News continues to trickle in regarding the follow-up to the guilty pleasure (and frustrating waste of a golden opportunity) that was The Expendables. It looks as though pretty much everyone who survived the first film is set to return, with a bit of added Chuck Norris and JCVD, if persistent internet rumours are to be believed.
Obviously Arnie and Bruce Willis cameoed in the first film, to mixed effect. This time around, director Simon West (ConAir, The General’s Daughter) looks set to give them a little more to do. Frankly, that must be a good move. Arnie hasn’t taken part in a decent action sequence in years and years, whereas Brucie has shown in more recent offerings like RED and Die Hard 4.0 that he still has fantastic action chops, so lobbing them all into some well-choreographed mayhem should be plenty of fun.
Filming is due to kick off in October 2011 for a summer 2012 release, so this should all start coming together pretty soon. Of course calling someone’s role “substantial” is very much eye of the beholder stuff, so we’ll have to wait and see whether we’re talking glorified cameos, or something a little more meaningful. I’d pay good money to see Willis, Arnie and Sly standing side by side, massive guns and rocket launchers in hand, levelling a city block, or an acre of Latin American jungle, but I’ll have to wait like the rest of you.
Reviewed by Dave Roper on Sep 8
Rating:
About Dave Roper