Sequels time again, this time with a couple of films that already have a following based on a standard template, so you'll be unsurprised to hear that things don't vary far from the norm with either of these productions. Starting off with teenage exploits, it was more by chance rather than preparation for watching The Inbetweeners 2 that I recently happened to catch the first film again. I wasn’t overly impressed first time I watched it, but this further viewing made me shift my opinion slightly so perhaps I had already been influenced pre-review by the below average third series and the terrible conversion rate of British TV comedies to the big screen. This time though there can be no mistake. The Inbetweeners 2 scrapes the bottom of the comedy barrel and only die hard fans need apply. The storyline is basically exactly the same as last time, but this time just substitute Malia for Australia. The main problem is that the crudeness has been increased to lowest common denominator levels and far too many one liners are leader than the leadest of balloons. Though the suggestions from some commentators that the film is misogynistic is laughable - they're fictional characters you bumders! However, I think it says something that the funniest gag from the whole thing ("Fire wankers!") comes from the teaser trailer and isn't even in the final film. Rumour was that 50% of the main cast didn't even want to do this film and that the series creators (Damon Beesley and Iain Morris) weren't keen on stepping up to directorial duties, which goes some way to explaining the by the numbers final output. Moving on, the protagonists of The Expendables 3 have more to worry about than getting their end away, what with a new motley collection of baddies intent on removing them from the face of the planet via various violent means. Having said that, this is the first film in the series where series overlord Sylvester Stallone and his producers have made the conscious decision to tone down the violence in order to get better footfall. It hasn't worked as the box-office has been poor and the film itself just looks badly edited. Patrick Hughes is the director here and he's clearly just a man for hire and badly out of his depth (a great shame as his debut feature was the excellent, though little seen, low budget modern western Red Hill).You don't need the plot for an Expendables film as you already know what you're going to get, i.e. lots of explosions, bad dialogue and thoughts of “Blimey, he really is getting on a bit”. They have tried to mix things up here as well though with the introduction of a new younger group of Expendables (i.e. basically going against the idea of the whole franchise), but almost everything is ruined by the total over-reliance on CGI. Virtually every explosion, shot of a helicopter et al. is digital and it just looks awful. Things also aren't helped by Stallone (hardly known for his sense of irony) taking the whole thing far too seriously (the script has Arnie saying a version of “Get to da chopper” twice, with no hint of contrariness). On the plus side the start of the film begins with a stupendous performance from Wesley Snipes (yes, you’re reading that correctly), but unfortunately his character is soon just relegated back into the cluster of also-rans. I think the fact that I fell asleep halfway through watching this but, within a minute of waking up, had already worked out what I had missed pretty much tells you this ain't Shakespeare, baby. Rating (both films): 4/10.
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