threshold poetical: 'The Expendables 2' Trailer: Five Key Scenes

Sylvester Stallone and his team return to fight an unexpected threat in this action-packed trailer.
By Fallon Prinzivalli

Sylvester Stallone in "The Expendables 2"
Photo: Lionsgate

After teasing the film with exclusive posters and movie stills, the first full-length trailer for "The Expendables 2" finally dropped Thursday (May 3).

IGN premiered the preview to the action-packed film with an intro from Sylvester Stallone himself. "If you thought the first movie kicked some serious ass," Sly says, "you haven't seen anything yet." With an A-List cast including Jason Statham, Bruce Willis, Jet Li, Terry Crews, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jean-Claude Van Damme and newcomers Liam Hemsworth and Chuck Norris, we don't doubt the "Rocky" actor's words.

The film follows the return of Barney Ross (Stallone) and his team as Mr. Church (Willis) enlists the Expendables for a job that seems like easy money. When one of their crew is murdered, however, the revenge they seek leaves them stranded in enemy territory having to combat an unexpected threat.

Check out the five key scenes from the action-packed trailer:

Swinging Into Action
The trailer opens with sirens blaring and the crew propelling down a zip-line into the middle of a forest. As you'd expect, the firing begins immediately as sparks start flying and a truck flips over — and we're only 30 seconds in. Just when you think Barney Ross and his team are the ones doing the ass-kicking, they're surrounded by the enemy. Lee Christmas (Statham) looks over Barney and asks, "That loaded?" Barney replies, "I hope so," and begins taking their captors down one by one with a hidden gun in his hand — or did he? The shot then cuts to newcomer Bill "The Kid" Timmons (Hemsworth), who is hiding in the trees with a smoking gun.

Time to Reload
The team loads their weapons as Barney tells the Kid, "Somebody's hooked." Protecting the world by taking out the bad guys with some heavy artillery — who wouldn't be? The next scene shows Lee in priest robes saying, "I now pronounce you man and knife," and cuts away before we catch a glimpse of who he inevitably stabs. The next clips show various members of the team speeding off on motorcycles, engaging in hand to hand combat, taking down helicopters and setting off explosion after explosion.

The Threat
Our villain comes in the form of Jean-Claude Van Damme (aptly named Jean Vilain) who's planning on using a very powerful chemical to change the balance of the world. World dominance, that's what every bad guy is after, right? As we see his team gathering, the tagline flashes across the screen, "When the threat is this great, everyone is expendable." If everyone's expendable, Barney is going to need a lot more men to get through this one.

Cue Chuck Norris and Arnold Schwarzenegger
Like clockwork the invincible Chuck Norris (Booker) approaches the camera walking away from cars engulfed in flames and smoke. (Cool guys don't look at explosions, remember?) Next is Arnold Schwarzenegger's (Trench) turn to get in a version of his classic tagline: "I'm back." As he says it, he leans out of a window wearing a band of bullets around his chest and casually smoking a cigar. Killing a few bad guys? Been there, done that.

The Plan
When Lee asks the plan of attack to stop the enemy, Barney says, "Track 'em, find 'em, kill 'em." And you guessed it, more explosions, more knife fights, and bullets, bullets, bullets. If you're looking for an action film, you will not be disappointed. One clip that stood out was Church pulling up in a tiny car and telling Trench to get in. He rips the door off the automobile as he climbs in and says, "My shoe is bigger than this car." It hints at the inevitable comedy involved in a film with an all-star cast. In the final sequence, Barney drives a plane into a tunnel and Lee says, "You're going to need a new plane." The two laugh as the screen fades to black.

"The Expendables 2" will explode into theaters August 17.

Check out everything we've got on "The Expendables 2."

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