vilain murders Billy by kicking a knife through his heart.
Critics generally considered the film an improvement over its predecessor, thanks to its increased humor and action sequences, but its plot and dialogue drew criticism. The plot is not the draw. Billy’s death should carry the revenge, but he gets a handful of scenes before it.
The Expendables 2 is a reunion tour that forgot to write the setlist.
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