THE EXPENDABLES 2 - film review

Coerced into doing a job for Mr Church (Bruce Willis) after the previous job (see The Expendables) went a bit sour, Barney Ross’s (Sylvester Stallone) Expendables find themselves on the wrong side of dastardly Jean Vilain (Jean-Claude Van Damme) and Hector (Scott Adkins), leaders of a team of mercenaries who are after stock piled nuclear weapons. Following the death of one of the Expendables Ross’s plan is simple, “Find ‘em, Track ‘em, Kill ‘em”. You know it’s gonna get noisy when you hear lines like that.

Finally being able to get out to the cinema after over a year was a joyous occasion and what better movie to share it with than this, the follow up to one of the most fun actioners of recent years and this time Stallone has worked his magic and got not only Jean-Claude Van Damme (JCVD) and Chuck Norris in, he’s also got Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis to play much larger roles than the one scene in the first movie. Be warned what follows may contain so teeny tiny spoilers but nothing I think that would spoil anyone’s enjoyment of the movie.

Let’s start with the bad. A similar problem from the first film is carried over, sadly. There are rather too many guys in the mix. Jet Li sadly gets lost again, only appearing in the opening action scene before he departs, hopefully to make a come back in movie number 3. Couture and Crews again suffer from a dearth of screen time but thankfully Dolph Lundgren is on good form, as is JCVD who is obviously having a ball playing the villain of the piece. Both Stallone and The Stath (Jason Statham) are on top form too, but more on that later. The storyline is pretty thin, possibly thinner than the first film, although that also is kind of a strength. Less time on plot means more time on blowing things up. There’s also a couple of bits with some not quite brilliant CGI, lets just say Motorbike Vs helicopter and Plane Vs Bridge and you’ll see what I mean. However in the films defence this film cost $100 million which in today’s Big Blockbuster Movie club is pretty cheap and when you think some of the guys in this usually command near $20 million for their fee alone I think I can live with a bit of not Avatar quality CGI in a couple of bits if it means they can get this cast on the screen.

There’s a very different feel to this movie. The tone is not as serious as the first movie. There are a lot more jokes and in-jokes about the cast and it all feels a bit more of a romp at times than a serious action pic. I quite liked the feel of it and it in no way detracts from the action bits (patience I’m getting there) although I would say I hope come the next film that they won’t make it quite so jokey and get a bit more serious.

Right we’ve got the boring bits out of the way. Let’s get on to the main reason you want to see a film like this. The action. Just like the first movie this doesn’t disappoint. The opening of the film has a nice big action scene with lots of explosions and shooting and Jet Li having a fantastic fight scene, better than anything he was allowed to do in the first movie. Sadly for us that’s it for him in this movie as he departs soon after although it’s nice to see Dolph’s character looking genuinely heartbroken when Li says he may not be back. A nice turnaround for these two characters after what happened with them in the first movie. Things slow down a little after that but pick up once JCVD and his henchman Hector played by rather superb British martial artist Scott Adkins arrive. Watching Adkins’ character punk out and make The Stath his bitch is quite superb to see, especially as Stath was pretty much the manliest of men in the first film. You so know when these two meet again it’s going to be pretty special (and OOOOOOH it is, knife versus knuckle dusters is all I’m saying). Bringing in Chuck Norris for a couple of bits is great fun, especially as Norris comes out with a blooming Chuck Norris fact. Brilliant. It’s also rather good to have Arnie back in the mix. Watching him get to shoot some baddies and shout “I’m back” is a cheer worthy moment, indeed a few people in the screening did cheer. Stallone and JCVD make perfect adversaries to one another and their fight, albeit a tad on the short side is pretty darn good. Great to see JCVD in a cinema film again (fingers crossed the new Universal Soldier movie which also has Scott Adkins and Dolph Lundgren in gets a cinema release) and he revels in every second, his villain is perfect old school Bond baddie.

This isn’t a perfect film but if you want an action film that is just totally and unashamedly fun then this is truly Fifty Shades of F**king Awesome. Roll on The Expendables 3 which apparently already has the existing cast signed up as well as newbies Nic Cage and potentially Clint Eastwood and maybe, finally Steven Seagal. Bring. It. On.

UNDISPUTED III: REDEMPTION - Film Review

There’re gonna be a few minor spoilers so you have been warned.

I imagine no one really remembers the first Undisputed movie. Despite having a terrific cast headed by Wesley Snipes and Ving Rhames ably supported by the late Peter Falk, this film (released straight to video in the UK) told the story of the undefeated World Heavyweight Boxing Champion George ‘Iceman’ Chambers (Rhames) being sent to prison on a rape charge and finding that the Prison have their own undefeated champ in the form of Monroe Hutchen (Snipes) and the ground is laid for a boxing match between the two men. It’s been shown on tv late at night a couple of times and is actually a pretty decent sporting/prison drama and is well worth a watch.

Coming a few years later and featuring none of the original cast was Undisputed II: Last Man Standing, which reinvented the story with martial arts. Still featuring the Chambers character now played by Michael Jai White, this had the boxer being sent to a Russian prison on trumped up drug charges and finding himself on another showdown with the prison’s MMA fighter Yuri Boyka, played by Scott Adkins. This film shifted the focus of the original from the drama to the fight scenes and produced an entertaining action picture but still retained some decent dramatic scenes to raise this above the usual straight to video fare.

Continuing the trend from the second film whereby the ‘villain’ of the previous film becomes the ‘hero’ of the next Undisputed III: Redemption follows Boyka in the aftermath of the previous film where Chambers broke his leg, he is now a more humble man, having moved to the bottom of the food chain in the prison, he is reduced to mopping the floors. When he hears of an international tournament to find the Ultimate Prison Fighter he trains himself with a vengeance to win.

Not quite as dramatically entertaining as the second film, Undisputed III is still a superior piece of martial arts entertainment featuring some pretty fantastic fight scenes with Scott Adkins showing off his considerable prowess and laying down a marker for his status as a terrific martial arts actor. The final fight against Marko Zaror is pretty intense as is a terrific bout with the superb Lateef Crowder. The choreography by Larnell Stovall and direction by Isaac Florentine is fantastic and really shows off the actors in the best light. It’s not surprising that this film won the best director and best fight choreography awards at ActionFest 2010. Stovall has recently choreographed the fight scenes for Universal Soldier 4 which has a certain Mr Adkins as the lead along with Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme so on the evidence here we can expect very good things from that film.

There’s not much more to say about this film really. If you liked the second film you’ll pretty much love this. Although the story is not quite as engaging the fight scenes more than make up for it, these are some of the best I’ve seen in American made martial arts films for ages. If you don’t like fighty films then give it a wide berth. The only niggle I’ve got with this film is it is not currently released in the UK. Seeing as the lead actor is English and you can buy this on DVD in most of Europe (I got mine from Germany) it is an absolute disgrace that UK fans can’t go down to their local HMV (gotta support the High Street) and pick up a copy. Hopefully as interest in Adkins’ films increases, probably even more so with Assassination Games and the forthcoming Universal Soldier 4 this situation may well change. It better bloomin’ well had is all I can say. That being said the German edition is very nice, there’s quite a few extra features as long as you go for the FSK 18 uncut edition you’ll be very happy.

Undisputed IV anyone?