“The Expendables 2” is the kind of dumb action movie fun we have come to expect from the likes of Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis among others famous in this particular genre. Clearly everyone involved in its making is simply out to give action fans what they want, and while there are no real surprises in store, it is still fun for those who just want to enjoy the R-rated carnage being inflicted onscreen without analyzing this sequel’s threadbare plot too much. It’s also nice to see a lot of these action movie icons come together in the same film, and it helps to make “The Expendables 2” more memorable than its predecessor.

This sequel opens like gangbusters as the Expendables blast their way through a village to rescue someone who looks rather familiar (I’ll leave it to you to find out who it is). Those who survived the first movie (or who proved to be nowhere as expendable as the film’s title suggested) are back, and seeing them lay waste to a foreign army made me wonder if these were the soldiers John Rambo never forgot to eviscerate in “Rambo.”

Afterwards, Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) is greeted by the secretive Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) who gives Ross a mission he is in no position to turn down; recover an electronic device that can help retrieve a dangerous substance that cannot fall into enemy hands. It later turns out that this substance is plutonium, and the gang is met by an especially villainous character appropriately named Jean Vilain (Jean-Claude Van Damme) who plans to sell it to the highest weapons making bidder. This leads to the Expendables losing one of its members in unforgivably cold-blooded fashion, and that ends up making this particular mission especially personal for them.

Stallone once again has the lead role and co-wrote the script, but he has turned the duties of director over to Englishman Simon West. Now West is responsible for “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,” “The General’s Daughter” starring John Travolta, some remakes that vary in degrees of quality (“When A Stranger Calls” and “The Mechanic”), and perhaps the best Jerry Bruckheimer guilty pleasure to date – “Con Air.” While I have no problem defending Stallone as a director, having West take over proved to be a good move. The action scenes are more cohesive, the editing is not all over the place, and everything we see onscreen remains appropriately LOUD.

By the way, those who complain about how loud “The Expendables 2” is, just shut up. All the action movies released in summer 2012 are just as loud, so we should expect the increase in volume by now. Next time bring yourself some ear plugs if you want to preserve what’s left of your hearing!

Now Stallone and Schwarzenegger are definitely showing their age here (Schwarzenegger especially), but it’s great to see them still kicking ass even as they have long since become senior citizens. In an industry that continues to be increasingly youth-based, these veterans prove that the odds against them are more expendable than they are. Seeing Schwarzenegger handle a machine gun is especially fulfilling as he proves that he has not lost aim after getting caught up in the realm of politics for the last few years.

Jason Statham (who returns as knife expert Lee Christmas) almost looks like a kid next to the rest of the cast, Liam Hemsworth as former military sniper Billy the Kid practically resembles an infant next to Stallone which probably makes the majority of the cast feel jealous as a result, and Terry Crews still knows how to rock a nasty looking gun as weapons specialist Hale Caesar (nice name). Randy Couture returns as demolitions expert Toll Road, but he doesn’t get as much to do here. The same goes for Jet Li who plays combat expert Yin Yang who ends up disappearing from this sequel far sooner than we could have anticipated. As for Dolph Lundgren who reprises his character of the volatile Gunner Jensen, he actually grew on me a bit this time around.

There are some “new” cast members who team up with the Expendables this time, and they prove to be welcome additions. Nan Yu adds that needed touch of estrogen to this testosterone dominated franchise as Maggie, a character who provides some of this sequel’s few surprises as she proves to be an expert in more ways than one. The previously mentioned Liam Hemsworth gives “The Expendables 2” that youthful feel of someone who has yet to become as cynical as his hard-bitten colleagues, and he gives a strong performance as a soldier eager to steer his destiny in a new direction.

One action star, however, who I was happy to see here was Chuck Norris who portrays a “lone wolf” retired military operative named Booker (an homage to the character he played in the 1978 movie “Good Guys Wear Black”). Now while I can’t agree with Norris’ political beliefs in real life, seeing him appear onscreen had me applauding. Norris has always had a strong and memorable presence in the movies I’ve seen him in, and he has one of this movie’s best lines regarding a snake.

But one actor I actually had more fun watching than I thought I would in “The Expendables 2” was Jean-Claude Van Damme. His limited acting skills prove to be a perfect fit for this sequel’s main villain, and he creates a perfectly detestable bad guy we want to see Stallone and company beat the crap out of. Now while he may be one of my dad’s favorite actors (I’m just kidding dad), I’ve never cared much for him in movies other than “Hard Target” or “JCVD.” But here, Van Damme proves that he still has those graceful moves as he dares his opponents to take him out minus the use of guns.

I guess I could complain more about “The Expendables 2” as it likely has more plot holes than anyone would notice upon first glance. But hey, in the end this is a movie that should be fun, and for me it was. I enjoyed seeing these action stalwarts come together in one place, and seeing them interact made for some exciting and funny moments. “The Expendables 2” may not reach the exhilarating action movie heights of this year’s “The Dark Knight Rises” or even “The Raid: Redemption,” but it does get the job done. With something like this, that’s usually the best you can hope for.

* * * out of * * * *

Lionsgate has send us over the official poster for "The Expendables 2". Your favorite action heroes Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris, also Jean Claude Van Damme with Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Liam Hemsworth, Scott Adkins and Yu Nan are joining forces to save the world. "The Expendables 2" hits theaters on August 17th.

For more information on this film, you can visit the film's official website at: http://www.theexpendables2film.com

Plot Synopsis:

The Expendables are back and this time it’s personal...

Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Yin Yang (Jet Li), Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren),Toll Road (Randy Couture) and Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) -- with newest members Billy the Kid (Liam Hemsworth) and Maggie (Yu Nan) aboard -- are reunited when Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) enlists the Expendables to take on a seemingly simple job. The task looks like an easy paycheck for Barney and his band of old-school mercenaries. But when things go wrong and one of their own is viciously killed, the Expendables are compelled to seek revenge in hostile territory where the odds are stacked against them. Hell-bent on payback, the crew cuts a swath of destruction through opposing forces, wreaking havoc and shutting down an unexpected threat in the nick of time — six pounds of weapons-grade plutonium; enough to change the balance of power in the world. But that's nothing compared to the justice they serve against the villainous adversary who savagely murdered their brother.

That is done the Expendables way....

This April, Asheville, NC will be the home to the inaugural edition of ActionFest, the world’s first film festival devoted exclusively to action cinema, and to the people who make it possible, from filmmakers to stuntmen and fight choreographers. Created by Carolina Cinemas founder/Magnolia Pictures co-founder Bill Banowsky and famed action director and producer Aaron Norris (Missing in Action III, Walker, Texas Ranger), the festival will take place at The Carolina Asheville cinema from Thursday, April 15th to Sunday, April 18th. ActionFest opens with the world premiere of Neil Marshall’s bloody sword and sandal epic, Centurion, and is proud to announce that the recipient of its first annual Lifetime Action Achievement Award will be none other than legendary martial artist and action movie superstar Chuck Norris!

With an impressive roster encompassing the best contemporary action films from around the globe, including several world premieres, major studio previews and classics of the genre (including some of Norris’s most loved titles), ActionFest will be four days of heaven for fans of adrenaline fueled cinema, with a full list of films to be announced on Monday, March 22nd. There will be a competition section juried by genre experts from around the country, including award recipient Chuck Norris. Additionally, stuntman Kinnie Gibson will be on hand for a demonstration of his famous Flying Rocket Belt, a feat of bravery and technology that’s been featured at the Olympics, the Super Bowl and the Daytona 500! Magnolia Pictures/Magnet Releasing SVP Tom Quinn is head programmer for ActionFest, and Matthew Kiernan is festival director.

Centurion, the latest genre masterpiece from cult favorite Neil Marshall (The Descent), will have its world premiere at ActionFest on Thursday, April 15th. Based on the legendary battle between Rome’s famed Ninth Legion and ferocious Picts of Northern England in 117 AD, Centurion stars Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds, 300, Hunger), Dominic West (300; HBO’s The Wire) and gorgeous Bond-girl Olga Kurylenko (Quantum of Solace, Hitman). Recently acquired by Magnet Releasing, Centurion will open in theaters nationwide this summer.

Chuck Norris will receive the Lifetime Action Achievement Award in person on Sunday, April 18. Best known for the hit CBS-TV series, Walker, Texas Ranger, and over 30 action films, including such genre classics as Return of the Dragon, the Missing in Action and Delta Force films, and Code of Silence, Norris is also a best-selling author and weekly columnist for WorldNetDaily and Creators Syndicate. Next to his family, he feels his greatest accomplishment is the KickStart Kids, a foundation that he conceived in 1992 that’s committed to helping inner city kids by building strong moral character through the Martial Arts. Taught in middle schools, over 63,000 kids have graduated from the program since its inception, most of them going on to college and becoming successful in their own right. KickStart Kids currently has over 6,500 students in the program. In honor of Norris’s appearance at ActionFest, all profits of this year’s festival will be donated to the Kickstart Kids Foundation.

“A festival like this one is long overdue,” said co-founder Aaron Norris. “ActionFest will cover the full gamut of what defines the genre and will pay appropriate respect to the artists who create great action films: the actors, directors, producers, stuntmen, stunt coordinators, and fight choreographers.”

“Aaron and I are very pleased to bring ActionFest to life,” said co-founder Bill Banowsky. “The festival will benefit Asheville, it will benefit fans of the genre, and most importantly, it will benefit worthy causes like Kickstart Kids. And who better for the world’s first action-oriented festival to honor than the iconic Chuck Norris, whose presence at this year’s festival will ensure its success.”

“I set out to do something only when I know it’s going to be done right. And I know that’s how Bill and Aaron have approached ActionFest,” said Chuck Norris. “I am honored and privileged to receive an award from ActionFest and to be part of the creation of the first action film festival, one which has been founded in the spirit of giving.”

ActionFest’s home is beautiful Asheville, NC, voted “America's Top 25 Arts Destinations” by American Style magazine and the “New Freak Capital of the U.S.” by Rolling Stone magazine. The fest will be held exclusively at The Carolina Asheville, part of the Carolina Cinemas chain founded by Banowsky, former CEO of Landmark Theaters. The newly renovated theater features 14 screens with state-of-the-art digital and 35mm projection, plush seating, a bar stocked with over 15 local beers on tap, and sofas and loveseats in four of the auditoriums. The Carolina Asheville has reinvented the movie-going experience in Asheville and has become the most talked-about theater in Western North Carolina in less than one year of existence.

Tickets for ActionFest will go on sale in early April; individual show tickets are $10, while festival badges purchased before April 1, 2010 will be $65. Tickets can be purchased at www.actionfest.com. Follow ActionFest on Twitter at @actionfest.

Ahh, “The Delta Force.” One of my many favorite movies from the 1980’s! Phil Blankenship and Amoeba Music did a midnight showing of this movie the other night at the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles. Although not as packed as usual, the crowd was excited to see Chuck Norris kicking terrorist ass as if he never really stopped. The first time I saw this movie years ago, I was actually surprised at how well made it was. While there are parts of it that are unintentionally hilarious, even more so considering how dated this film has become, the first half of the movie is actually well directed and well written for the most part. The last half of the movie is pretty much what you expected it to be, a cheesy action movie with heroics and explosions. But even on that level, I always thought it was a kick ass experience, and the kind you don’t usually expect to get from Cannon Pictures.

At the showing of the movie, Phil welcomed a very special guest who was in the movie, Natalie Roth. Natalie played the young girl with the Cabbage Patch Kid doll in the movie, and she took the time to take some questions from the audience. She said that Chuck Norris and Lee Marvin were both very nice to work with, and that Lee Marvin was in bad health throughout the shoot (this was his last film before he died). Natalie also talked about getting to see this movie several dozen times to see herself on the screen. Funny how she was let into an R-rated movie considering her age at the time (7 or 8 my guess), but anyway. Today, Natalie still acts and lives out in Los Angeles, and her most recent film is “Forget About It” which is available for rental exclusively at Blockbuster. While a “Blockbuster exclusive” doesn’t really inspire a lot of confidence, it is great to see that she is still around and doing her thing.

“The Delta Force” comes to us from the purported 1980’s king of action movies, Cannon Pictures, led by Menahem Golan (who also directed and co-wrote the screenplay) and Yoram Globus. A lot of their movies would rank in the “so bad it’s good” catalog of films, while other films they released were utter crap that were more depressing and pathetic than laughable. They made B-movie stars out of Chuck Norris as well as Charles Bronson, and Jean Claude Van Damme among others. With all this in mind, you can’t really go into a Cannon Pictures movie with a lot of high expectations (the lower the better actually). That’s why “The Delta Force” is unique in that respect. You don’t expect the writing or the acting to be any good in movies like these, and while there is some laughable overacting to be found here and there, the performances for the most part are spot on.

The film was based on the real-life hijacking of TWA Flight 847 on June 14, 1985, and it uses a lot of those same moments from it like the press conference with the pilot in Beirut. The movie starts off taking some to introduce us to some of the soon-to-be hostages like Shelley Winters and her husband played by Martin Balsam, her granddaughter Ellen whom manages to get her mother to buy that doll she wants. We meet Harry and Sylvia Goldman who are celebrating their silver wedding anniversary, Father O’Malley (George Kennedy) and his two sisters from the church (one played by future “NYPD Blue” star Kim Delaney), and we meet the two terrorists who end up hijacking the plane, and they are played by Robert Forster and David Menachem.

