It Would Be a Van Damme Shame if You Missed Any of These

Did you miss any of our Greatest Hits reels for the superstars of The Expendables 2? Here they all are, in one handy location. It's one shot of triple-distilled testosterone after the other, so line up those glasses.

Cop a roundhouse kick to your adrenal gland with this video tribute to Chuck Norris' greatest hits, kicks and 'splosions.

A celebration of the kicks, splits and goofy dance moves delivered by the Muscles from Brussels.

The Yippee Ki-A to Z of Bruce Willis' action hero career.

Tracing the cinematic history of the raspy-voiced British action hero.

A look back at the careers of the two titans of action movie excellence.

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Expendables 2 Runs Over Premium Rush at Box Office

As expected, The Expendables 2 remained the box office champ for the second weekend in a row. This was a particularly anemic weekend at the domestic box office, where none of Hollywood's new releases cracked $10 million.

The Joseph Gordon-Levitt bike thriller Premium Rush was dead on arrival, debuting near the bottom of the Top 10. The biggest box office surprise was the anti-Obama indie documentary 2016: Obama's America, which only played in a third of the cinemas as Hollywood's new releases.

Here are the weekend estimates via Rentrak:

1. The Expendables 2 $13.5 million
2. The Bourne Legacy $9.3 million
3. ParaNorman $8.5 million
4. The Campaign $7.4 million
5. The Dark Knight Rises $7.2 million
6. The Odd Life of Timothy Green $7.1 million
7. Premium Rush $6.3 million
8. 2016: Obama's America $6.2 million
9. Hope Springs $6 million
10. Hit and Run $4.7 million

The long delayed horror flick The Apparition debuted in 12th place with $3 million, but it was only playing in 810 locations.

Listen to Keepin' It Reel to find out how we did with our box office predictions!

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Chuck Norris: No Expendables 3 for Me

Action icon Chuck Norris says he has no intention on returning for The Expendables 3.

Norris made the declaration during a red carpet interview with Access Hollywood at the premiere of The Expendables 2. Scrub forward to about 1:15 in the video below for Chuck's full response (thanks to Latino-Review for the head's-up):

Now check out the video below for our Expendables 3 dream cast!

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Strike Back: Cinemax Season One Blu-ray Review

It would be easy to call Cinemax's original series, Strike Back, derivative entertainment. After all, the series is clearly borrowing more than a few pages from franchises like Rambo, The Expendables, 24, MacGyver, James Bond, Call of Duty and literally dozens of others. And usually this sort of obvious creative theft warrants more than a few rightfully deserved criticisms. But somehow Strike Back defies the odds.

The show is so well shot and executed, the flaws aren't nearly as distracting as one would expect. Instead, Strike Back is a balls-to-wall hardcore brainless action series that plays like Roger Corman, by way of big-budget popcorn entertainment. And while the results are often flimsy in the story department, the series serves up loads of intense, pulse-pounding mayhem.

Despite the “Season One” moniker, Strike Back: Cinemax Season One is actually the second series of a BBC show of the same name. As it turns out, the original series was so popular that it spawned this show, a joint venture between Cinemax and the British network, Sky1. This version of Strike Back is largely a reboot of the show, with only one major character returning, and only for a few brief moments. In the UK, this season of Strike Back is referred to as Strike Back: Project Dawn.

For those unaware, Strike Back follows an elite team of soldiers working for a super secret branch of MI6 called Section 20. The season is broken into five two-part episodes. Each episode traditionally deals with the usual Call of Duty-style action as our heroes hunt the bad guys, mostly terrorists. The beauty of the two-part system is that if you don't end up liking one particular arch, no worries. Another one pops up in just an episode or two.

The characters of the series are mostly flimsy one-dimensional cliches, from the womanizing super solider to his strict “by-the-book” partner – we've seen it all before. But instead of pretending the show has any real deep meaning or value to add to these tired archetypes, Strike Back focuses on eye candy of all varieties, be it extreme action set pieces, gratuitous nudity (just about every woman throws herself at the main character) or nasty war violence. The obvious tone adds a sort of comic book feel that lends itself to overall enjoyment of the series, despite the story and character limitations.

Whichever way you cut it, Strike Back makes no excuses for itself – it's a slam-bang James Bond action series, with soldiers instead of classy, well-dressed spies. And the show delivers just enough awesome to keep things fun. The show is dumb, but it seems very aware of that fact, and sometimes that's quite refreshing in its own way.

Strike Back: Cinemax Season One arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of HBO and Cinemax Home Entertainment. The series is presented in 1.78:1 widescreen, encoded in 1080p/AVC and mixed in 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. The season's 10 episodes are spread across four discs.

Shot in HD, Strike Back looks incredibly clean and sharp, with a nuanced theatrical appearance that adds an A-grade charm to the B-level entertainment. The encode is detailed and colorful, with not a hint of artifacting, banding or other annoying distractions. Image depth can get a little flat at times, and some minor motion blur was detected, but this is an otherwise terrific presentation right on par with other HBO releases.

