THE EXPENDABLES 2 (Simon West, 2012)

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Re: THE EXPENDABLES 2 (Simon West, 2012)

Postby dude hallenbeck on 22 Feb 2017, 12:14

This movie will be especially interesting given it's soft focus moments.
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Re: THE EXPENDABLES 2 (Simon West, 2012)

Postby dude hallenbeck on 11 Apr 2017, 06:22

I re-watched this movie the other night. I must say I've really come around to it.

The characters are all self aware, or more precisely, they're aware they're a bunch of over the hill dads and not some kewl Xtreme heist crew. While the draw of the series is seeing all of the badasses that can possibly fit into one film rack up a body count well into the thousands, the inherent dad-ness of the characters is what helped the series become a bigger IP. Their attempts at 80's action one liners constantly fall with a thud, not just to us, but to the other characters in the film, they get on each other's nerves and never pass up the opportunity to belittle one another and it actually all works in legitimising them as more of a family than other movie teams ever could.

It also helps that other franchises just don't have characters worth cheering for. The Avengers levelled an East European nation battling an A.I. that one of them built and they treated the whole situation like they where at an comedy improv event. The Fast & Furious crew stole money from countless poor Brazilian people and set themselves up with lavish lifestyles in Europe.

Plus they keep the action nice and traditional. When they do come close to jumping the shark, it's small and earned. A full stop to an action scene. Not the focus of it.
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Re: THE EXPENDABLES 2 (Simon West, 2012)

Postby Jox on 26 Apr 2017, 10:22

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http://ultrahd.highdefdigest.com/44262/ ... bles2.html
The Video: Sizing Up the Picture

The UHD release of The Expendables 2 is presented in 4K Ultra HD with an HEVC H.265 encode in 2160p and a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The Expendables 2 was filmed in Super 35mm and finished as a 2K Digital Intermediate before this release, which was up-converted to 4K UHD with an impressive HDR10 / WCG grading.

If you thought the first film looked good, this sequel looks even better, due to a lot of the film taking place during the daytime with much more color and detail than the darker tone of the first movie. Simply put, this movie looks fantastic. The HDR10 looks incredible and definitely gives a boost of color in every scene. Since a lot of the film takes place in the sun, the skies are perfectly blue and everything looks more realistic with great primary colors popping off screen.

The green in the leafs of trees shine and the different planes and vehicles all show excellent colors. Another aspect where the HDR and detail are better than the first film is that a lot of the stunts and effects were practical, rather than CGI. The fire in the explosions are clearer with many more shades of yellow, red, and orange that look stunning. Blasts from every gun look excellent and bright as well. Every color is more nuanced without the darker tone, which plays great in this 4K presentation.

Detail is sharp and vivid throughout, especially in the new lighting conditions, as well as with less CGI, which gives the movie a filmic quality that the first installment didn't have. Closeups reveal great facial features, wardrobe stitching, and details on every gun and vehicle throughout. Wide shots never go soft and rather has some great depth of the various landscapes and sets. All of the dents, dust, and dirt on guns, coats, and planes can be seen easily as well. Black levels are deep and inky with zero crush and the skin tones are always natural. There were no major issues with any banding, aliasing, or video noise, leaving this video presentation with excellent marks.


The Audio: Rating the Sound

This UHD release of The Expendables 2 has an English Dolby Atmos track that is as good and demo-worthy as Part 1. This is a bass-heavy mix, so expect a full royal rumble in your bones and house. There is a lot of heft to it. Sound effects all pack powerful punches, from plane and car engines roaring to tons of guns blasting. Shotguns are deep and hefty and rifles turn it to 11 as well. The explosions capture the full spectrum of sound from all areas that fully immerses you into the chaotic battlefield.

The overhead speakers for the Dolby Atmos track add bullets and debris flying through the air. It's that good. When certain 80's action stars fight with their fists and feet, every punch, kick, and hit is loud, robust, and full of deep bass, giving an extra oomph to every thud. The energetic score always adds to the suspense and flow of the film without drowning out any other sound aspects. The ambient noises of people talking, cars revving their engines, and guns blazing always sound full and dynamic with great directionality.

Every sound aspect is well-balanced and loud, and packed with bass that never crosses into rocky territory. The dialogue is always crystal clear and easy to follow along with zero pops, cracks, hiss, or shrills, although it is sometimes difficult to understand Stallone, but that's a given. Your speaker system will certainly be tired after this audio track. Tell your friends about it.
Final Thoughts

The Expendables 2 is certainly a fun movie and is much sillier than the first outing. Action sequences are top-notch, but the characters all wink and nod to the cameras quite a bit with their famous one-liners, which kind of takes you out of the film from time to time. Still, it's a fun film to watch and goes well in the franchise. The video and audio presentations are both excellent with the Dolby Atmos track being demo worthy. The extras are worth watching too, but there are no new ones. This 4K release comes Recommended!
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Re: THE EXPENDABLES 2 (Simon West, 2012)

Postby Jox on 30 Apr 2017, 19:18

4K Blu-ray review from DVDTalk
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/72018/ex ... ra-hd-the/
Video

4K Ultra HD review for The Expendables praised the video presentation, but with a caveat. The same applies to its sequel, which is presented here at a resolution of 2160p via the HEVC codec at an aspect ratio of 2.40:1.

If IMDB's information is accurate, this film was likely upscaled to the format from a 2K digital intermediate. I don't think there's much I can complain about, but I'm sure others will. The process of upscaling 2K to 4K is something that's fiercely debated on a regular basis. Some believe that because Blu-ray is a 2K format, there's no possible way to extract more information from the 2K DI for Ultra HD, and that's blatantly false. Some transfers are certainly better than others, sure, but the combination of extra disc space, a more efficient codec and the implementation of HDR really does go a long way.

The Expendables 2 does benefit from the increase in resolution as well as the HDR pass, but perception on video quality is likely to be divisive.

While its predecessor was constantly drenched in black, much of the action here takes place during the day, so from an aesthetic standpoint alone, The Expendables 2 is more enticing to watch. There's a bit more color to enjoy, although the film has a ‘cooler' look to it. There's a very wide range of blacks on display, too. They can be deep and inky or come off a little light, but I find the latter is due to black clothing being exposed to brighter environments than we had seen in the original. The brighter end of the spectrum also helps in providing great contrast, and more detail can be seen among much of the fire we're treated to.

So where does the ‘divisive' part come in? Well, for one, it's not the sharpest looking movie. The photography is generally softer than most modern films. Not overly so, but to a degree where some might wonder if they shouldn't have upgraded to 4K. There's no sign of digital noise reduction, so that's not a concern. I know some viewers prefer their HD and UHD products to look ‘clean', and if that sounds like you, steer clear from this release. For the rest of us interested in faithful film preservation, this is indeed a film-like presentation… most of the time. The one issue this release has over The Expendables 4K, is that the sequel occasionally has shots where the grain looks downright noisy. That's not to say it's a tragedy, as the noise appears in one shot and disappears the next, but as grain looks so well resolved most of the time, it's something the audience at home will notice.

If you're after the most authentic presentation of the source possible, then absolutely hop on board this testosterone train immediately. If, however, you're hard to impress when it comes to 4K - meaning you pretty much require demo material at every turn - you should probably pass. As far as this reviewer is concerned, the video gets a solid 4 stars, with one star having been deducted due to the inconsistency of grain.


Audio


Not that I'm surprised, but the Dolby Atmos track is outstanding. It's worth noting that I don't have speakers in my ceiling, nor do I have anything that can simulate that experience. I have a 7.1 setup in my man cave, so that's what I'm judging the sound quality by. That said, this track bests the one on Blu-ray. Everything from subtle environmental sounds to the stuff that make up the action is pinpoint precise, and that's saying a lot because there's a LOT of firepower in this film. The Expendables 2 is just balls to the wall from the get go, and the level of immersion is as impressive as you'd want it to be. As with other Dolby Atmos tracks I've heard on the format thus far, the soundstage seems a bit more open than before. The LFE really kicks whenever appropriate, and dialogue is always crisp and clear, regardless of what's happening on-screen. If you're neighbors haven't called the cops after viewing the first film in the franchise, they certainly will with this one.

