An ensemble of ageing action stars is not normally the recipe for creating an entertaining movie.
Add to the mix a plot that challenges the senses and you'd be wondering how are the producers going to pull off a box office winner.
But they have. For all its shortcomings, The Expendables 2 will leave you satisfied and entertained as you emerge from the cinema.
The key seems to be that neither the movie nor the cast members take themselves too seriously. From "I'll be back" Arnold Schwarzenegger (Trench) to the mumbling Sylvester Stallone (team leader Barney Ross) to the somewhat ludicrous Dolph Lundgren (Gunner Jensen), this is a cast that wants to have some fun.
It is the action that binds this eclectic cast together. Apart from the old guys, there is the likes of Jason Statham (Lee Christmas), Jet Li (Yin Yang), Nan Yu (Maggie) and Liam Hemsworth (Bill) who know how to win a good fist fight.
Barney Ross and his team of mercenaries are given the task of retrieving an electronic map from a crashed plane.
What they don't know is that an evil group of Eastern Europeans, led by Jean-Claude Van Damme, also covets the map which leads to a stash of enriched plutonium.
Before Barney can gets his hands on the plutonium, he has an army of well-armed men to defeat so he'll need all the skill and violence of his crew to succeed.
The Expendables 2 is full of action, violence, death and humour, all pulled off by a star-studded cast.
And look out for some wonderful Chuck Norris cameo scenes.
