THE EXPENDABLES 2 (Simon West, 2012)

[gearsofwar3]

I saw Ex 2 and it's alot better than EX 1, Dolph had alot more screen time but it made me feel wanting for more or maybe one bad ass fight scene with that big guy in the bar would have been sweet.
Van Damme was excellent great acting and dialogue from van damme it shows that guys like van damme and dolph can act.

I was wondering if Dolph ever would like to do a solo movie as gunner, it would have been sweet just like hugh jackman when he played wolverine in x-men then he went on and made a solo movie as wolverine without the team. It would be great if Dolph could do such a project as gunner.

[Jox]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/f ... s-2-365484

Foreign Box Office: 'Expendables 2' Poised to Repeat as No. 1 Film Overseas

Millennium-Nu Image Films’ The Expendables 2, last weekend’s No. 1 title on the foreign theatrical circuit, is on track to retain its top spot this round.
The action sequel costarring Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Dammes and Arnold Schwarzenegger opened No. 1 on the weekend in France via Metropolitan, grossing an estimated $5 million at some 650 theaters.
In addition, the title drew a total of $4.1 million from 1,109 playdates in Italy (where it ranked No. 2 with $1 million registered at 299 sites for a 10-day market cume of $4.3 million) and in Russia (also No. 2 with $3.1 million bagged from 810 locations for a 11-day market cume of $14.1 million) via Universal.
Universal declared that the sequel is running in each market well ahead of 2010’s Expendables, which grossed a total of $171.4 million on the foreign circuit. After 10 days in Russia, “it has already passed the lifetime gross of The Expendables ($13.7 million).”
In Spain, Expendables 2 opened via Aurum at some 315 situations, drawing an estimated $2.5 million. In the U.K. via Lionsgate, the film’s distributor in the U.S. and Canada, the sequel pulled in its No. 6 second round an estimated $1.8 million from some 465 sites, down 33% from the opening weekend. U.K. cume stands at about $7 million.

Grossed $101 million worldwide in less than 2 weeks.
http://www.rentrak.com/section/corporat ... rts.html#1

[GeneralMcFaiL]

Word of mouth has been very positive here from what I've seen... it'll end up having a good run in the states before it leaves theaters... people are going back to school here and I think people are just exhausted after a big summer... there's just no way a rated R flick was going to do huge business for this time of year... but for what it made IMO it was still a solid opening.

[Ivan, Jr.]

HOT DAMN! One of the best action packed opening scenes in a movie of all time! So much better to get to see Gunnar through out the whole movie. It would have been good to of had Tool meet up with the team in the bar back home after their first mission- Did Tool recommend Liam's "Billy The Kid' to Barney for a try out? Dolph had the best lines in the movie by far. Like every one else, I wish Gunnar would have a good one on one fight with one of the bad guys. JCVD was great as the main villian( even thought I'm pretty sure Sly cast him to have a big fight scene with someone the same size as himself-unlike Steve Austin in TE1) . Scott Adkins also gave a good fight AND acting performance.

[T100]

Word of mouth has been very positive here from what I've seen... it'll end up having a good run in the states before it leaves theaters... people are going back to school here and I think people are just exhausted after a big summer... there's just no way a rated R flick was going to do huge business for this time of year... but for what it made IMO it was still a solid opening.

Plus look at how many big summer films came out this year ppl start saving up their money for other things like school as mentioned

[Mosquito]

Seems that I have to wait until I can watch it. The cinemas around here just show the German version and I refuse to watch that.

[Nikolai Cherenco]

Today I will see him.

[Mosquito]

So how was it?

[Dida]

Tonight I am going to watch it for the 3rd time!

[Nikolai Cherenco]

So how was it?

I was not disappointed. But I'm not too thrilled to 100%. Writing after a German criticism. Dolph was good, but had hardly anything to do. Some scenes with him but were great. The film is awesome .. with some mmmmmhhh ....

8,5/10

[Gieferg]

The problem with Ex2 (parody aspect aside) is - there are some characters without "their moments". In Ex1 Crews had his tunnel shooting scene, Couture fought Austin, Dolph had his one on one with Li etc. Those three characters in the sequel were basically wasted. I can't remember anything Gunner did, that was not comic relief moment, well, maybe one kick in final battle, and he has been driving one of the vehicles at the beginning but nothing really cool like most of his scenes in Ex1. He had much better role in first movie even if he wasn't present in final battle; here, he was present but hasn't done anything special, which is a shame.

