“The cast that we’ve pulled together is phenomenal, and without exception,The Expendables 2 is the biggest action-adventure that I’ve ever been involved with,” Sylvester Stallone says, elevating the excitement for the sequel to the 2010 mega-hit.

Add the legendary Chuck Norris, “The Muscles from Brussels” Jean-Claude Van Damme, and hot newbie Liam Hemsworth to the original powerhouse cast of Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Bruce Willis and you’d get an action fanatic’s dream movie.

Barney Ross (Stallone), Lee Christmas (Statham), Yin Yang (Li), Gunnar Jensen (Lundgren), Toll Road (Couture) and Hale Caesar (Crews) – with newest members Billy the Kid (Hemsworth) and Maggie (Yu Nan) aboard – are reunited when Mr. Church (Willis) gets their services for a seemingly easy job. But when one of them gets killed, the Expendables are compelled to seek revenge. In a hostile territory where the odds are against them, and a massive amount of weapons-grade plutonium threatens the balance of power in the world, the crew fights together with some unexpected reinforcements (Schwarzenegger and Norris). And Barney finds himself an opponent (Van Damme) who will stop at nothing to bring him down.

Stallone was already conceptualizing The Expendables 2 even before the first movie was completed. He says, “These guys harken back to a time when our heroes were flesh and blood. They didn’t have any extraordinary abilities other than the desire to survive and to be victorious, even at the expense of their own lives.” Jason Statham whose character is an expert at close counter combats using knives, but is struggling when it comes to his personal life adds, “These are real guys. They are not bullet proof…and each character is screwed up in their own little way…and at the same time they can kick some ass. I think that’s the sort of thing the audience can relate to.” With all these big stars coming together, Stallone made sure that “all the scenes and dialogue are designed to fit each of their personalities, so the audience is going to get a thrill seeing all these different archetypes on the canvas together.”

Majority of the scenes in The Expendables 2 was shot in Bulgaria, situated in southeast Europe. From stunning hidden underground caves to densely-forested mountain ranges, and picturesque Balkan villages untouched by time –all these make for spectacular visuals. “We’re using these locations as characters,” Stallone says, “The caves in Bulgaria, for instance, are world famous. You just can’t duplicate this sort of thing on a soundstage. Some of them are so big that you could fly a plane through them… and we do.”

Showing on August 16, The Expendables 2 is sure to make history. As Stallone says, “Everyone in this movie has had a very stellar career and to get all of us together at one time is a minor miracle. It’s never happened before and it will never happen again. This is going to be quite an experience for the audience…” Brought to Philippine theaters by MultiVision Pictures Philippines and Viva International Pictures, don’t miss this chance to see this once in a lifetime phenomenon.