DVD Review: The Expenables 2

The Expendables 2
Directed by: Simon West.
Written by: Richard Wenk and Sylvester Stallone.
Starring: Sylvester Stallone (Barney Ross), Jason Statham (Lee Christmas), Jean-Claude Van Damme (Vilain), Jet Li (Yin Yang), Dolph Lundgren (Gunnar Jensen), Chuck Norris (Booker), Bruce Willis (Church), Arnold Schwarzenegger (Trench), Terry Crews (Hale Caesar), Randy Couture (Toll Road), Liam Hemsworth (Bill The Kid), Scott Adkins (Hector), Nan Yu (Maggie), Amanda Ooms (Pilar), Charisma Carpenter (Lacy).

There is something almost comforting about a movie like The Expendables 2. This is a straight ahead action movie, with clearly defined good guys and bad guys, where rarely does a 10 minute stretch go by without someone being brutally killed (complete with gushing blood and exploding heads!) or something getting blown up real good. No one would really mistake The Expendables 2 for a really good movie – it doesn’t have a thought in its head, doesn’t really care about character development or believable dialogue (although it certainly does like quips after one of the good guys shoots a baddie) and whose morality is very simple – the Americans are good, and the foreign bad guys, who sound Russian for the most part, are evil. The Expendables 2 is a throwback to a much simpler time.

Is The Expendables 2 entertaining? I guess that depends on your definition of entertaining, but it you’re like me and have a soft spot for the muscle bound antics found in 1980s action movies, it can be entertaining as long as you don’t expect too much. From its opening sequence where Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) and his motley crew of mercenaries blast their way through countless bad guys in Nepal to save a Chinese billionaire, to its finale inside an airport, where the same crew – plus a few cameo players added in for good measure – shoot up an airport full of civilians (never hurting them, of course, just the bad guys), and the hand-to-hand combat finale between Ross and the chief bad guy Vilain (Jean-Claude Van Damme), The Expendables 2 doesn’t have a thought in its head other than how best to kill the bad guys, and splatter as much blood as humanly possible. If all you want to see is blood, guts, gore and explosions, than The Expendables 2 delivers the goods.

For me, I was somewhat disappointed. Stallone, who directed the first movie and most of the rest of his recent output (Rambo, Rocky Balboa) gives the director’s chair over to Simon West this time. West is not what I would call a good director, but he’s very good at staging action sequences, which is really all that is required of him. But personally, I (perhaps naively) thought that Stallone had matured a little in his old age – and was interested in doing slightly more in his late career efforts. Laugh at me if you want to, but his last Rambo movie is actually really good – and at least touches on some of the same themes as Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven – especially in what may just be the bloodiest shootout in movie history that ends that movie. Stallone, whose career has been built around his one man army characters killing a lot of faceless enemies, at least touched on the senseless carnage in that movie. And even in the original Expendables movie, there was an undercurrent of regret and sadness beneath all the blood and guts. While I’m certainly not arguing that Stallone reached the same heights as Eastwood did in his masterpiece – he didn’t even come close – what I am suggesting is that it appeared like Stallone was at least questioning the morality of his characters.

But The Expendables 2 is just straight ahead action. After the first one became a success, it seems like they wanted to cram in as many former action stars as possible into the sequel. Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger are back – and this time not just to talk – and the movie adds in Chuck Norris, and gives Jean-Claude Van Damme the opportunity to be the bad guy – and show that yes, he can still do high kicks. Most of the rest of the crew are back – although Mickey Rourke’s absence is felt, and I wish Jet Li had stuck around for more than what is essentially a cameo. And I quite liked the addition of Nan Yu as Maggie Chang – someone Stallone has to take along, but who gradually wins his respect. Women can kick ass too you know.

In short, The Expendables 2 is precisely what you think it is. If you have any interest in seeing the film, I have a hard time believing you won’t think you got your money’s worth from the film. If you want more than just an action film, look elsewhere. But if want to see Stallone et al kick ass again, then this is the movie for you.

Movie Review: The Mechanic

The Mechanic ** ½
Directed by: Simon West.
Written By: Richard Wenk and Lewis John Carlino.
Starring: Jason Statham (Arthur Bishop), Ben Foster (Steve McKenna), Tony Goldwyn (Dean), Donald Sutherland (Harry McKenna), Jeff Chase (Burke), Mini Anden (Sarah).

I haven’t seen the original version of The Mechanic starring Charles Bronson, but I bet it differs quite a bit from this new one. For one thing, action movies have become much more elaborate (not better) since 1972 when the first film came out. But on a more important level, Bronson was one of the last in a line of actors that included John Wayne, Lee Marvin and Robert Mitchum as stoic and silent men, who never complained, but had faces where you could read the pain life had caused them. In contrast, Jason Statham is just as silent as those other actors, but has a boring face that tells us nothing. He isn’t silent because he has been beaten down by life – he’s silent because he has nothing interesting to say. Luckily this new version also includes Ben Foster, an actor who never shies away from going completely over the top – a trait I love him for.

The Mechanic stars Statham as Arthur, an assassin (which apparently has a code name of a Mechanic). He has worked for Harry (Donald Sutherland) for years, and he is the best at what he does. He specializes in pulling off jobs where no one even suspects foul play was involved. Then he gets a new contract from Harry’s boss Dean (Tony Goldwyn) – to take out Harry himself. Dean tells Arthur that Harry has betrayed them, and as such needs to be taken out. Arthur can do it himself, or they can go to someone else. Arthur takes the job, and fulfills his duties. But then he runs into Harry’s estranged son Steve (Foster), and feels guilty. Steve is self destructive, so to “save” him, Arthur decides to teach him how to become a mechanic like himself. Of course, the secrets buried in the film – the double crosses, the revenge, everything will eventually surface – but not until a hell of a lot of bodies pile up.

The film, director by Simon West (Con Air) is high on action, and for once doesn’t skimp on the blood either. I tire of action movies where dozens of people get shot, and there is no blood, no mess afterwards – so if The Mechanic gets one thing right it’s in the violence it shows – when people get shot here, it’s bloody, it’s messy and it hurts. That’s not to say there isn’t a bunch of over the top action sequences in the movie – there are – and for the most part they are handled well by West, who is never going to be mistaken for a great filmmaker, but knows how to stage an action sequence without resorting to the type of rapid fire editing most action movies employ that give me a headache, and make the action incomprehensible.

I have never really warmed to Statham as an actor. He can be charming and funny, but even in his best work – the early films he did with Guy Ritchie – his characters have struck me as hollow and empty, and his work here is no different. He is saved by the work of Ben Foster, who is full of nervous ticks, and a psychotic gleam in his eye that I simply cannot get enough of. If a great director gives Foster a decent bad guy role, he will knock it out of the park as he has in movies like this, Hostage, Alpha Dog, 30 Days of Night and 3:10 to Yuma – he just needs to be in a better movie. Donald Sutherland adds a little old school charm to his brief role as well. Tony Goldwyn is as bland and generic as he normally is as the bad guy.

Overall, I quite enjoyed The Mechanic for West’s direction and Foster’s great performance. This is the type of action movie that I still enjoy, even as it runs down one cliché after another. In fact, had the movie ended one or two scenes earlier, I most likely would have upped my rating by half a star. But the movie insists on giving us a “happy” ending, which makes no sense, since no one in the movie is really a good guy – and no one deserves a happy ending. The Mechanic is a fun time waster for most of its running time, but its ending angered me.