As the film opens, group leader Barney Ross (Stallone), Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Yin Yang (Jet Li), Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), Toll Road (Randy Couture) Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) and Trench (Arnold Schwarzenegger) are laying waste to a small village in Nepal in order to rescue a Chinese billionaire.
The dust has barely settled before Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) gives them, along with new recruit Billy the Kid 
(Liam Hemsworth) and CIA agent Maggie (Yu Nan), the next mission: recover a computer hidden in a downed airplane. Things don’t go as planned; the computer falls into the hands of the villainous Vilain (Jean-Claude Van Damme). While stealing the goods, from Barney’s team, Vilain kills one of them, making it personal for the Expendables. The team immediately sets out to exact revenge in the most vicious way possible. At the same time, Vilain has plans of his own, mainly to use the plutonium hidden away in an Albanian mine for his own ends.
If you haven’t had your fill of action stars, even Chuck Norris shows up for a few minutes as Booker, a “lone wolf” type who loves to appear out of nowhere when help is needed. Honestly, I’ve never been a huge Arnold Schwarzenegger fan, but he is excellent here. Arnold’s action scenes are reminiscent of his True Lies days; when his big gun runs out ammunition, he simply discards it and picks up another one and keeps moving. He’s just a bad ass.
If you’re looking for pure escapism, The Expendables 2 might be just the ticket. Full of fast paced action and memorable one-liners, this testosterone filled bash fest is a harmless way to spend a little bit of time. If you love the action genre, The Expendables 2 is everything you want a film to be.
Shown in the 2:40:1 aspect ratio, Lionsgate has provided a solid transfer. Shot with Panavision Panaflex Millennium XL2 cameras, the film has a bold, gritty appearance throughout. Nonetheless, we get great shadow detail and a very natural look to things. Colors are well saturated. It does look like the film has been color graded a bit, but detail is hardly compromised.
The Expendables 2 is the first ever Blu-ray to offer a 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio mix that is optimized for 11.1 DTS Neo:X playback. Though I haven’t upgraded to this yet, let me say, The DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 audio is reference quality stuff. As immersive as a surround mix can get, you’ll feel like you’re right there with Sly and the guys. Dialogue is crystal clear throughout, and there is a fair amount of directional dialogue that pans the sound field. This mix just shakes the room.
The Blu-ray also includes an English 2.0 Dolby Digital mix that is “optimized for late-night viewing.” A 5.1 Spanish Dolby Digital track is also included, as are English, English SDH and Spanish subtitles.
The Expendables 2 arrives in “combo pack” form from Lionsgate. The set includes the Blu-ray and codes to retrieve iTunes and UltraViolet digital copies. The following special features are available:
- Audio Commentary with Director Simon West. West offers some pretty neat anecdotes about a project he clearly enjoyed participating in.
- Gods of War: Assembling Earth’s Mightiest Anti-Heroes (HD; 21:19) is a surprisingly revealing look at the cast.
- Big Guns, Bigger Heroes: The 1980’s and the Rise of the Action Film (HD 24:59) a neat look at the action stars of the 1980’s.
- On the Assault: The Real Life Weaponry of The Expendables 2 (HD; 13:36) takes a look at some of the impressive firepower that’s utilized in the film, with Randy Couture acting as tour guide at Las Vegas’ Gun Store.
- Guns for Hire: the Real Life Expendables (HD; 24:19) a look at mercenaries and security personnel who are paid to do this kind of work.
- Deleted Scenes (HD; 4:39)
- Gag Reel (HD; 5:09)
