The Expendables 2 - DVD

Movie: The Botox retirees strike again! After Sylvester Stallone was able to gather around him an impressive troupe of action veterans in 2010, including his Rocky IV partner Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke and, in small supporting roles, Bruce Willis and even Arnold Schwarzenegger, and, spiced up with current genre stars like Jason Statham and Jet Li, set the box office ringing strong as The Expendables, the obligatory sequel hit theaters two years later. And this sequel not only has more of what the first part had to offer. Not only more stars, more action and more blood. Much more positive is that the sequel also offers exactly what made the first part so disappointing in the eyes of many action fans: much more self-mockery and humorous coolness.

The story remains of course in the second attempt secondary matter. After Barney Ross (Stallone) and his squad, which has grown to include top-notch sniper Billy the Kid (Liam Hemsworth), return from a successfully completed mission, the mysterious Mr. Church (Willis) pays the swashbuckler another visit. For Mr. Church feels Ross cheated him out of a few million and offers the mercenary a once-in-a-lifetime chance to settle his debt. The Expendables are to recover an item located in a safe in the middle of a recently crashed plane. Responsible for opening the safe and for its contents is the mysterious Maggie (Yu Nan), whom Ross reluctantly accepts onto his team. Still, the job seems easy and relatively harmless at first glance. But as it turns out, the unscrupulous Vilain (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is also after the contents of the safe. With his men, he lures Barney's squad into a bloody ambush. But what he hasn't reckoned with is that when one Expendable's blood is spilled, the others are out for even bloodier revenge and won't rest until the last enemy has passed on...

Stallone handing over the director's chair to Simon West (Con Air) for The Expendables 2 proves to be a really smart move. For West not only knows very well how to deliver the action in a completely over-the-top brutal but always entertaining way. He also skillfully uses the game with the image of his actors in a very humorous way. When Arnold Schwarzenegger, who like Bruce Willis has a slightly bigger appearance in the second part, utters his Terminator line I`ll be back for the umpteenth time and Bruce Willis comments on it in the only right way, it becomes clear that the old men don`t take themselves too seriously anymore. Also with the wonderful guest appearance of Chuck Norris, who is responsible for one of the best sayings of the film, a lot of self-deprecating served nostalgia comes up.

Admittedly, in the more dramatic, emotional moments also part 2 of the mercenary battle plate can not really convince. But West quickly makes it clear that plot is an absolute secondary matter for him. So in the very first ten minutes not only are several buildings reduced to rubble and ships blown up. In addition, countless life lights are blown out in an almost grotesquely brutal manner - of course always with the appropriate cool saying on the lips. Political correctness is out of place here. Here it is only about an unrestrained destruction orgy, which uses the best elements of the 80s action classics and at the same time pays homage to their icons in a humorous way.

The Expendables 2 is certainly not a particularly good film in terms of content. But that aside, at least it's quite convincing in terms of its craftsmanship. This sequel may not be particularly intelligent, but it's just wonderfully irreverent fun that, in the moments when it doesn't take itself particularly seriously (and thankfully that's the case for most of its 100-minute running time), offers action entertainment at its finest. Some of the really good gags, however, will likely only be apparent to viewers who consumed heavy action fare in the '80s or who later became familiar with the genre works of that era. One can already look forward to which action veteran Stallone will bring out of retirement for a possible third part. Absolutely worth seeing!

On DVD and Blu-Ray The Expendables 2 appears in different versions: as a shortened FSK 16 version, as 18er Uncut version or also as a Special Edition with many extras. The FSK 16 version we have for review is of course not a real alternative for fans, as here a whole four minutes of show values have been cut out. The uncut Special Edition, on the other hand, can be warmly recommended.

Picture + Sound: Technically, the DVD is on a good to very good level. The picture is clean and has mostly decent overall sharpness, especially in the brighter scenes. From time to time, however, the picture appears a bit washed out and also a noticeable image noise can be detected here and there. Whether this is an actual weakness in the visuals or a deliberate stylistic device on the part of the director remains to be seen. Since the look of the image changes again and again, this is just very noticeable and could be perceived by some viewers just not as a charming retro style, but as a disturbing weakness.

The sound, on the other hand, can convince all along the line. In addition to the well-balanced dialogue, rich surround effects and decent bass come into play time and again, providing a mighty lot of movement in the home theater. Good!

Extras: The FSK 16 single-disc DVD has no extras to speak of. The 18 single disc offers an audio commentary, while the Uncut Special Edition still offers a making of, deleted scenes, a gag reel, featurettes and more.

Conclusion: The Expendables 2 is (at least in the uncut version) hard-hitting, enjoyably self-deprecating action with a veteran star ensemble that will make the mouths of all fans of 80s action movies water. Faster, harder and above all better than the first part and therefore absolutely recommendable. This is especially true for the Uncut version, no matter if it's the slimmed down single-disc version or the very well equipped Special Edition. The grip to the strongly shortened FSK 16 version can not really be recommended against it, since here whole four minutes worth seeing action are missing

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp