Mar 29, 2012

Lundgren Confirms "R", it wasn't Norris nor Stallone

According to Empire in an interview with Lundgren, he has confirmed that EX2 "it's now R again". He further added that "Stallone's basic setting is to make it very violent. That's just in his personality, and if it was me I would do the same."

Norris had first started the PG-13 rumor as he claimed not to want to make movies that had hard language in them, convincing the EX2 producers to tone the movie down to PG-13. Later Stallone confirmed the rumor through AICN which led to one of the biggest fan protests against the producers & Stallone. But, Dolph revealed in his interview that it was "actually a moot point for Norris, who has his own unique way of making his films accessible anyway. Chuck likes to re-cut all of his films before he shows them to his kids. He told me he has his own editor. So it's irrelevant! He could make it a G-rating if he wanted to!"
So if what Lundgren says about Norris is true, it confirms what the Blog had reported back in January when Norris gave his interview in Poland: he wasn't the one puling the strings but the producers instead. Norris was simply taking advantage of the situation to promote his new boyscout image. This is what Lundgren had to say about the producers confirming Norris wasn't really behind the decision: "I guess the producers figure they can make another $50m if it's PG-13, and if it was my money I might say the same thing! But I think for the fans, if it's tougher it's better." 

The PG-13 nightmare seems to be all behind us, and thanks to Stallone it seems, who was able to convince the producers back to R. Stallone went from hero to sellout back to hero again in just 2 months!

Thanks to Legend of Chuck Norris for tweeting the News!

Mar 27, 2012

50 Best Action Stars In Movie History Contains 8 EX2 Actors

Complex has published the list of 50 Best Action Stars In Movie History, and the list contains 8 of the EX2 Actors. The list is of course up for debate, is missing a few actors and contains a few that should not be there (IMO), but 8 out of 50 means 16% of all time Best Action Stars have screen time in EX2, not bad for a $100M movie!

You can find the complete list here. Below are the EX2 actors that were listed by Complex and their ranking.

1. Sylvester Stallone

2. Arnold Schwarzenegger

4. Bruce Willis

11. Jason Statham

12. Chuck Norris

13. Jean-Claude Van Damme
15. Jet Li
31. Dolph Lundgren

Mar 26, 2012

Get Ready, Adkins Will Fight Statham

My friend Mike has been tweeting with Adkins and got him to answer the ultimate question: Adkins will fight Statham. How cool is this now.

@mike5_paris: do you have 1 on 1 fight scenes on #Expendables2 ” Adkins v Statham!

https://twitter.com/#!/TheScottAdkins



Thanks Mike!

Lundgren Talks EX2

A couple of interviews with Lundgren have shown up on YouTube. No big revelation, just confirming what we already know. He kinda confirms EX3 without really saying much.

Mar 25, 2012

The Tomb to Start Filming April 19

I know this is not EX2 related, but we feel that The Tomb is almost like a spin-off of the Expendables, not really but the veteran action fans know what I mean. 

Vinnie Jones has been confirmed for The Tomb. He told The Sun that The Tomb will "Start filming April 19 in New Orleans. Biggest blockbuster of next summer – $120million budget. It's about three cons in prison looking to bust out. Come on Sweaty!" 

Djokovic's Cameo Scene

Here's a glimpse of Djokovic's cameo scene in EX2 captured by 60 Minutes. His scene looks more like a parody, zapping bad guys with a tennis racket, WTF?!


Thanks to Expendables Premiere
.

Goetz on Van Damme in EX2

This is old and was uploaded on YouTube back in February, but we didn't get the chance to report on it since the Blog was on strike. I find this short documentary on Van Damme and his participation in EX2 quite interesting specially because Goetz says a few words on Van Damme's role in EX2, how important he has taken it and that he perceives it as his last chance to revive his career. He also mentions that Van Damme's role is the most important after Stallone's so this should be good news for Van Damme's fans.