Overall

As far as the disc's technical presentation is concerned, it's pretty solid. The grain can look a little noisy at times, but otherwise, this looks very film-like. My only minor quibble was that the grain looked a little noisy in a couple of spots, but otherwise, this looks very film-like. The inherent softness of much of the film (compared to most modern features) will also probably be a divisive factor, but I can't blame the encode for that. Other than that, the audio is phenomenal, but the supplements provided on the Blu-ray left a bit to be desired. Highly Recommended.
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Re: THE EXPENDABLES 2 (Simon West, 2012)

Postby Jox on 02 May 2017, 18:11

Blu-ray.com review
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Expen ... 39/#Review
Video Quality 4K 3.5 of 5

The Expendables 2 is presented on 4K UHD courtesy of Lionsgate Films with a 2160p transfer in 2.40:1. Despite being shot on film and finished at a 2K DI like The Expendables 4K, the transition to higher resolution and HDR is nowhere near as pleasing as that seen in the first film. While the first film enjoyed a somewhat warmer overall look than the 1080p Blu-ray version, here the opposite is achieved, with a cooler, and at times kind of strangely desaturated, appearance that tends to give flesh tones a kind of wan look and which keeps the palette from really popping very impressively. There are some interesting new tones added courtesy of HDR, including a subtle new green ambience to the opening sequence, as well as some rather evocative blues scattered throughout later sequences, and shadow detail in some of the darker scenes, like the nightclub/bar sequence, has improved. But grain resolution is all over the place in this presentation, at times looking at least relatively organic and at other times approaching video noise levels that reminded me of some of the anomalies I mentioned in our Wild 4K Blu-ray review. Pay attention, for example, at right around the 10:00 mark, during an aerial shot over the river, and there's a layer of what looks like mosquito noise that is completely lacking a moment later when another aerial shot of more or less the same area is seen. It's this kind of inconsistency which has led me to downgrade the video score on this release.


Audio Quality 5.0 of 5

Much as with the transition mentioned in our The Expendables 4K Blu-ray review, an already completely excellent audio presentation on the Blu-ray version is continued and arguably upgraded with this 4K UHD disc's Dolby Atmos track. As I mentioned in the review of the first film's 4K UHD presentation, the fun gets off to a great start beginning with the old style Lionsgate gear logo, which has some enjoyable new overhead elements courtesy of the Atmos track. As with the first film, the action sequences in this sequel provide a wealth of immersive opportunities, and both discrete channelization of effects like explosions and gunfire, as well as some omnipresent LFE, make this an unusually visceral listening experience. As I mentioned in the original The Expendables 2 Blu-ray review , the fact that so much of this film is so aurally gonzo means dynamic range isn't especially wide, given the fact that everything is pretty much "turned up to 11" from the get go, but fidelity is spot on, prioritization is generally superb, and the entire listening experience is very, very enjoyable.


Overall Score and Recommendation 3.5 of 5

You know what you're going to get with a film like The Expendables 2, and this sequel delivers the expected goods with quite a bit of force and even quite a bit of fun. The video upgrade here is questionable, but the audio is absolutely
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Re: THE EXPENDABLES 2 (Simon West, 2012)

Postby Jox on 30 May 2017, 11:49

Scott Adkins:
Getting involved in The Expendables projects and seeing your name thrown around with some of the guys that pretty much invented the genre, what was that experience like?

Scott: It was brilliant. For me, it felt like I was getting accepted by my peers, somebody likes Stallone saying, “Come on kid, be in The Expendables. You’ve earned your stripes as an action guy.” Obviously that was a huge honour just to be around all those guys. I’ll tell you what though, it was a battle to try and get on the poster, because (production company) Nu Image were like, “Yes, yes, great.” Stallone, “Yep, put him on.” But Lionsgate they did not want to put me on the poster and that pisses me off to this day. So that pissed me, off to be honest that didn’t put me on the poster, because I felt like I deserved it. But anyway, to be part of the movie was amazing.

Well, I guess there was a lot of big names and there’s limited real estate on a poster I guess.

Scott: They were like, “Man we’ve only got 12 spaces, we don’t want the number 13 in it, bad luck.” “Oh, yeah, thanks a lot.”

Who were you most excited about working with on that film?

Scott: Well, it was my fourth time working with Van Damme at that point so he was old news. For me, you’ve got to love Arnold; he’s amazing. But Stallone, man. Stallone is a true film maker: writer, actor, director. Massive amounts of respect for Stallone. Arnold’s amazing as well, though. But, you know, Stallone, he’s a true filmmaker, man.

