And 5 That Sucked:
5. The Expendables 2
The Expendables taught us to never let Sylvester Stallone behind the camera. The Expendables 2 taught us he probably shouldn't be in front of it either. His directorial debut was a witless affair that while explosive had none of the charm the hyper-violent eighties classics it was homaging had. The sequel proves to be a bit more joyous. The action is humorously over the top, but not enough to not make you question if this is entirely by accident. And clearly the actors are having fun. Theres a cameo from Chuck Norris (where he gives the punch line to his own Chuck Norris joke) and Willis and Schwarzenegger quoting each others catchphrases at each other, but its funny in a forced way; you laugh, but are not sure why you did moments after. But while these stop the film appearing any higher on the list, they dont stop it being a slow bore. Despite the overall goal of recapturing the old spark that made the stars names being an honourable one, director Simon West seems set on adhering to modern conventions; for a dumb action film to succeed, you dont need to give each character an emotional reason to fight.