 

It was under the guidance of Claude Goetz that Van Damme joined the "Centre National De Karaté" at the age of 11 in Belgium. Van Damme trained for four years and he earned a spot on the Belgian Karate Team.

Mar 24, 2012

More On Which EX Might Die First - Part II

Pre-PG-13 protest, the Blog wrote a few articles where they tried to guess the name of the EX character who dies in the movie as per the official synopsis. The latest revelation by Couture where he gave a clue on his participation in EX3 led me to conclude that although he was thought by many to be one the most probable members of the team to die, the possibility has become less likely.

So which EX character is ruthlessly assassinated by the villains?

To answer the question, in my opinion, we need to break down a few sequences of the movie starting from its end to the point where the EX brother dies in the film.

Why the end? Because this is where the clue will come from. If we believe the now famous speculation that some sort of a large scale battle takes place in an airport (fragments seen in the teaser Trailer) where the EX team helped by Trench (Schwarzenegger), Church (Willis) & Booker (Norris) fights the villains led by Jean Vilain (Van Damme), the EX who has survived all the previous mischief to get to this point of the movie is obviously not the brother who was brutally murdered and the rest of the team is seeking to avenge. Trivial Watson?

So which actors who play an EX character were seen on set when the crew was shooting the final scenes of the airport battle? They were Stallone, Statham, Lundgren, Crews, Couture & Nan (she's not a brother so we know she doesn't get whacked).

Who's left? Li & Hemsworth!

Most fans think Li is the chosen brother, his character if killed has a huge impact on the team and justifies some serious bad ass revenge. Hemsworth on the other hand is the newcomer and those don't get killed (generally speaking) in movies but nothing is excluded. So who dies? Hard to say. If I had to pick I'd say Hemsworth using my logic and Li using my gut feel.

Wait a minute, am I not forgetting someone? What about Rourke? I know by saying this most of you will call me a dumb sausage but I don't want to write him off yet. For several reasons. 

Remember the very first leaked synopsis that was rejected by Stallone? Tool was the EX member that was supposed to get zapped. I know Stallone said it wasn't true, but between us after everything he's said, do we want to believe him? remember the poster and how oddly the new synopsis resembles the first one. I' not calling Stallone a liar at all, so Sly fans please don't shoot me, all I'm saying is that nothing on EX2 has been 100% transparent.

Although Rourke publicly announced his disengagement in EX2 he made the statement that he would do a cameo in a movie that he could not disclose the name. Plus he was seen with Stallone a day prior to the filming of some of the scenes in New Orleans, coincidence you say? I beg to differ.
Li, Hemsworth or Rourke, make your call. I put my money on Rourke, but this is me and not the opinion shared by all at the Blog.

Mar 22, 2012

Couture Talks EX3

Another interview with Couture where he throws an interesting piece of information out of nowhere that he's "probably gonna start shooting Expendables 3 here in the fall after Expendables 2 comes out in August." Simply WUNDERBAR, can't wait to see EX2 and now we get a taste of EX3 that it might be underway right after EX2, pinch me bitte!


Couture Talks EX2

A recent interview with Couture where he talks about his last week shooting in New Orleans, the HK piece with Li, and the accident on set where one of the stunts died and the other one injured.

EX2 Possible Plot: Refresher


Hallo, my name is Gunter and I'm one of the new bloggers of the EX2 Blog team. 

Lack of serious news, I decided to write a short refresher of the EX2 plot according to EX2 Blog. It's been a while since we lost touch with our readers so a refresher wouldn't hurt (discretion advised, possible mild spoiler!):

The movie opens with a mission in Burma where the EX team, with Li but without Statham, kick some serious bad guys ass to rescue one of the biggest action icons of all times, Mr. Schwarzenegger himself held captive in some dark places of Asia.  It is unknown (to us) why the EX team would risk their lives to save this old timer of mercenary knowing that Barney (Stallone) and Trench (Schwarzenegger) are arch rivals. One thing is for sure, Trench will someday pay his debt back to the team.

