Sylvester Stallone Forum

Last summer will go down in history as the Summer of the Action Ensemble. The Expendables, Machete, and Predators all hit in the span of about a month or so, and all featured ridiculously stacked dream casts. The Expendables was the biggest box office earner of them all, unsurprisingly. Not that it was the best of the three, but the throwback to the fun, brainless action movies of the 80's certainly simply had the broadest appeal. Making about $275 Million worldwide, a sequel was inevitable.
 
The big news coming out of that sequel is that, unlike the first film, Expendables 2 will not be written and directed by its star, Sylvester Stallone. Stallone is still the driving force behind this film, and is actively seeking out directors for it as we speak. Scribes David Agosto and Ken Kaufman, who previously have collaborated on and Space Cowboys and Curious George, have taken over the writing duties for this sequel.
 
Some may see Stallone's lack of creative involvement as a bit of a warning sign, but those who saw Part 1 and turned any fashion of critical eye upon it are likely breathing a small sigh of relief here. Part 1 was not a terrible movie, but it suffered for its direction, and to a lesser degree, its writing. The prospect of spending another couple hours enduring the outrageously close closeups pinned onto the puffy faces of its stars and egregious use of digital zoom was not something I, personally, was too excited about. 
 
What I am excited about, though, is the potential this sequel has. The prospect of both (or either) Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger playing a more significant part in it has ensured my ticket is purchased.

The first Expendables was more than decent.  Looking forward to a properly manufactured sequel.  I also want to see more Jet Li, more Dolph, and less Charisma Carpenter. 
 
There was some very awkward sexual tension between Stallone and the daughter of the general.  Here's hoping the writers can avoid that type of situation in the sequel.

Didn't see the movie but glad Stallone is still involved.  
He seems underrated in his talents as a director and writer.  

I sort of like The Expendables, just for the cast and the explosions, but it's not a movie I want to see again.  There's just not much to it.  I hope the sequel is better.

I actually thought the directing was perfectly acceptable and yeah the writing wasn't exactly "cerebral," but I don't think it needed to be. I'd actually rather Stallone take over full duties behind the camera and play less of a role in front of it. 
I guess I can't judge the writer crew on their previous entries as the two writers of Transformers also wrote the awesome Star Trek, but even in terms of tone this seems like a massive departure.

My biggest problem with the first one was the CG blood. That needs to stop. It takes something away from the movies that have it. The 80's action flicks didn't need it then and we certainly don't need it now.  
 
And bring in Van Damme all ready!!

@pokeysteve said:

And bring in Van Damme all ready!!

YES, OH GOD THIS PLEASE.

this fills me with much sorrow.  Expendables was lots of fun and i think sly did a great job.  i fear the razzie stallone got nominated for caused him to lessen his involvement on the film; and that is a pity.  the razzie was just nastiness, complaining it wasnt rocky when not every movie from a director has to be epic.  if anyone else had directed expendables, no one would have complained.  i had hoped the fan approval and huge profit would convince stallone to ignore those tasteless elitists, but unfortunately that appears not to be the case.  :( 

WTF POPE, I will not have you saying anything negative about Expendables.

@bale:  I'm just saying, the actual job of directing that picture seemed real rookie. I'm not trying to hate on Stallone, I love the guy lots, and even enjoyed his work on the last Rambo and Rocky movies! But cmon, just about any scene that wasn't stuff blowing up was uncomfortably extreme closeups. It's like I was swimming in the spit on Mickey Rourke's lip. 
 
Not saying the movie needed David Fincher running the show or anything, but it couldn't have hurt!

@Pope:  But it must be PURE. That's why the first one was so amazing. PURITY.

While The Expendables was my favorite movie of last year and is by far one of the most fun action movies ever made, its direction was my least favorite part about it. Sly's directing certainly didn't make the action scenes totally incoherent or anything, but they would've been a hell of a lot better without the shakey-cam, especially during the hand-to-hand fights. The writing I didn't mind at all. It was cheesy as hell, but that's kind of the point. 
 
I would really love a more capable action director to helm the sequel, but I still want Sly as creatively involved as he can be. Whatever the outcome of this situation may be, I just hope The Expendables 2 is as fucking awesome as the first.

Finally saw the first last week.  And it was cool for what it was, but there's definitely room for improvement.

From the people who brought you Curious George: The Movie...

Bruce Willis as the main antagonist would be terrific. I'd imagine that he'd be up for it as well considering that he's playing McClane in the next Die Hard film. 

@VinceNotVance:  I thought the same thing... maybe George can be in the second movie as an assassin monkey or something, I'd definitely pay to see that. 

Considering his talent as both a writer and a director, The Expendables definitely was below par. I still think though that to get the real throwback feel, they need a director like John McTiernan and a writer like Shane Black or something along those lines.

I hope Bruce came back. He layed the groundwork for a great trilogy metavillain.

Never got around to seeing the first one, but this is definitely good news.