The Expendables 2 Reviews
Top Critic"The Expendables 2" is lazily satisfied with repeating the first movie's formula, shortcomings and grisly strengths alike, just as the first movie was content to slavishly, ploddingly cover the hits of the '80s.
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| Original Score: 2/4
Nice to know America's action stars, no matter how old they get, will never lack for gainful employment.
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| Original Score: 2/4
Does exactly what it's supposed to do - no more, no less.
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| Original Score: 2.5/4
Yeah, yeah, I get it: "The Expendables 2" is a fun-loving throwback to the gloriously bad action films of the 1980s. Here's what I don't get: Why couldn't it be a throwback to the good ones?
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| Original Score: 1.5/4
At least it's efficiently and breezily forgettable. What's more, there are laughs too and here's the best part - one or two of them are actually intentional.
It's hard not to like a movie in which Bruce Willis' toupee-less CIA agent accuses Stallone's ragtag band of mercenaries of engaging in "male pattern badness.''
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| Original Score: 2.5/4
What gives "Expendables 2" its charm is the film's unabashed nostalgia for the genre's best B-movie moments.
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| Original Score: 3.5/5
The Expendables 2 is corny, barbaric and sometimes visually murky. But humor and self-deprecating macho charm make this male pattern badness crowd-pleasing fun.
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| Original Score: 2.5/4
The movie is excellent crap, fine junk, an exercise in campy movie nostalgia, and a demonstration of American supremacy in the field of nutty cosmetic enhancements for aging movie stars.
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| Original Score: B
Pleasantly dumb fun if you watch it with the right mind-set.
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| Original Score: 3/5
The Expendables 2 is reasonably cathartic in a fall-down-go-boom way, and if the picture's self-conscious riffing becomes tiresome after a while ... it's still much wittier than its predecessor.
Does it all have to be so tedious?
I wanted to like this movie. Really. But this sequel doesn't wear down your resistance; it just wears you out.
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| Original Score: 2/4
Stallone is once more an amiable host. He even pulls off heroics despite having an ill-advised 'stache laying over his mouth, which nowadays looks like a squished octopus.
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| Original Score: 3/5
For better and worse, this ultra-violent follow-up gives the audience what it wants in full force.
[A] saggy, rickety and occasionally winded geriatric action thriller ...
They all take turns playing the clown - and for the most part, it's fun to watch them at it, even if the body count is distressingly high.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/4
Chuck Norris is also in this movie, although you should know that he gets roughly five minutes of screen time, half of those devoted to his telling of a Chuck Norris joke.
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| Original Score: 1/4
Has the parallel between the actor and the mercenary's trade ever been so overt?
If someone told you that the negative was found on the shelf of a studio that went bankrupt in 1991, you'd most likely believe them.
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| Original Score: 2/5
Taut, humorous and attractively packaged, the sequel is both fleet footed and engaging enough to captivate audiences with more than just nonstop action.
Redundant, bombastic and cheekily self-aware, The Expendables 2 is also savvy enough to supply its own auto-critique.
