So a couple of days back, I hit you all with the news that Chuck Norris said in an interview that THE EXPENDABLES 2 will be a PG-13 film. This is because Norris had a few conditions and if those weren’t met he wasn’t going to take the role.
This news really got a lot of people fired up, and why shouldn’t it? Do we really want a PG-13 film? Isn’t the whole idea behind THE EXPENDABLES to be a throw back to the balls to the walls action packed films of the 80’s? They certainly were not PG-13! It also gives me horrible flashbacks to DIE HARD 4, an example of a PG-13 action film not working what so ever.
Moving right along, and as much as I hate to say it, what Chuck had to say wasn’t false at all. Sly Stallone himself confirmed the news with AICN, with the following statement: “Harry, the film is fantastic with Van Damme turning in an inspired performance… Our final battle is one for the ages. The PG13 rumor is true, but before your readers pass judgement, trust me when I say this film is LARGE in every way and delivers on every level. This movie touches on many emotions which we want to share with the broadest audience possible, BUT, fear not, this Barbeque of Grand scale Ass Bashing will not leave anyone hungry…Sly”
So what do we trust? The words of Stallone or the stigma of the PG-13 rating?
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…