Coming back from Burma, Mr. Church (Willis) forces Barney into a new mission that takes place in a fictitious Eastern European Country, to take on a seemingly simple job. Li declines to participate but the EX team with their newest members Billy the Kid (Hemsworth) and Maggie (Nan) embark on a task that looks like an easy paycheck. 

Things go wrong and one of the EX members is viciously killed by a team of opposing mercenaries led by a serious bad guy called Vilain (Van Damme). The EXs are compelled to seek revenge. But they get into serious trouble as the opposing force is stronger than anticipated in a hostile territory.

Church gets together with Trench and Booker (Norris), a retired mercenary to think of a plan to save Barney and his team from this doom.

Booker flies into the EX team rescue but his support will not be enough, Church and Trench have to join the battle.

The final & epic battle takes place in an airport where Barney, Trench, Church, Booker, Gunnar (Lundgren)  are reunited to fight side by side against Vilain and his henchman Hector (Adkins).  

We will witness one of the most grandiose action scenes of all times where Stallone, Schwarzenegger & Willis, the three action legends are firing guns side by side.

A final battle between Barney vs. Vilain, should wrap things up, more epic than ever thought.

I can't believe everything I just wrote, too good to be true...

Mar 20, 2012

EX2 Blog Is Back

So here we are, almost two months after we ceased EX2 Blog's activities to protest against the proposed PG-13 rating of the Expendables 2 movie, I officially announce the EX2 Blog's come back, as promised. 

Ceasing EX2 Blog's activities was our way of joining the EX fan community to take action against the PG-13 rating of EX2 in order to push studios to release the movie with an R rating. It was a very hard decision but we did it for the EX fans who were angry and outraged by the PG-13 decision of studios who had chosen money & greed over the very fan base that had made the first movie so successful.

Over the past two months we have witnessed one of the largest levels of a fan community active participation to protest against a decision made by a movie studio. And fans triumphed and their perseverance was rewarded with a message by the key figure of the EX franchise, Stallone himself who despite having been labeled as a "Sellout" by fans has shown courage to announce through his no 1 fan site that EX2 "is an R".

Stallone's unofficial communique has not been further confirmed by any other official source but neither has it been denied. We could by now assume that permission to release EX2 with an R rating has been granted.

Congratulations to all the fans who believed in making this happen and fought consistently by making their voice heard on a number of forums and websites, by sending open letters to Stallone and the producers, by making posters and videos to encourage the movement, by dedicating their websites to allow fans to speak out...

It's been a remarkable movement and victory is well deserved.

I'd like to finish my first come back article with an amusing smile of the lead actress of EX2, Yu Nan. And Viva EX2-R.

Mar 19, 2012

When EX2 Was Still PG-13 - We Thanked The Universe for "The Tomb" - Mild Spoiler!

As reported by Movie Hole 

The near future - Stallone is Ray Breslin, a filthy-rich prison-escapee-for-hire. He likes to test out the high-security prisons that he’s designed by attempting to break out of them.
 
For the past 8 years he has been breaking out of prisons on behalf of the Federal Bureau of Corrections, to test how impenetrable and what flaws might exist in the respective penitential. Man is an absolute genius – smart as an internet entrepreneur and as tough as the bodyguard hired to protect such a mastermind.

When the film opens – much to the chagrin of the grizzled old warden who watches in dismay as one of his prisoners destroys cars and architecture as he makes his way out of the prison.
 
That one, of course, was intended to be Ray’s last (the Bureau, namely Breslin’s main contact ‘Clark’, is a little disappointed to hear that). 

Breslin’s company is based out of a sleek, metal high-rise that houses an office that screams ‘brain!’ what with the complex cubes and various nerd puzzles adoring the shelves and the big guy’s desk. This man can seemingly work his way out of any puzzle, let alone penal complex.
 
