The "Expendables" franchise certainly deserves some credit for truth in advertising, although I suppose "The Disposables" or "The Predictables" might have been even more on the mark: This is the sort of generic action movie you're already forgetting as the lights come up.

"The Expendables 2" is the full-metal followup to the successful first film, a mercenary shoot-'em-up that was basically "The Avengers" of 1980s action cinema, with Sylvester Stallone supported by the ring-ready physiques of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke and Dolph Lundgren. Rourke is gone in the sequel, but Willis and Schwarzenegger have beefed-up roles, and are joined by Jean-Claude Van Damme and 72-year-old Chuck Norris. (Steven Seagal still can't get no satisfaction.)

The grizzled old-timers are accompanied by relatively younger hard-men Jet Li, Jason Statham, Terry Crews and Randy Couture, with Yu Nan the sole concession to the current taste for kick-ass heroines.