It's been a really awful summer for movies, but yesterday I was determined to take Michael to the movies. All his buddies were busy. He had helped me around the house. He deserved a break.
So after some discussion, we saw The Expendables 2. It was far more enjoyable than I had expected it to be. Michael loved it. The trailer gives you a good idea of what it's like..
I can sum up the entire movie in four words: OLD GUYS KICK ASS
Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Jean Claude Van Damme, Chuck Norris - every action hero of the last 30 years is one of the Expendable, except Mel Gibson. Mel must have been busy.
There are a lot of weapons. Lots of bullets. Lots of shooting. Airplanes. Huge knives. Big trucks. Brass knuckles. Jet skis. Motorcycles. It's all cool.
Lots of bulging biceps, tight tee shirts, bulging triceps, quadriceps - you name it, all the major muscle groups were well represented. Schwartzenegger wasn't the one showing off, though, it was Stallone, Van Damme, and the younger stars. The Gov and Bruce Willis wore suits, or at least long-sleeved shirts, throughout the film. They must not have gotten the memo about looking beefy.
Oh yeah, there were some younger guys in the movie, too, like Liam Hemsworth and Jason Statham. The focus weas clearly on the older actors, though.
One of the very clever things I have to admire about the movie is that it's reaching for a huge audience. Michael hasn't seen a ton of movies with Stallone and Schwarzenegger. He knows Randy Couture and Jason Statham and Jet Li.So there were the older stars for people in my age category and the younger ones for that crucial teenaged boy demographic.
I have tried to introduce Michael to all the big movies in American culture in the past 5 years. We watched the original Total Recall not long ago. We've watched Rocky.
What distinguishes the older action movies from the ones today is that a movie like Total Recall is about a man's identity, about him trying to figure out who he is, and Rocky [in the original movie] has a similar struggle. He's trying to become a better person, too. The older films have some character development.
The newer action films just seem to be one explosion after another, one car chase after another - very little character development.Almost no dialogue.
I watched an interview on YouTube where Van Damme pointed out the Stallone was always working on the script, giving each character moments to shine in the film. I've no doubt he also inserted some of the funny lines. There are a LOT of funny moments in the film. People often don't realize that Stallone is a writer as well as an actor. He's also directed films. He's a very bright guy.
So this is a huge action movie, but it's also rather funny and poignant, at times, as when one of the main characters says he can't get involved with someone romantically because they always wind up getting hurt. Except he means hurt as in, bullets and knives. You can view that as either brilliantly allegorical, or sorta comic book. Whatever.
It's a fun movie, Expendables 2. Except if you're a middle aged woman who likes love stories. Then skip it.
Finally, I want to leave you with a chuckle. Here's one of my fave funny videos, Cool Guys Don't Look At Explosions:
