The Expendables 2...A very quick review

The Expendables 2 mixes all the insane action, comedy and over-the-top moments from the first film with even bigger explosions, fight scenes and memorable on-screen cameos

You had to know that after an impressive first outing, the stars of The Expendables would need to hit it up a notch or five. It's not every day that you manage to have a hugely successful Hollywood action blockbuster that can boast a cast of some of the biggest action-movie stars of all-time in it. With that kind of accolade comes the inevitability of potential sequels and with those sequels comes the potential to fall flat on your face or below epectation.

All I'll say is that if you want action, lots of in-jokes and movie references, copious amounts of violence and as a near-perfect action legend cast as has ever been assembled: this is the one for you.

Stallone, Statham, Crews and Lundgren are the core of this film this time around. Jet Li pops in for a cup of coffee (but has a great, great fight scene in a kitchen), Liam Hemsworth is a valued member for his stint on-screen (possibly big things for that young man in the future), Yu Nan makes the first real female Expendable and Jean-Claude Van Damme is a very worthy adversary to the heroes. After so many films where he was the martial-arts wielding good guy, it was nice to see Van Damme hit his stride as Jean Vilain (who is as 80s/90s action movie bad guy as you'll ever see grace the screen and who who provided a fantastic boss-battle with Stallone).

Chuck Norris returns (albeit briefly) as Booker, a retired military man who let's face it, steals the whole show

However, let's be honest. Explosions, machine gun massacres, speedboats and tongue-in-cheek jokes aside, the real stars are Arnie, Willis and Norris. They literally steal every scene they're in and manage to blend an authentic, old-school action hero in with some clever, witty one-liners. NOBODY does it quite to perfection, as cool, calm and collected however than Chuck Norris (who probably has the greatest part and segment of any film I have ever seen...absolutely cool as hell).

So, I'll leave it there. No plot surprises or spoilers here, just some general views and opinions on what will surely be another huge summer hit. Let me know what you think about this guts-and-glory action epic on here or on Twitter at @markabraham89