This is a blast from start to finish. But I will say that to enjoy this you have to like the stars in the movie and like their respective careers. If you do not, then you're just going to get overly critical about a movie that is pure entertainment.

I loved the movie. It was really great. I watched it in China (opening day, first showing), so I felt, like I did with the first, that a lot of the bloody scenes were cut. It just cut at weird times when I thought something great was going to come. That ruined it slightly for me. What made up for it was the great dialogue and surprisingly interesting scenes of talking/relaxing, which I really wanted because the first movie seemed to move at such a pace. Stallone and Norris are talking on the bonnet of the car, that was nice.

I was sad to not see Novak Djokovic at all after hearing about him having a cameo! Where was he?

Dolph was underused. I will see it again, and again, and again, but to my recollection he wasn't in the final action sequence at all in the airport. I don't remember him firing a single shot there. He should have been more of a ruthless maniac expendable, rather than the comic relief, because quite frankly his acting isn't good enough to do that. I loved the "I could die for some Chinese" and "She's into me" lines. Great stuff. There were lots of jokes in the film, and I also really enjoyed the subplots, like Statham's fiancee and Hemsworth's girl in Paris. Next time I'd like to see more of Stallone and Dolph's personal life; there must be something.

There's so much to talk about with this film that I feel I cannot cover it all now. Randy Couture and Terry Crews were basically second-strong characters that didn't get much screen time. Crews got a little bit more due to his gun and his 'guns', but is reduced to a joke pretty throughout.

The sentimental stuff, like rescuing the Albanian miners, was fine with me. As a lifelong Stallone fan, I know that Sly likes to write this sort of stuff into the script, so I'm used to it, and I liked it. What is wrong with trying to humanize these characters? You can still enjoy the action if that's what you've come for.

Van Damme was a gem as Jean Vilain. I loved his over-the-top [what seemed like] ad-libbing, but in my opinion it should have been more OTT, would've been even better. He needed to be more of a threat too and given more screen time.

When Arnie, Willis and Sly are all shooting in the airport, the camera is not positioned very well at all, and I think that should have been done better. Arnie and Willis are there, but they don't do much apart from shooting, and it felt like we were being given a treat, rather than them being part of the plot.

What surprised me was how most of the shots in the trailer happened in the opening scene. The film offered many more scenes and circumstances than I thought it would, and I absolutely loved how badass Van Damme was - he wanted everyone to be killed, and they didn't try to water him down at all.

I think in he next one Statham really has got to take of his black garb. Go fight in T-shirt and jeans for a scene or two. Mix it up. Sly seemed to change clothing a lot.

Hopefully Li is in the threequel because when he fights there is such an authenticity about it that the others, even couture, cannot match. I love to watch Li. Even in the first one he is sidetracked with care for his family, so it was no surprise to me that he left so early and never came back. I just wish Dolph had more to say. Norris' cameo was fantastic. The music that plays when he came on was great. I thought that Van Damme may have died in a more spectacular way, but Adkins sure did.

Overall, there were a few problems, but nothing major, and this movie really kicked ass. I didn't enjoy it as much as the first because of the high tempo of [and my heightened excitement to see] the first, but I still enjoyed it no end. It has a different pace to this one, but they kept the music the same, thank God for that.

A