The Expendables 2 *spoilers from post 263*

iMax

...Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke. Who else? Of course, Bruce Willis."

Expendables 2. Should be called "Expendables Too Awesome".

Read more: http://www.breakingnews.ie/entertainment/arnie-linked-to-indie-action-flick-520192.html#ixzz1XjsivV3i

johnny_ultimate

If the first piece of crap is anything to go by, you'd be better off putting everyone's best film on at the same time and embracing the cacophony that ensues.

iMax

Hush your mouth. The first one was the greatest action movie ever made.



This scene alone was worth the admission price.

johnny_ultimate

iMax wrote: »

The first one was the greatest action movie ever made.

Really?

I'm all for a bit of hyperbole, but really?

Galvasean

Duggy747

I love Stallone / Arnie movie's and others that were the pinnacle of 80's action violence but The Expendables was a complete let down for me. Had some fun but brief moments which ultimately couldn't save it.

I won't be going into the next one with the same hopes.

Gandalph

should throw in Mike Tyson

Sad Professor

I thought the first one was garbage. At least Rambo was entertaining cheese. The Expendables was just boring crap.

Mr. K

The Expendables was terrible. Most of those guys were in classics in their day, but bringing them all together didn't work at all. The Arnie/Stallone/Willis scene was just awful too!

I remember being sure that The A-Team was going to be the bad summer action film, but it turned out pretty well.

johnny_ultimate

I'm a bit bemused anyone would be willing to defend the Expendables. It was like a really bad cover version - desperately trying to emulate the original, but misinterpreting the fundamentals of what made the originals so endearing in the first place. It never embraced its inherent stupidity. As Prof said, Rambo is what the Expendables should have been had anyone involved been interested in anything more than a cynical cash grab. The Red Dwarf: Back to Earth of cinema.

Worst of all was the waste of various actors who deserved better. The Arnie / Willis cameo should have been great fun, but so utterly pointless in practice.

humanji

I thought the first one was great fun. It's a terrible, terrible move, but I think that's why I enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to the next one.

Mickeroo

I thought the first one was ok but a bit of a let down considering the hype, both the other men on a mission movies that came out around that time were much better IMO which would be The A-Team and The Losers.

iMax

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Really?

I'm all for a bit of hyperbole, but really?

I love that word.

It was enjoyable hokem

syklops

Mickeroo wrote: »

I thought the first one was ok but a bit of a let down considering the hype, both the other men on a mission movies that came out around that time were much better IMO which would be The A-Team and The Losers.

It was all a surprise to me. It was pretty much guaranteed that the A-Team would be crap. All the hype was about the Expendables. In the end the A-team was very enjoyable(IMO), with some really funny moments. I then got blind-sighted by The Losers which I hadn't known about and ended up loving it. I thought was the superior of the three.

That said my mate hated the losers and loved the expendables, so we are all different.

nix

The first one sounded amazing in theory, but lets face it, they couldn't have ****ed it up more than they did, it was a big pile of crap, in no way was it entertaining, it was just cringe worthy nonsense that SHOULD have been alot better.

WHIP IT!

I'm pretty sure most people here are missing the whole point of what The Expendables and similiar films are supposed to be about... If you go into them with your "I hope this is as good as Gone With the Wind" hat on, you're in for trouble.... these films are about testosterone, cheesey one-liners, good-guy winning, leading men pulling hot chicks and blowing. sh*t. up!

The Expendables achieved all of this... ergo - good film...

Period...

Mickeroo

WHIP IT! wrote: »

I'm pretty sure most people here are missing the whole point of what The Expendables and similiar films are supposed to be about... If you go into them with your "I hope this is as good as Gone With the Wind" hat on, you're in for trouble.... these films are about testosterone, cheesey one-liners, good-guy winning, leading men pulling hot chicks and blowing. sh*t. up!

The Expendables achieved all of this... ergo - good film...

Period...

I went in with my Die Hard/Rambo/Commando hat on and I still thought it was pretty average.

TerrorFirmer

I thought the Expendables was absolutely brilliant. The whole stretch beneath the compound/palace was stupidly excessive in a way only brainless action movies could be. Will be the first in line for the sequel.

It was a massive success so it's not really fair to say it was terrible/a joke/so on and so forth. I know plenty of people that considered it to meet and exceed expectations...it was pure nonsense, but the best I've seen in a long time.

syklops

WHIP IT! wrote: »

I'm pretty sure most people here are missing the whole point of what The Expendables and similiar films are supposed to be about... If you go into them with your "I hope this is as good as Gone With the Wind" hat on, you're in for trouble.... these films are about testosterone, cheesey one-liners, good-guy winning, leading men pulling hot chicks and blowing. sh*t. up!

