Movies the expendables 2 2012 Genre – Action (R) Ex-action star <strong>and</strong> ex-Californian Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character, Trench, fills the screen, <strong>and</strong> utters the words, “I’m back.” And, yes they are people. Hollywood action stars don’t retire any more, they just get parts in ‘The Expendables’ where they can lampoon their previous career, have a laugh, <strong>and</strong> remind cinemagoers who they once were. This time the team of wrinkly but surprisingly buff action heroes of Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Gunner (Dolph Lundgren), Hale Caesar (Terry Crews), Toll Road (R<strong>and</strong>y Couture) is joined by newcomers, Billy the Kid (Liam Hemsworth), an ex-army sniper <strong>and</strong> Maggie (Nan Yu), a combat proficient computer whiz. Church (Bruce Willis), whom we are uncertain is a good or a bad guy, sends Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) <strong>and</strong> the gang to recover a package from a crashed plane in Bulgaria. There they encounter the very nasty, Jean Vilain, (Jean-Claude Van Damme). During this meeting, amidst much chest beating, something goes wrong (I can’t say what or it will ruin the surprise) which turns the retrieval of the package from Vilain into a very personal vendetta for the group. Along the way, you will join your fellow film patrons in solid laughter as each new action hero arrives on the scene, their characters written so that you will find yourself muttering the titles of eighties films <strong>and</strong> wracking your brain to remember which character had once said THAT line. As expected, The Expendables 2 delivers much knuckle crunching fights, machine gun shooting, <strong>and</strong> kick-boxing action <strong>and</strong> if you don’t find yourself laughing, then it will only be because you are too young to take this trip down memory lane. You will lose count of the dead bodies <strong>and</strong> the myriad ways they die. Stallone reflects on the film, “Maybe it’s the end of an era. One thing is for sure, we’ll never see this again. To get all of us together at one time is a miracle. It will never happen again.” The Expendables 2 provides enough tongue-in-cheek fun, action, <strong>and</strong> nostalgia to score another box office hit <strong>and</strong> I seriously doubt The Expendables, “will never happen again.” I imagine there is a script already sitting in Sly’s out-tray <strong>and</strong> a few emails to buddies beginning with, “I’m back. If you’re not busy...” Reviewed by Susan May http://anadventureinfilm.blogspot.com.au/ for <strong>Suspense</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> � Hit <strong>and</strong> Run 2012 Genre – Comedy/Action (R) The actors were clearly having a good time. The audience was laughing around me <strong>and</strong> I had the occasional giggle, so if you are looking for a bit of light fun with attractive leads, you won’t be disappointed with Hit <strong>and</strong> Run. The film is written, co-produced, <strong>and</strong> co-directed by the lead, Dax Shepard. He does a great job playing the laid-back Charlie Bronson, hiding away in witness protection living idyllically with his soul mate Annie (Kristen Bell). These two have a real chemistry on screen <strong>and</strong> it is not surprising as they are a real life couple. Shepherd appears to have a penchant for rounding up mates <strong>and</strong> making films <strong>and</strong> it was whilst doing press for Brother’s Justice (a mockumentary film with many of this same cast) that the idea for Hit <strong>and</strong> Run was launched. “We kept getting asked what we were going to do next, <strong>and</strong> we just started saying we were going to do a car chase movie,” Shepard recalls. “We had no script or premise, we just knew we loved car chase movies. And because we had said it, we knew we would have to deliver.” In Hit <strong>and</strong> Run, Charlie Bronson (Dax Shepard), a get-away driver for a bank robber gang is in witness protection. He places his life at risk when his girlfriend, Annie is offered an interview for her dream job in LA. He decides rather than losing her, he will drive her to LA despite his case worker Marshall R<strong>and</strong>y Anderson (Tom Arnold) forbidding him to leave. There is an ongoing joke involving R<strong>and</strong>y’s inability to control his gun <strong>and</strong> his car, which work very well throughout the movie. Unfortunately, Gil (Michael Rosenbaum) the jealous ex-boyfriend alerts Charlie’s old gang leader, Alex Dmitri (Bradley Cooper) <strong>and</strong> the rest is a car pursuit that evokes shades of the classic 1977 Burt Reynolds Smokey <strong>and</strong> the B<strong>and</strong>it but in our current era’s ribald style humor. Whilst Hit <strong>and</strong> Run, isn’t going to drive away with any awards, as my companion commented, “it’s good fun, good laughs <strong>and</strong> at the end you feel good.” And if I think back to my first viewing of Smokey <strong>and</strong> the B<strong>and</strong>it, I think I felt much the same way. Reviewed by Susan May http://anadventureinfilm.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/bernie.html � 42 <strong>Suspense</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> September 2012 / Vol. 038
Featured Artist Lainie Chivers From Crayons to Computers Interview by <strong>Suspense</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> Memory Lane
Change language