He and loyal colleague Abigail (nice plum female lead role), a twenty-something pretty blonde with brains as well as bodacious looks, have been asked to do another job. Though reluctant and despite Abigail’s discouragement, Breslin – and his $10m price tag – caves in.

The Bureau – namely, old friend ‘Clark’ – advise Breslin that he won’t know anything about the next location they want him to break out of. Though said to be a military establishment, the prison-cracker won’t know any of the where’s or what’s.


Breslin ends up in ‘The Tomb’ – Guantanamo Bay 2.0, a private facility that’ll open its doors – and quickly shut them – to whoever can pay. It’s owned by a man named Hobbes.
 
On the inside, Breslin befriends a cheeky, muscular ex-military man by the name of Swan (Schwarzenegger). Swan explains to his new friend that all the prisoners have been sent to this particular establishment because they’re all enemies of the state. They’ll remain in ‘The Tomb’ for interrogation and until the state decides what to do with them. Meantime, Swan advises his new friend to watch his ass – and try not get killed, because dead bodies lead to the cancellation of prison social nights (classic Arnie!).

Prison Warden Hobbes (Jim Caviezel) and his main guard Drake are your typical ice-cold ’80s movie villains – hating on the ‘scum’ they have to cage. Oh, and Drake is said to be ‘Australian’ – think Vernon Wells! 

In order to get out – and help a few new friends, like Swan, escape too – of the floating prison, Breslin has to arm himself with the one thing that might just save his ass : His brain. In several sequences, we get a “mind’s eye view” of Breslin working out the inner structure of the prison – how the rooms are connected, what each room is wired or built of, what machines and systems function in them; it’s a visual schematic if you will.

I don’t want to tell you how it all turns out – though I guess any fan of Sly and Arnie’s knows exactly where and how this thing ends, right? What I will say is that this is the real deal. This is the combo package of the great Sly and Arnie classics of years gone by – imagine ‘Ray Tango’ and ‘Dutch Schaefer’ teaming up (in fact, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Schwarzenegger’s character was inspired or rewritten to be closer in character to his “Predator” hero) to take out the trash, complete with the kind of verbal and tangible arsenal those guys became famous for.
Stallone’s character is very decent, but Schwarzenegger’ Swan is the first ‘real Schwarzenegger’ character we’ve seen in a long time – smart quips, the ability to knock-out cold anyone with just a thrust of his monstrous elbow, and armed with a monstrous gun… this is Dutch Schaefer, prisoner. You’re gonna love it, guys.

“The Tomb” is, excuse my French, the mother fuckin’ Arnold/Sly two-hander we’ve been waiting for. It’s not just a balls-to-the-wall action extravaganza, but it’s a smart one – it’s smartly written with fun characters, and a nifty mostly-original plot, but it’s also been doused in the kind of old school popcorn ’80s actioner tone that “Tango & Cash”, “Red Heat” and “Lock-Up” – to use a few Stallone examples – causing a surge in protein powder sales.

Can’t wait to get a peek of Barry Chusid’s production designs, namely the floating prison – should look a treat.

Mar 18, 2012

Victory Belongs to the Most Persevering - Napoleon Bonaparte


EX2 "R"?

According to Stallonezone EX2 will be rated R, and the confirmation seems to come from Stallone himself: “After taking in all the odd rumors and hearsay, EXPENDABLES II is an R.” 

If true this is great news! But after all the claims & confirmation by Norris, Crews and Stallone himself that this movie was going to be PG-13, this is an odd revelation coming suddenly from Sly after months of silence.

Although I'm impatient to celebrate this news I still would like to wait for it to be more firmly confirmed. Stallonezone is usually a reliable source but their position and actions over the PG-13 controversy have been more than questionable.

I hope it's true, but let's wait a little more to be sure before we come back and cry victory. We have been silent for 2 months to protest, so we can wait a couple of days longer...