Now having an American actor play an Arab terrorist seems laughable and just stupid, but Robert Forster pulls this role off without it ever being laughable. As Abdul, he makes an excellent villain whose not just another one-dimensional bad guy who revels in what he does. Robert makes him threatening in how much he is willing to die for his brothers, and it doesn’t matter how delusional and crazy he is because he so believes in what he is doing. This movie was made back when Forster’s career was heading seemingly into oblivion, but he did finally make his comeback with Quentin Tarantino’s “Jackie Brown,” and we have not forgotten how great an actor he is since.

David Menachem, on the other hand, seems to overact a bit too much to put it mildly. As Moustapha, his eyes open up so wide that I was convinced they were going to pop out of his head and then ricochet off of one of the hostages. He is a kick to watch, but his performance does generate some unintentional laughs from the audience at the midnight showing. Moustapha is always on the verge of shooting someone, but he never does. The one moment he does shoot happens much too late for him.

Another strong performance in the movie is from Hanna Schygulla who plays the head flight attendant Ingrid. She is put in a very difficult position as the terrorists force her to pick out the Jews from the passports taken from all the passengers. This is another actor who shows a lot without saying anything, and her close-ups throughout the film illustrate how she somehow manages to hold herself together in this horrific situation. I love that moment she has with Robert Forster before she leaves the plane. Robert’s character sums her up perfectly:

“Ingrid, you’re a brave women.”

The second half of the movie is probably what you would expect it to be, a kick ass action movie with the good guys easily defeating the bad guys. At this point, the movie does get a little too corny with the Americans being so gung ho and excited about going into action. We see them laying back on their plane as they head to the middle east, some of them chatting and laughing, others reading the latest edition of Mad magazine.

How many times have you heard dialogue like this?

“OK, let’s rock and roll!”

“Let’s do it.”

I have to say that Chuck Norris is not a bad actor. Many think he is flat out terrible, but that’s flat out not true. True, he is not a great actor like Laurence Oliver and he never will be (even Chuck himself would admit that), but as a film actor he is excellent even if he does play the same kind of character in all the films he does (let alone “Walker, Texas Ranger”). The strength of being a film actor is in showing things without saying them. If you can telegraph how your character is feeling without speaking, then that is the mark of a very good film actor. Chuck back then had a lot of those moments, and he is easily a more competent screen presence than many that came after him be it Jean Claude Van Damme or Steven Seagal, both of who have since been consigned to direct to video hell. Regardless of what you may think of his politics (way too conservative for many), Chuck Norris did have a lot more going for him than many would realize.

Having Lee Marvin in a movie like this certainly gives it more dramatic heft and believability, and that’s even if things get more ridiculous as the movie goes along. His face all craggy gives you all that you need to see how much combat he has been through. It is almost fitting that this was his final movie as he served in the military as a Marine (I believe he was buried in Arlington Cemetery). Lee is perfectly cast as the unsentimental leader of an elite anti-terrorist force who has no time for pity, and who is always looking out for his men. RIP Lee Marvin.

Before I forget, I have to bring up the film score by Alan Silvestri who later went on to compose music for “Back To The Future” and “The Abyss” among others. This is a classic 1980’s score that made much use of synthesizers at the time. It some ways, it is a cheesy score, but I liked it a lot. It hits some strong emotional notes, and the theme song is one that will stay in your head long after the movie is over. I am lucky enough to have this score on audio cassette, and I do listen to it every once in awhile. It was recently re-released on CD as a limited edition, and it was limited alright because it sold out before I got a chance to buy it (DAMN!!!).

“The Delta Force” is easily one of the best movies that Cannon Pictures could have ever hoped to have released. Sure, it led to a lot of crappy knock offs and sequels that were not even trying to be as good. “Delta Force 2” was a direct rip off of Timothy Dalton’s last Bond movie, “License To Kill.” Sure, it had a great and a truly despicable villain in Billy Drago, but jesus this movie was beyond cheesy and stupid! The less said about “Delta Force 3,” the better. Chuck Norris’ film career may have gone to direct to video hell ever since his brother Aaron started directing him in just about every movie he did. But after all these years, “The Delta Force” actually holds up pretty well (that’s probably being a bit generous, but anyway). It has also led to some great retro t-shirts that you can still see popping up on the internet or at the shirt store near UC Berkeley. You may have seen them here and there saying:

“I don’t negotiate with terrorists. I blow them away.”

***1/2 out of ****