How 2012 movie The Expendables 2 short-changed Chinese viewers and everyone else, too – but still made US$315 million
- Jet Li’s brief turn in The Expendables 2 about sums up the Chinese involvement in the film, despite it originally being envisioned a China-US co-production
- Losing Chinese co-production status occasioned hasty script changes, moved the action from China to Bulgaria and saw a plot point literally drop out of a plane
The Expendables 2, the second outing for Sylvester Stallone’s steroidal mercenaries, was meant to be a Sino-US co-production co-starring Donnie Yen Ji-dan, and a significant portion of the 2012 film was to be shot in China.
Things didn’t quite work out that way.
For most of its runtime, the film either downplays its Chinese elements or deals with them very, very awkwardly.
A typical exchange from these past action heroes goes like this: Trench: “I’ll be back.” Church: “You’ve been back enough, I’ll be back.” Trench: “Yippee kay-yay.” You can tell by their faces that even the actors think this is truly desperate stuff.
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“I like using people that had a moment and then maybe have fallen on some hard times and give them another shot,” Stallone told Entertainment Weekly. “Someone did it for me and I like to see if I can do it for them.”
An all-guns-blazing opening sees Ross and co deployed to Nepal to rescue kidnapped Chinese businessman Dr Zhou (stuntman Li Wenbo).
It’s the usual combination of good stunts, bad CGI and groan-worthy one-liners, but at least we get to see Yin Yang (Jet Li) showing off his hand-to-hand combat skills, an enthusiastic foley artist ensuring that the punches sound like gunshots.
Unfortunately for all concerned – the viewers especially – Yin Yang and Zhou literally parachute out of the movie straight after. “Now that’s some real Chinese take-out!” mutters Jensen, hopefully at least a little bit embarrassed.
Co-writer Wenk explains how losing Chinese co-production status occasioned some hasty changes. “The original script called for a big chunk of the movie to take place in China, and at the last minute China decided to rescind their offer to shoot there,” he told entertainment site HN Entertainment.
“We had to come up with a way of having Jet Li stay in China when they never actually went to China … It was Sly’s idea to just open the bottom of the plane and have him leap out instead.”
The Asian elements that remain haven’t received much more thought. Although set in Nepal, the opening sequence was shot in the Bulgarian winter, requiring snow to be digitally removed and CG tropical foliage added in.
The Dr Zhou plot is quickly dropped in favour of a mission to avenge the death of new recruit Billy The Kid (Liam Hemsworth) at the hands of Vilain, who is intent on robbing plutonium from a Bulgarian mine.
Instead of Li (or Yen or Chan), the film’s main Asian character is tagalong technical expert Maggie Chan (Yu Nan), whose sole function seems to be having the hots for Ross – despite the 30-year age gap – while not getting shot.
To Yu’s credit, she does a decent job of both, even as she has to utter some of the film’s most lamentable dialogue. When asked by the other Expendables what her ideal final meal would be, she says, “Crispy aromatic duck with plum sauce, very sexy!” Before making eyes at Ross and adding, “But I like Italian too.”
For some reason, audiences agreed. Despite a number of controversies – including the death of Chinese stuntman Kun Liu, and various environmental complaints – the film made a healthy US$315 million worldwide, with US$54 million coming from China.