Audio is even sharper, rich with lively atmosphere, perfect mixing and crystal clear dialogue. Action cues are aggressive and engaging, layered with awesome surround usage and intense bass. Rarely, if ever, does this track disappoint. So turn down the lights and crank up your receiver and let Strike Back knock you off your socks.

Extras for this release include five cast and crew commentary tracks spread throughout the season. The tracks are pretty solid, if a little repetitive. The set also includes a DVD and Digital Copy of the season -- a nice added bonus I wish were a standard on all TV releases.

Strike Back: Season One is a mindless action series, but it's just as enjoyable as B-movie thrillers like Taken or TV shows like 24. With a pretty heavy comic book/James Bond feel, the show delivers plenty of fun, plenty of action, and plenty of wild violence, sex and mayhem.

"Never recreate from your memory. Always imagine new places!" Follow R.L. Shaffer on Twitter, Facebook and MyIGN for quotes, rants, reviews, news and more!

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The Expendables 2 Tops the Box Office

The star-studded action sequel The Expendables 2 opened atop the weekend box office, bumping last weekend's champ The Bourne Legacy to second place. The Bourne Legacy fell 55% from its opening last weekend for a current domestic cume of $69.6 million. Newcomers ParaNorman and Sparkle, the latter featuring the final screen performance of the late Whitney Houston, both debuted in the Top 5.

Here are the weekend estimates via Rentrak:

1. The Expendables 2 $28.8 million

2. The Bourne Legacy $17 million

3. ParaNorman $14 million

4. The Campaign $13.4 million

5. Sparkle $12 million

6. The Dark Knight Rises $11.1 million

7. The Odd Life of Timothy Green $10.9 million

8. Hope Springs $9.1 million

9. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days $3.9 million

10. Total Recall $3.5 million

Listen to Keepin' It Reel to find out how we did with our box office predictions!

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Stallone vs Schwarzenegger: Battle of the Trailers

With cinema’s greatest action heroes going toe-to-toe in The Expendables 2 this week, the powers that be decided it would be a good time to launch the trailers of two action movies starring the two biggest stars of them all last night.

Bullet to the Head is an ‘80s action throwback that stars Sylvester Stallone, while The Last Stand is an '80s action throwback that stars Arnold Schwarzenegger.

So with these two long-time rivals going head-to-head, we thought we’d pit their trailers against each other in a winner-takes-all deathmatch. So read on to find out if Sly or Arnie comes out the other side victorious.

THE PLOT

Bullet to the Head

Sylvester Stallone stars as a New Orleans hit-man who teams up with a New York City cop to bring down the killers of their respective partners.

The Last Stand

Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a small-town sheriff who is forced to put his life on the line when a drug-lord enters his jurisdiction while making a break for the border.

THE ACTION

Bullet to the Head

The trailer kicks off with a near-naked Stallone – save for a pair of boxer shorts – kicking the proverbial out of someone poor unfortunate soul in what looks like a bath-house. There follows several montages of quick-fire punch-ups and bodies falling from tall buildings alongside shots of cars blowing up. Lots of shots of cars blowing up.

The Last Stand

Arnie’s film kicks off with a spectacular car stunt involving lots of guns and bullets and continues in this vein, with The Last Stand clearly featuring more than its fair share of car chases, including one involving a school bus. Schwarzenegger himself gets thrown through a door before putting the beat down on one of the baddies, and it concludes with the money shot – Arnie firing a shotgun with purpose, Terminator-style.

THE DIALOGUE

Bullet to the Head

Stallone does tough: “You know who I am? A problem solver. I take out the trash.”

Stallone does racist: “What are you going to do – bring out some kung fu from the homeland?”

Stallone makes a threat: “I swear to you when I get this guy, it’s going to be bad.”

Stallone does funny: “Are we gonna fight, or are you planning on boring me to death?”

The Last Stand

Schwarzenegger gets it wrong: “It’s my day off – should be a quiet weekend.”

Schwarzenegger does serious: “I’ve seen enough blood and death – I know what’s coming.”

Schwarzenegger makes a threat: I’m not going to let that guy come through our town without a fight.”

Schwarzenegger does funny: “How are you sheriff?” “Old!”

THE CO-STARS

Bullet to the Head

Christian Slater, looking like he’s about to get a bullet to the head.

The Last Stand

Johnny Knoxville, looking like he’s channelling his character from The Ringer.

THE STARS

Bullet to the Head

Stallone is looking as tough as he’s ever been in Bullet to the Head, cracking bones and gags with the effortlessness of an experienced pro. Judging from the top-less brawl he’s still in good shape, while the tag-line reads ‘Revenge never gets old,' and from this trailer it appears that neither does Sly.

The Last Stand

Schwarzenegger is looking a little creaky in this one, although that might be because the trailer plays upon his aging sheriff enjoying the quiet life in a small town. That said, once he gets that murderous look in his eye and starts shooting the place up to protect his patch, it’s a bullet-ridden joy to behold.

THE WINNER

Got to be Bullet to the Head, with Sly’s vengeful hit-man narrowly defeating Arnie’s aging law-man on the anticipation front. But that’s just the trailers – we’ll have to wait until next year to find out which film is victorious, with The Last Stand released in January and Bullet hitting in Feb.

