50 Stallone Movies Ranked From Best To Worst
23) THE EXPENDABLES 2 (2012)
Con Air director Simon West helmed this picture, and his filmmaking is assured and sturdy (some shonky visuals notwithstanding). Gone is the shaky-cam of the first film, replaced with a smooth routine of wide shots and coherent editing. When Expendables 2 is locked in action mode, West offers up plenty of carnage and wanton destruction, observing the muscular heroes as they use big guns, knives and even fucking rocket launchers to destroy everyone and everything in their path. The body count is well above a hundred – this is a true ’80s action film in spirit which lines up a cavalcade of nameless extras to be slaughtered by our favourite heroes.
It’s certainly interesting in my mind that The Expendables 2 is often slammed for being too jokey and self-referential, when that’s precisely the type of movie that I seem to remember a lot of fans asking for. For the first Expendables, Sly picked his own path, opting for that dark Walter Hill-esque tone, painting the titular team as outright antiheroes and introducing a running theme of redemption to create some thematic underpinnings beneath the orgy of violence. But not everybody responded to this vision, which is why things were changed to a certain extent for The Expendables 2. Ultimately, despite its shortcomings, this sequel is a lot of fun, and the action is comprehensible and entertaining, spotlighting a still-impressive ensemble of badasses. I still wish there was more at stake, and more of a sense that these tough guys are in danger, but where else will you see Arnie, Sly and Bruno standing in a line emptying hundreds of rounds of ammunition?
– PvtCaboose91
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