2012 Summer Blockbuster Preview: 'The Expendables 2'

The Expendables 2 (August 17)

I kind of felt like I should be tripping over human entrails as I left the first installment of this hyper-violent series in 2010, but the plentiful gore was somehow overcome by good-sport performances by Sylvester Stallone (who also wrote the script) and his over-the-hill gang of action film stars.

See also: The original Expendables and Eat Pray Love. What do they have in common?

Now they’re back, and who really cares about the plot? The important thing is we’ll get to see Bruce Willis (57), Jean-Claude Van Damme (51), Jet Li (49), Dolph Lundgren (54) and Chuck Norris (72) in full-blown action mode. Plus, while episode one had just a tease of Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger (64) in cameo roles, the trailer promises that at some point they’ll at least pick up some really big guns.

(P.S. Willis returns as bad-ass John McClane in A Good Day to Die Hard in February — on Valentine’s Day, natch.)