And btw whose idea it was to make Statham the second main hero after Stallone? It should've been Dolph

I am disappointed by this movie flaws, it's still nice to watch, but falls short compared to its predecessor. If they ever make Ex3, I hope it will be much better than that. In fact, I'd rather see actual action movie than another sequel based on "gathering of action stars" idea again. No need for Willis, Arnold or Chuck again. I'd like to see a movie about Expendables - Sly, Statham, Dolph, Crews, Couture - just give them some recognizable villain (Kurt Russell? Seagal?) and that's it. Also, kill off some of the heroes to give more tension, and not someone added just to be killed like Hemsworth in Ex2, but someone more important.

And what you guys think of picture quality? For me, Ex2 looked just fugly quality-wise.

[Nikolai Cherenco]

The problem with Ex2 (parody aspect aside) is - there are some characters without "their moments". In Ex1 Crews had his tunnel shooting scene, Couture fought Austin, Dolph had his one on one with Li etc. Those three characters in the sequel were basically wasted. I can't remember anything Gunner did, that was not comic relief moment, well, maybe one kick in final battle, and he has been driving one of the vehicles at the beginning but nothing really cool like most of his scenes in Ex1. He had much better role in first movie even if he wasn't present in final battle; here, he was present but hasn't done anything special, which is a shame.

And btw whose idea it was to make Statham the second main hero after Stallone? It should've been Dolph

SIGN

My German Review:

http://www.zelluloid.de/filme/kritik.ph ... &tid=15679

[preacher]

The problem with Ex2 (parody aspect aside) is - there are some characters without "their moments". In Ex1 Crews had his tunnel shooting scene, Couture fought Austin, Dolph had his one on one with Li etc. Those three characters in the sequel were basically wasted. I can't remember anything Gunner did, that was not comic relief moment, well, maybe one kick in final battle, and he has been driving one of the vehicles at the beginning but nothing really cool like most of his scenes in Ex1. He had much better role in first movie even if he wasn't present in final battle; here, he was present but hasn't done anything special, which is a shame.
...
And what you guys think of picture quality? For me, Ex2 looked just fugly quality-wise.

I agree about all the flaws you pointed out. They just did not bother me that much. I still found this film to be much more enoyable to watch than no 1. In a way it is strange because in many ways it is like they removed much of the stuff that actually worked in the first one... like the darker tone to some characters (especially D).
And in hind sight i find it stupid how the film treated Dolph, Terry and Randy. They where at the but of too many jokes about how stupid they where. So while the characters of Maggie and Billy really worked for me, I question why they introduced these new players instead of expanding on the characters they had.
That being said, I really liked the comedy in Ex2. The dialouge scene at night in the "prop-city" was excellent, as was all of Dolphs comedic moments, most of the one liners and the over the top aspects.
So on a whole Ex2 is for me a much better film but Dolph got handed the short end.

[Jox]

Dutch boxset pre-order (27€)
http://www.bol.com/nl/p/the-expendables ... uct_images

EDIT
http://www.digital-retribution.com/revi ... a/0052.php

Thankfully Sylvester Stallone realised his mistake there, and keeps Lundgren on hand most of the time in The Expendables 2.

Lundgren is given a chance to be more playful, and the film goes a little autobiographical and acknowledges Lundgren's real-life smarts. I was thrilled to see Lundgren on the big screen again, and because the film makes fun of his character a fair bit, it seemed like Lundgren's ego didn't need stroking as much as some of the others'.

The Expendables 2 is an improvement on the first film in almost every way. Now that the characters have been set up, the quest to get everyone together to blow shit up seems much more organic.

A huge step up from its predecessor, The Expendables 2 is silly fun from start to finish. It's big, loud and brazen, and will hopefully pave the way for its stars to do more of what they do best for many years to come.

[Jox]

An excuse and justification for the bad digital intermediate transfer? Had they made 35mm prints like it was shot on it wouldn't look so soft in the theaters...


The Expendables 2 Brings Weak Product Placement Firepower
http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2012/08/27/The-Expendables-2-Brings-Weak-Product-Placement-Firepower.aspx