Film Review: Expendables 2
Aug. 14th, 2013 07:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
redfiona99I saw this the day after On Stranger Tides, so everyone else was much quieter and restful, for some unknown reason.
Much like with the first Expendables movie (http://redfiona99.livejournal.com/697335.html) I'm not quite sure what to make of this one. It's in a totally different family of action films and some of these are good changes (less ludicrous CGI), some of them are not (this is a much shallower film). Although, don't get me wrong, I did enjoy it.
If the first film suffered from not enough Jet Li, this is even worse. It's like they're trying to see how little they can use an actor and still put him on the poster.
I like Simon West's directing style, it's very clean.
There's an odd sort of disconnect, because half of the film fits with the tone of the first, basically anything to do with Billy the Kid, and the other half (the Schwarzenegger/Willis/Norris section) is a violent action comedy, and it's the mother and father and illegitimate cousin of all tone shifts.
I like how they treat Maggie. Because at no point does she get the stereotypical "badass chick in leather" slow camera pan upwards treatment. The reason that Church pulls a "she gets hurt, you die" is not because he's in love with her, or because she's a woman, but because she's one of his men. The minute it's clear that she's as good, and as crazy, as the rest of them, they treat her like the rest of them (bar Gunnar, about which, later). It's really refreshing. Stallone is rapidly becoming my go-to guy for films where the women are more than just objects.
Also, and related, they've actually thought how a character like Maggie would fight. Dear stunt choreographer, my love is unending.
A couple of the scenes actually work better because large chunks of the cast cannot act (or can't act well), particularly Billy's funeral scene, because you've got these large men standing around and they can't express what they're feeling and it just works.
As with Maggie, I like how they handle the villagers. It's not that they're not capable, it's that they're outgunned.
It's also the revenge of the evil Brit. (Apparently, no matter where in the world it is, evil has a British henchman)
I will forgive this film a lot for "I now pronounce you man and knife" and the scene where Lee is all "what, we're American now?".
One interesting thing is that, apparently, Chuck Norris asked for there to be a minimum of "bad" language so they cut out most of the swearing. Did anyone miss it? While I'm a fan of the occasional expletive, I prefer it when they're necessary.
The cut scenes and oopses need to be seen if only for the Djokovic cameo.
Much like with the first Expendables movie (http://redfiona99.livejournal.com/697335.html) I'm not quite sure what to make of this one. It's in a totally different family of action films and some of these are good changes (less ludicrous CGI), some of them are not (this is a much shallower film). Although, don't get me wrong, I did enjoy it.
If the first film suffered from not enough Jet Li, this is even worse. It's like they're trying to see how little they can use an actor and still put him on the poster.
I like Simon West's directing style, it's very clean.
There's an odd sort of disconnect, because half of the film fits with the tone of the first, basically anything to do with Billy the Kid, and the other half (the Schwarzenegger/Willis/Norris section) is a violent action comedy, and it's the mother and father and illegitimate cousin of all tone shifts.
I like how they treat Maggie. Because at no point does she get the stereotypical "badass chick in leather" slow camera pan upwards treatment. The reason that Church pulls a "she gets hurt, you die" is not because he's in love with her, or because she's a woman, but because she's one of his men. The minute it's clear that she's as good, and as crazy, as the rest of them, they treat her like the rest of them (bar Gunnar, about which, later). It's really refreshing. Stallone is rapidly becoming my go-to guy for films where the women are more than just objects.
Also, and related, they've actually thought how a character like Maggie would fight. Dear stunt choreographer, my love is unending.
A couple of the scenes actually work better because large chunks of the cast cannot act (or can't act well), particularly Billy's funeral scene, because you've got these large men standing around and they can't express what they're feeling and it just works.
As with Maggie, I like how they handle the villagers. It's not that they're not capable, it's that they're outgunned.
It's also the revenge of the evil Brit. (Apparently, no matter where in the world it is, evil has a British henchman)
I will forgive this film a lot for "I now pronounce you man and knife" and the scene where Lee is all "what, we're American now?".
One interesting thing is that, apparently, Chuck Norris asked for there to be a minimum of "bad" language so they cut out most of the swearing. Did anyone miss it? While I'm a fan of the occasional expletive, I prefer it when they're necessary.
The cut scenes and oopses need to be seen if only for the Djokovic cameo.
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Date: 2013-08-15 09:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-08-15 10:12 am (UTC)