It's cheesy, fun, disposable action pap on a big scale - but, boy, is it lazy.
- Jim Schembri, 3AW, September 07, 2012
The film thunders through its paces, under the energetic direction of Simon West.
- Paul Byrnes, Sydney Morning Herald, August 30, 2012
The plot is limp and the attempts at pathos are close to cringe-worthy, but there's no denying this sequel absolutely delivers in terms of classic testosterone-fuelled action.
- Travis Johnson, FILMINK (Australia), August 30, 2012
The best that can be said of these spectacularly stoo-pid scenes is that you can't look away from them. But my, oh my, you can laugh at them.
- Leigh Paatsch, Herald Sun (Australia), August 30, 2012
Any hope I had of keeping a tally of fatalities in The Expendables 2 was quickly dashed by the opening melee, which makes the last ten minutes of The Wild Bunch look like the first ten minutes of Up.
- Simon Miraudo, Quickflix, August 29, 2012
The pleasure of seeing Arnie back with a (large) gun in his hand, cracking the odd joke at his own and his team's expense, and all the collected weight of a thousand years of action hero experience to call on. Van Damme it, it's a blast
- Andrew L. Urban, Urban Cinefile, August 27, 2012
It's not as good as the first film but if it's mindless bloody action you want with a few wry laughs and you've had a rough day at the office, this will undoubtedly shake the cobwebs
- Louise Keller, Urban Cinefile, August 27, 2012
It's a testosterone feast for fan boys, as it currently stands, and not without its laughs. But it could so easily go so much further.
- Ed Gibbs, The Sunday Age, August 26, 2012
"The Expendables 2" is lazily satisfied with repeating the first movie's formula, shortcomings and grisly strengths alike, just as the first movie was content to slavishly, ploddingly cover the hits of the '80s.
- Tom Russo, Boston Globe, August 23, 2012
Nice to know America's action stars, no matter how old they get, will never lack for gainful employment.
- David Hiltbrand, Philadelphia Inquirer, August 22, 2012
Does exactly what it's supposed to do - no more, no less.
- James Berardinelli, ReelViews, August 19, 2012
Yeah, yeah, I get it: "The Expendables 2" is a fun-loving throwback to the gloriously bad action films of the 1980s. Here's what I don't get: Why couldn't it be a throwback to the good ones?
- Rafer Guzman, Newsday, August 17, 2012
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.
- Rick Groen, Globe and Mail, August 17, 2012
It's hard not to like a movie in which Bruce Willis' toupee-less CIA agent accuses Stallone's ragtag band of mercenaries of engaging in "male pattern badness.''
- Lou Lumenick, New York Post, August 17, 2012
What gives "Expendables 2" its charm is the film's unabashed nostalgia for the genre's best B-movie moments.
- Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times, August 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.
- Claudia Puig, USA Today, August 16, 2012
The movie is excellent crap, fine junk, an exercise in campy movie nostalgia, and a demonstration of American supremacy in the field of nutty cosmetic enhancements for aging movie stars.
- Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly, August 16, 2012
Pleasantly dumb fun if you watch it with the right mind-set.
- Neil Genzlinger, New York Times, August 16, 2012
The Expendables 2 is reasonably cathartic in a fall-down-go-boom way, and if the picture's self-conscious riffing becomes tiresome after a while ... it's still much wittier than its predecessor.
- Stephanie Zacharek, NPR, August 16, 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.
- Scott Tobias, AV Club, August 17, 2012
