The Expendables 2

Blood-soaked action sequel in which a band of heavily armed mercenaries (most prominently Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham) tangles with a host of Russian gangsters (led by Jean-Claude Van Damme) over a trove of Soviet-era nukes. Ageing action stars (including Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger) are thick on the ground in director Simon West's adventure. Though it serves to relieve the macho insult-trading to which too much of the dialogue in Stallone and Richard Wenk's script is devoted, the cast's self-referential and self-deprecating humor fails to retrieve the queasily gore-stained proceedings.

Watch out for: Excessive bloody violence, including torture and decapitation, a vengeance theme, about a dozen crude terms and half that number of crass expressions.

Rated: The Catholic News Service classification is O - morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R - restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.