Yeah, and he seems like a really sort of grounded guy and he’s someone that can sort of laugh at himself. And I guess once you get to that level and you’ve had so much success in so many different areas you can probably do that. Is that a fair assessment of the type of bloke he is?

Scott: He’s very intense when it comes to the work; he’s demanding excellence from people and himself. Everyone kind of falls in line after Stallone, except for Willis and Schwarzenegger, because Stallone is the boss, he has put the project together, he’s proved himself many times over, he has been good at success and nobody has got a problem with that; that makes perfect sense. But he’s a smart guy though; very articulate, he’s a smart cookie. And to stay on top from the 70s through to even now for so many years, that’s difficult to do; not many movie stars has been able to stay on top for four decades or whatever it is.

I guess some of them were obviously not in the best shape they’ve ever been in, but who impressed you physically? And obviously you got to kind of work physically with a few of the guys, so what were they like to kind of grapple with and go toe-to-toe with physically?

Scott: Well, obviously I only did that with Jason Statham, and the guy is incredible, he’s a true athlete. He wanted it to be perfect; he wouldn’t settle for a take that he didn’t think was his best. We kept going and going and going, very exact in what he was trying to do. And he’s a true athlete, he picks things up very quickly. I’ve done a lot of fights obviously and sometimes you will work with a real fighter, but they don’t know how to translate that to screen and Statham has that in spades; he knows exactly how to make it look good for the camera. And he’s a tough guy, he gets on with it, he obviously puts the effort in. Him and Keanu Reeves I have a massive amount of respect for because it’s clear that they care about the action in their movies and you have to put the effort in to make it look good and it’s clear that they do.

http://moviehole.net/2017117088interview-scott-adkins
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THE EXPENDABLES 3 (Patrick Hughes, 2014)

Postby shooby on 07 Jun 2017, 12:18

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Re: THE EXPENDABLES 2 (Simon West, 2012)

Postby Jox on 10 Aug 2018, 17:14

6 years ago today, I spent the day at the Paris press junket with Dolph: TV interviews alongside Jean-Claude, photo shoot and then press conference those two plus Sly and Arnold, luncheon at the Four Season George V hotel...

While shaking my hand, Arnold joked about how Dolph was so smart because he "always had friends who were taller/shorter than him" (Arnie's sens of humour haha).
At some point JCVD hanged his arm on my shoulder while speaking and joking with Dolph, until he realised I was there and greeted me with a shake of hands and a very serious and respectful "hello, sir!"

The premiere was the night before (my date and I were seated next to JC's parents), and I had breakfast with D on the next morning right before they caught their flight to London...

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Re: THE EXPENDABLES 2 (Simon West, 2012)

Postby Jox on 06 Nov 2018, 00:19

Sad. RIP.

Expendables 2 stuntman dies as Halloween party hanging trick goes horribly wrong
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-new ... n-13537473
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Re: THE EXPENDABLES 2 (Simon West, 2012)

Postby Jox on 21 Apr 2020, 13:41

Limited Mediabooks + bust on the way from Nameless Media
https://www.nameless-media.de/navi.php? ... es&search=

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Re: THE EXPENDABLES 2 (Simon West, 2012)

Postby Jox on 09 Aug 2020, 22:17

The opening is almost like a remake of BRIDGE OF DRAGONS' with 10 times more money (and stars)... :mrgreen:
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Re: THE EXPENDABLES 2 (Simon West, 2012)

Postby Jox on 27 Feb 2021, 11:33

Scott Adkins talks EX2 in the "Adkins Undisputed" podcast
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t ... 0508756980
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Re: THE EXPENDABLES 2 (Simon West, 2012)

Postby savagesketch on 18 Jul 2021, 07:09

New episode for July! Brenton Haysom from All Outta Bubblegum is back to help discuss the sequel we were all stoked for -- THE EXPENDABLES 2! Enjoy!

https://imustbreakthispodcast.wordpress ... ndables-2/

As always, please feel free rate and review the show on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you go to subscribe!
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Re: THE EXPENDABLES 2 (Simon West, 2012)

Postby Jox on 19 Jul 2021, 16:29

You mentioned the singing deleted scene of Dolph / Gunnar's drunk-singing in Swedish:
the originality lied in the fact that is wasn't a bar scene as you said, but that he was fighting, punching and kicking goons at the same time. :)
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