The Expendables achieved all of this... ergo - good film...

Period...

Thats a ridiculous notion. No-one on here went to it in the hope of exploring the underlining themes, and sub-plots. They went looking for a good action movie. Having Statham, Stallone and Willis in it, suggested it would be on a par with The Transporter, Rambo or Die Hard. Instead it was bollocks. It was badly written, the plot made little sense, and there was no decent action. Maybe you and I define 'decent' action differently.

Thats the same excuse you hear in the Transformers threads all the time "If you didnt enjoy it then you were expecting too much". Ah no. I expected a decent film. Instead I got ****e, in all three cases.

leposean

Worst film which made it unbelievable!!!!

pixelburp

God this thread's just like the one for the original movie - people mistaking criticism for misaligned expectations.

The Expendables was a total mess of a movie, and even as a balls-to-the-wall action film it failed. To be honest, I thought it was boring. That you could conceivably take all those action-movie icons and make a dull feature on a par with a TV pilot is fairly embarrassing. Most of Staham's back catalog is infinitely superior to this one.

CGI blood, badly shot action scenes, forgettable dialogue (the Arnie / Willis cameo had about the only funny lines in the film), hell even the explosions themselves seemed a bit weak; as a comparison, Stallone's new Rambo / Rocky movies were more entertaining than The Expendables ever was.

johnny_ultimate

Ill never understand this concept that anything with explosions is immune to criticism - it just seems like having dreadfully low standards.

Rambo did explosions well, the most brilliantly cheesy faux machismo I've seen in the last decade. The expendables didn't do explosions well, and hence failed to live up to my considered expectations.

Suggesting we were all so dim that we missed the point is somewhat insulting! Its not like its an easy point to miss!

DrumSteve

Rambo was awesome because it was insanely over the top violent.

Which is what everyone wanted from the expendibles but didn't get.

Galvasean

I'm in the camp that adores the Expendables. I do acknowledge the genuine criticisms leveled at the film here, but respectfully disagree. I felt the action sequences were more than exciting enough and the humour was cringeworthy enough to be a nice homage to the cheesey Commando style action movies of yesteryear.
For starters I felt the Jet Li versus Dolph Lundgren fight was a very well put together scene. The car chase was fun. Statham's character doing an aeroplane bombing run was so ridiculously over the top that it tickled me in a way that if a woman tickled me that way I'd say, "mmm, thats nice". Then there was that ridiculous continuity error when Stallone jumps onto the moving plane. he clearly misses by about a yard but still somehow makes it. That's the kind of 80s shyte I adore and expected from The expendables. On that level it delivered.
But then again I think Showdown In Little Tokyo is one of the best things in the history of everything...

Oh and an MMA fighter punched a man to death... WHILE HE AS ON FIRE!!! :eek:

WHIP IT!

syklops wrote: »

Thats a ridiculous notion. No-one on here went to it in the hope of exploring the underlining themes, and sub-plots. They went looking for a good action movie. Having Statham, Stallone and Willis in it, suggested it would be on a par with The Transporter, Rambo or Die Hard. Instead it was bollocks. It was badly written, the plot made little sense, and there was no decent action. Maybe you and I define 'decent' action differently.

Thats the same excuse you hear in the Transformers threads all the time "If you didnt enjoy it then you were expecting too much". Ah no. I expected a decent film. Instead I got ****e, in all three cases.

See, you're doin it, Buddy - you're doin it... You forgot to switch the brain off when ya watched, that's all... I suppose the plot to Predator made sense then? An alien... followin lads around... then killing them... for sport...

Predator - best action movie of all time by the way :pac:

syklops

WHIP IT! wrote: »

See, you're doin it, Buddy - you're doin it... You forgot to switch the brain off when ya watched, that's all... I suppose the plot to Predator made sense then? An alien... followin lads around... then killing them... for sport...

Predator - best action movie of all time by the way :pac:

Predator made absolute sense. That it doesnt to you, I dont know what to respond with.

We obviously watch and enjoy movies so fundamentally differently that I don't think there is any point in continuing.

ziedth

I actually also enjoyed the first one, I was let down yes but all in all I think it was entertaining enough. I hope the sequel is much more in the Rambo mold though.

I saw Red, The Loosers and the expendables all in the one weekend and I stragely most enjoyed Red with the other two about the same.