Chris Tilly is the Entertainment Editor for IGN and hopes Arnie doesn't read. His idle chit-chat can be found on both Twitter and MyIGN.

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First Look at Arnold and Sly in The Tomb

Summit Entertainment has released the first official still photo from their upcoming prison break action-thriller The Tomb, which marks the first post-Expendables team-up of action icons Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The Tomb follows Ray Breslin (Stallone) who is the world's foremost authority on structural security. He's analyzed every high security prison and has gained a vast array of survival skills. But all Ray's ingenuity and knowledge are about to be put to work in the most challenging test he's ever faced: escaping from the master prison of his own design.Schwarzenegger co-stars as Emil Rottmayer, a longtime inmate who serves as the leader of the prisoners.

The Tomb, directed by 1408's Mikael Hafstrom, also stars Jim Caviezel, Vinnie Jones, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, Sam Neill, Amy Ryan and Vincent D’Onofrio.

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The Expendables 2 Review

With Con Air's Simon West taking over the directing reins from Sylvester Stallone, The Expendables 2 is the star-studded, action epic many fans had hoped for with the first film. The plot is simple enough: The titular mercs (Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, Terry Crews, Randy Couture and new team members Liam Hemsworth and Yu Nan) lose one of their own during a mission overseas.

They then seek bloody retribution against the sinister Jean Vilain (Jean-Claude Van Damme) and his private army, who also just so happen to have access to six tons of weapons-grade plutonium! The Expendables will have to call in some help from fellow, long-in the-tooth badasses -- Trench (Arnold Schwarzenegger), CIA operative Mr. Church (Bruce Willis), and the enigmatic Booker (Chuck Norris) -- to get the job done.

The action lover's dream team doesn't disappoint in The Expendables 2, a sequel that's bigger, bolder and more badass than the original. This isn’t a great movie in the by-the-book sense, but it's loads of dumb fun and an old-fashioned action flick that works as a nostalgia trip for fans of the muscle-bound shoot ‘em-ups of the ‘80s and ‘90s.

The film’s action is non-stop, from the team’s opening rescue of a kidnapped Chinese billionaire to a climactic airport battle pitting the entire lineup against Van Damme and his henchmen. The much-hyped mano-a-mano brawl between Stallone and Van Damme is as brutally awesome as you’d hope, with the former showcasing his boxing badassery and the latter his still formidable kickboxing skills. Indeed, Van Damme is arguably the best one in the movie. He makes for a wonderfully sleazy bad guy – the film has a villain named Vilain! – and Van Damme really seems to be enjoying himself throughout.

Hemsworth brings some heart and not-too-saccharine nobility to his role as Billy the Kid, the young heir apparent to Sly’s Barney Ross, while Yu Nan holds her own with the testosterone-heavy ensemble. The funniest (and most meta) parts of the movie are the scenes with Norris. The movie has great fun playing on Norris’ now comedy fodder mystique in a role that’s a direct nod to his characters from Lone Wolf McQuade and Good Guys Wear Black. Norris’ character here is a one man army-meets-deus ex machina.

Willis seems to rouse himself from his now-predictable sleepwalking through movies long enough to have a nice, tense scene with Stallone early on, and it’s an undeniable hoot to see him and Arnold in action together (especially their funny Smart Car gag). That said, their jokey nods to their most famous movie lines are groaners that fall flat.

Surprisingly, Schwarzenegger is pretty rusty here; his comedic timing is off and he seems like he needed a few more takes to be more like his old onscreen self after so many years away from movies. Lundgren gets a few moments to shine here, with the movie managing to work in a few nods to his impressive academic background, and Statham has a few thrilling knife fight scenes.

As said earlier, The Expendables 2 isn’t a great movie by any stretch – there are some dramatic scenes that play as unintentionally funny, the characters are all paper-thin, and Stallone’s delivery makes Bane sound positively eloquent – but you’d have to be a real tightass to not enjoy seeing Sly, Arnold and Bruce finally kicking ass together on the silver screen. The Expendables 2 certainly ends this summer movie season with a helluva bang.

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Harrison Ford in Expendables 3 Talks

With The Expendables 2 about to hit cinemas worldwide, producer Avi Lerner has been discussing a potential threequel, with some very big names apparently in talks.

Speaking to Total Film, Lerner said “We’ve approached Clint Eastwood to be one of the guys. We’ve got a character in mind for him. We’re talking to Harrison Ford. Wesley Snipes when he comes back from prison. I’ll give you one more name – we’ve got Nicolas Cage.”

And if that weren’t enough testosterone Lerner also has plans for one of the stars of the original who failed to return for part two.

“We’re going to bring Mickey Rourke back, if he won’t be too crazy. I like Mickey. And of course, all the existing stars [will return].”

Which includes the superstar likes of Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Jason Statham and Jet Li.

So are there any other action stars you’d like to see added to the Expendables rosta?

Chris Tilly is the Entertainment Editor for IGN and is all about Rowdy Roddy Piper for Expendables 3. His idle chit-chat can be found on both Twitter and MyIGN.

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