The Expendables 2
Lionsgate | Release Date: August 17, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
51
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 28 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
15
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Boxoffice MagazineAmy NicholsonAug 15, 2012
This over-the-top sequel caters to the lowest common denominator in the best possible way, and it's so fully committed to brainless bombast that it muscles audiences to applaud by sheer force of will. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterJustin LoweAug 14, 2012
The Expendables 2 offers the sendoff adrenaline junkies are seeking before the more sedate pace of fall releases. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumAug 16, 2012
What a fun-dumb relief! In the isolationist Expendables world, all foreigners are bad news. All buddy bonding is done with a wink. All pretenses of art are checked at the door. Someone even says, ''I'll be back.'' (Guess who?) Read full review
75
Slant MagazineJohn SemleyAug 13, 2012
It plays out like a series wet-dream scenarios, performed by a cast of vintage action figures battered and broken from overuse, bleached and slightly molted from sitting in the sun too long. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyAug 16, 2012
Somehow all that testosterone-infused blow-'-em-up craziness turns out to be kind of a kick. Read full review
70
VarietyJustin ChangAug 14, 2012
This muscle-bound meathead extravaganza is a sometimes blissfully cretinous endeavor, delivering the maximum firepower and zero brainpower its target audience expects. Read full review
67
The PlaylistTodd GilchristAug 14, 2012
As a film that even passingly acknowledges the disposability of stars in a genre whose artistic merits are considered negligible (if they're considered at all), The Expendables 2 is indispensable entertainment. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerDavid HiltbrandAug 22, 2012
It's like a bath of stale testosterone as these Hollywood tough guys from the '80s swap references to their most famous movie lines. Their individual entrances are the primary pleasure of The Expendables 2. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliAug 18, 2012
On the whole, The Expendables 2 is more satisfying than "The Expendables." Read full review
63
New York PostLou LumenickAug 17, 2012
More fun and somewhat more coherent than its Sylvester Stallone-directed predecessor, The Expendables 2 serves up a planeload of thickly sliced, well-aged beef and ham amid lots of stuff getting blown up. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia PuigAug 16, 2012
The Expendables 2 is corny, barbaric and sometimes visually murky. But humor and self-deprecating macho charm make this male pattern badness crowd-pleasing fun. Read full review
60
Time OutR. Emmet SweeneyAug 17, 2012
The highlight is a bruising pas de deux between Statham and direct-to-video star Scott Adkins, a sequence that channels yesteryear's testosteronized cinema instead of exhuming it. You can only hope the inevitable third entry will use that as a model. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierAug 16, 2012
"2" works harder to land punches, but when it does, it provides the kind of fun it's fan base hopes for. But expectations, and targets, are lower all around. Read full review
50
The New YorkerAnthony LaneAug 27, 2012
Anyone who soldiered through "The Expendables," two years ago, will be touched, and a little surprised, to learn that there is more to expend. [3 Sept. 2012, p.79]
50
Boston GlobeTom RussoAug 18, 2012
As it stands, The Expendables 2 is lazily satisfied with repeating the first movie's formula, shortcomings and grisly strengths alike. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenAug 16, 2012
Of course, the result is forgettable, but at least it's efficiently and breezily forgettable. What's more, there are laughs too and here's the best part – one or two of them are actually intentional. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriAug 16, 2012
Believe it or not, there's a strange kind of lifelessness to the movie that makes you wish it were dumber -- that it was more obnoxious and louder and crazier. Read full review
50
The New York TimesNeil GenzlingerAug 16, 2012
Mr. Norris arrives just as the blood baths and leaden dialogue are beginning to grow tedious, and his deadpan self-parody is pretty darn funny. More important, it gives you permission to laugh at the rest of this mindless movie, which is the only way to choke it down. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonAug 16, 2012
Does it all have to be so tedious? To the movie's credit, many of the inside jokes are pretty funny, and Mr. Lundgren is close to hilarious as a dissipated Swede named Gunner. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter TraversAug 16, 2012
Like the 2010 original, The Expendables 2 is all sound and fury signifying nothing, when at the very least it should add up to big, dumb fun. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubScott TobiasAug 18, 2012
The Expendables 2 makes a franchise out of a novelty item, and the nostalgic kick is gone: It's a reminder that most of those '80s actioners were xenophobic and dumb, that many of its stars had more muscle mass than charisma, and that the sight of these old fossils referring to themselves as old fossils is more pathetic than cheekily self-referential. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovAug 22, 2012
Why make a new mediocrity when the old ones are still so much more fun to watch? Read full review
40
Total FilmMatt GlasbyAug 17, 2012
"Sometimes it's fun to run with the pack," counsels self-confessed lone wolf Chuck Norris. For the most part, you'd be well advised to choose the opposite direction. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawAug 17, 2012
There's some comedy in there, too, intentional – mostly. As a poignant study of the ageing process, it's on a rough par with "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel." For The Expendables 3, they might want to consider enlisting Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson and Judi Dench. Read full review
40
Village VoiceNick PinkertonAug 14, 2012
Has the parallel between the actor and the mercenary's trade ever been so overt? Read full review
40
EmpireNick de SemlyenAug 13, 2012
A huge, bulging disappointment. Read full review
35
MovielineAlison WillmoreAug 15, 2012
It isn't a movie - it's more like the world's most expensive, elaborate viral video, making a detour to the big screen before being broken up into more easily consumable segments to be consumed on YouTube. Read full review
25
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezAug 15, 2012
Chuck Norris is also in this movie, although you should know that he gets roughly five minutes of screen time, half of those devoted to his telling of a Chuck Norris joke. That is as funny as the movie's self-aware humor gets. Read full review
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