I hope it's as good as the hype this time but I'd be happy with much of the same.

nix

WHIP IT! wrote: »

I'm pretty sure most people here are missing the whole point of what The Expendables and similiar films are supposed to be about... If you go into them with your "I hope this is as good as Gone With the Wind" hat on, you're in for trouble.... these films are about testosterone, cheesey one-liners, good-guy winning, leading men pulling hot chicks and blowing. sh*t. up!

The Expendables achieved all of this... ergo - good film...

Period...

I went in expecting a good cheesey action flick like die hard/commando/cobra as Mick said, and that isn't what i got, it was cliched tripe and the action sucked balls. It was meerley put together to rob idiots of their money, hint hint.. i watched it in a friends house so i was glad i didnt waste cash on it.

Watching the trailer was a good thing for this movie, it showed how bad it was going to be and it was accurate. The cast is what brought all the movie goers in and it was all it offered, sadly..

ziedth wrote: »

I hope it's as good as the hype this time

It won't be..

Fysh

I was really let down by the first one (and got a load of mockery from a bunch of people for bothering to discuss why I thought it was a let-down) but it made seriously good money for that kind of film so a sequel was inevitable.

I won't be going near it, but I'm sure it'll do well. I'll stick to stuff like Crank, District 13 and River Tam Beats Up EveryoneChocolate for my fix of action-oriented silliness, I think.

TheIrishGrover

My only problem with The Expendables was that it wasn't sh1t enough. I mean it should have been p1ss yerself laughing, fist in the air awesomely bad but it wasn't, it was just "meh". With that amount of meat-heads it should have been gloriously stupid. Now it was stupid but not insanely stupid. I mean trying to give The Stath a chance to act with Charisma Carpenter? Nooooo. He should have gone all "Crank" in the film

I wanna see Jackie Chan and Jet Li (If he finally signs the contract) square off but he doesn't play baddies. Ah well

Marty McFly

Galvasean wrote: »

I'm in the camp that adores the Expendables. I do acknowledge the genuine criticisms leveled at the film here, but respectfully disagree. I felt the action sequences were more than exciting enough and the humour was cringeworthy enough to be a nice homage to the cheesey Commando style action movies of yesteryear.
For starters I felt the Jet Li versus Dolph Lundgren fight was a very well put together scene. The car chase was fun. Statham's character doing an aeroplane bombing run was so ridiculously over the top that it tickled me in a way that if a woman tickled me that way I'd say, "mmm, thats nice". Then there was that ridiculous continuity error when Stallone jumps onto the moving plane. he clearly misses by about a yard but still somehow makes it. That's the kind of 80s shyte I adore and expected from The expendables. On that level it delivered.
But then again I think Showdown In Little Tokyo is one of the best things in the history of everything...

Oh and an MMA fighter punched a man to death... WHILE HE AS ON FIRE!!! :eek:

+1 on everything you just said, I think Expendables was amazing it did exactly what I expected of it. Stallone said before its release he was going to try bring back the 80,s style action movies. People cannot tell me Commando made sense? But I still love it. It had a terrible plot yeh, some cheesy momments and some great action it gave me exactly what i wanted.

It was terribly brilliant like a lot of 80,s action movies which I love.

I for one will 100% be going to see this in the cinema cant wait. Maybe some people just cant buy into it but found it easier to accept the flaws from a film because it was made in the 80,s?

WHIP IT!

nix wrote: »

I went in expecting a good cheesey action flick like die hard/commando/cobra as Mick said, and that isn't what i got, it was cliched tripe and the action sucked balls. It was meerley put together to rob idiots of their money, hint hint.. i watched it in a friends house so i was glad i didnt waste cash on it.

So I'm an idiot because my opinion differs from yours? Nice...

Next time you're going to label someone an idiot, open up dictionary.com while you type - spelling six-letter words wrong in that instance is, well, idiotic...

johnny_ultimate

Mod Note, with disapproving finger wagging: Disagreements are fine, insults are not. Play nice, folks.

nix

Apologies for my typo and excuse my hatred of easily amused people, it's whats ruining cinema, In my opinion

WHIP IT!

nix wrote: »

Apologies for my typo and excuse my hatred of easily amused people, it's whats ruining cinema, In my opinion

The Expendables is supposed to easily amuse - that's my argument and I'm stickin to it!

Mickeroo

luvbulmers01 wrote: »

+1 on everything you just said, I think Expendables was amazing it did exactly what I expected of it. Stallone said before its release he was going to try bring back the 80,s style action movies. People cannot tell me Commando made sense? But I still love it. It had a terrible plot yeh, some cheesy momments and some great action it gave me exactly what i wanted.

