Expendables 2 - Review

Sylvester Stallone has once again assembled a crack team of ageing action icons for this second outing of The Expendables. This time Jean-Claude Van Damme and Chuck Norris are the big names joining Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li (for a minute), Dolph Lundgren, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and others for another round of fighting. After being forced on a compromised new mission by Mr Church (Willis), Barney (Stallone) and his team lose one of their men, so resolve to seek vengeance against the villainous Jean Vilain (Van Damme).

As with the previous iteration, the plot is really just there to contrive different situations where all the superstars can spend time together, a feat it accomplishes with a staggering lack of subtlety. Not that this is a surprise and, in all honesty, the times when they are all bashed together need to be cherished. Chuck Norris’ introduction is a knowing and hilarious highlight, but the tone adopted for his far too brief section – which is also effectively utilised to accommodate Schwarzenegger and Willis – should have been more widespread. Instead, Stallone and director Simon West take matters far too seriously.

A movie featuring almost every action-god on the planet shouldn’t waste time getting Stallone to deliver pants speeches about the cruelty of death. At the most, you want to see Norris talk more about cobras, but other than that speaking ought to be kept to a minimum. You can’t to go for sincerity and then make Arnie compare a Smart Car to his shoe size.

Also disappointing is the lack of imagination. Whenever a group are put together in this way it’s vital that believable obstacles are presented. Avengers Assemble (2012) struggled with this same issue in its final third and, let’s face it, these guys are pretty much superheroes too – beating Schwarzengger, Willis and Norris is going to take more than a few machine guns. But greater firepower isn’t forthcoming and viewers will have to settle for a few choice moments. Sadly, this is a theme that, due to misjudgements in tone, reverberates across the whole film.

Originally posted at: www.newempressmagazine.com

Burma Conspiracy - Review

The Burma Conspiracy is the second in the comic book-based film series that follows the exploits of the young billionaire business heir Largo Winch. After the death of his father, Winch prepares to offload his enormous fortune for charity when he is suddenly accused of crimes against humanity, a charge he denies. The rest of the movie sees Largo travel all over the world trying to unravel the various plots against him and clear his name. But for all its tourist sights, The Burma Conspiracy is one troubled action film.

Not everything goes wrong; director-writer Jèrôme Salle is adept at shooting action sequences and excels at making all the old staples exciting; from exploding buildings to car chases. The standout scene is a fantastically ridiculous skydiving fight sequence that would make Jason Statham’s Crank (2006) proud. Unfortunately there’s just not enough of this kind of action.

Instead the plot turns into a complicated mess, one that runs for nearly two hours, and becomes almost impossible to follow. It constantly flashes forward three years, sometimes twice without going back. The one card it holds close to its chest is the identity of the true villain, yet this is the one thing that’s painfully obvious from the very start. Suffice to say it’s not the Bond-esque caricature played by Dmitri Nazarov, more’s the pity because he’s the one amusing character in the piece.

The performances are an even bigger issue. Tomer Sisley, as the lead, seems unsure of whether he’s in a wannabe James Bond or a hard-hitting drama. Sharon Stone, the big name, fluffs her 15 minutes, although she is given the lion’s share of dud lines and keeps crossing her legs in an increasingly irritating nod to Basic Instinct.

Frankly, The Burma Conspiracy would’ve been greatly improved if it had spent just a little more time deciding what exactly it was trying to do instead of choosing its next exotic locale; this lack of attention resulting in a befuddled, uninteresting mess. Skydiving aside, of course

Originally published at: http://newempressmagazine.com/