It was terribly brilliant like a lot of 80,s action movies which I love.

I for one will 100% be going to see this in the cinema cant wait. Maybe some people just cant buy into it but found it easier to accept the flaws from a film because it was made in the 80,s?

I just didn't think it had the same sense of fun as the movies it was trying to emulate. There wasn't enough wisecracking for my likeing, or any good wisecracking anyway.

humanji

RopeDrink wrote: »

I guess Stallone feared making a 100% carbon-copy of the older style 80's movies in a critial 2k.

I think Stallone was the main problem with the first one. Now, this is just my opinion going from trying to read between the lines of various interviews etc, but I think he was what was stopping it from becoming the all out cheese-fest that people wanted. It just seemed like he was trying to make something profound out of something that never could be.

With the new one being written and directed by different people, I see it as a chance to be a completely different film with the same characters.

JCVDamme? Most likely a villian if not just some brief cameo (of which I suspect he'll have) but it'd be nice to have him as a baddie... The rest?

I'll spoiler this in case nobody wants to know, but I've read that

Willis is the main bad guy with JCVD being the one who does all his dirty work, so if that's true he'll be in it a fair amount.

paddyismaddy

stallone should get liam neeson also for this he is the newest action star

Duckworth_Luas

So I'm guessing the plot is:

Chuck Norris V The Rest

WHIP IT!

Duckworth_Luas wrote: »

So I'm guessing the plot is:

Chuck Norris V The Rest

I think Richie Dunne makes a cameo actually

TheDoc

Enjoyed the first one for what it was.

Few of us went, had laughs, watched onscreen noize and put our brains back in our skulls when we got home.


Considering there nowadays I'd say 80% of the films that go through the cinema in a given 3 months period are ****ing atrocious, having something fun filled like this is completely welcome

Corholio

Van Damme and Norris confirmed by Stallone. Nic Cage and John Travolta also being lined up according to Sly as well.

ziedth

Must say against all knowledge the 80's child that must still be in my soul somewhere is very excited to see Norris, Van Damme, Arnie, Willis and Stallone all on the one film. Come on like even if you hate the first one if you grew up in the 80's/early 90's you gotta be just a little excited.

MagicMarker

ziedth wrote: »

Must say against all knowledge the 80's child that must still be in my soul somewhere is very excited to see Norris, Van Damme, Arnie, Willis and Stallone all on the one film. Come on like even if you hate the first one if you grew up in the 80's/early 90's you gotta be just a little excited.

Don't forget Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke etc.

All we need now is Steven Seagal.

LittleBook

Mickeroo wrote: »

I just didn't think it had the same sense of fun as the movies it was trying to emulate. There wasn't enough wisecracking for my likeing, or any good wisecracking anyway.

Agreed. OK, I didn't expect the universe to implode when Stallone, Willis and Schwarzenegger were in the same scene (ok, maybe I did a little) but I haven't had a more "meh" moment in a film since ... maybe ever.

The Editing Room's abridged script is wiser and crackier (although that's the case with a lo-ot of films).

http://www.the-editing-room.com/the-expendables.html

kdevitt

First one was a bad movie.

I feckin loved it though - think its all the 80's stars in one flick that did it. Looking forward to the sequel!

Dotrel

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

I'm all for a bit of hyperbole

That's my favourite type of bole.

Stevie Dakota

The bit with Arnie was great, it was so obvious he was just there to collect the pay cheque.

Van Damme turned down the first one as he felt it was artistically bereft, this one must be better so. :rolleyes:

mikhail

Stevie Dakota wrote: »

Van Damme turned down the first one as he felt it was artistically bereft, this one must be better so. :rolleyes:

Did he say that? With a straight face? I know I read Stallone saying something about van Damme being more interested in charity work these days.

nix

Apparently all Sly would tell Van dam about the film was that he would make alot of money, so he turned down the role, TBH he made the right choice

Fysh

mikhail wrote: »

Did he say that? With a straight face? I know I read Stallone saying something about van Damme being more interested in charity work these days.

ISTR there was something like Van Damme was working on JCVD at the time and the chat he had with Stallone about The Expendables led him to turn it down because it wasn't where he wanted to go with his career.

Personally I thought JCVD was a really good film and an interesting direction for Van Damme, but I couldn't fault him for deciding to go for The Expendables 2 : Old Man Action Boogaloo (now there's a title that conjures up some horrible images!) because, well, it's likely to make a boatload of money even if it isn't particularly good, and those bills don't pay themselves...