No, really, you’ll never guess.
According to Cinema Blend, The Expendables 2 will introduce a female character that “…won’t simply be the damsel in distress. Instead, she’ll be kicking ass and taking names with the rest of the gang.” And they have the photos off the blog site to prove it.
But I really doubt the results will be quite as exciting as we hoped, as Yu Nan is cast as the female ass kicker in the picture.
Told you you’d never guess.
Despite dozens of actresses with action film backgrounds (and I believe most of our favorite choices were covered here), the filmmakers decided to go with an actress with no background in action movies, at least based to my Internet search.
Okay, she was in the film adaptation of Speed Racer. But rather than playing an undercover agent or something cool like that, she simply handed Speed a ticket to get into the big race. Oh, she did star with Dolph Lungren in Diamond Dogs, but I never saw that DTV film and IMDb doesn’t list enough of a plot summery for me to figure out if she was an action hero or damsel in distress.
And, if you clicked onto either of the sites I listed above, you’ve noticed that Yu isn’t doing anything really awesome in the photos. She’s just walking next to Stallone or hiding behind a car while Sly is taking aim with his pistol. She isn’t armed, she’s not kicking anyone in the face, she’s just not doing anything action worthy.
Well, I need to clarify a few things here. First, I’m not implying that Yu is a bad actress. I’ve never seen her work, but she’s won the Golden Rooster (China’s equivalent of the Oscar) and several other awards at international film festivals. And, with the right amount of training, some skillful camera work and editing, and a good stunt team, anyone can look like a major ass kicker. Also, we’ve only been shown two pictures, basically two single frames from a 90-plus-minute movie. I don’t want do the math, but at 24 frames per second, it leaves an awful lot of time for Yu to kick some ass.
Yet, I’m still not happy with the choice. First off, she’s a bit young to be playing off Stallone (she was born in 1978, two years after Rocky was released). And if the two share any kind of chemistry other than grandfather/granddaughter, the film will get into the icky May/October thing endemic to movies with aging male actors, and I’m getting sick of that.
Second, I can think of several actresses with action film backgrounds perfect for the role. Michelle Yeoh, for example, if the script calls for a Chinese actress. She’s gorgeous, has fighting skills and…
Oh, I forgot. She’s almost 50. We can’t have a 65-year old action hero costar with some old lady. Imagine how filmgoers around the world might react. We could have an absolute riot at the multiplex.
Again, I’m not saying Yu will be bad, that she can’t act or that the filmmakers won’t find a way to make her fighting scenes look good (if she has any). I’m just annoyed that, with so many great (male) action stars in this movie, the filmmakers couldn’t deliver one awesome female action star. Just one. And I thought of seven who could pull the role off in the time it took me to type that last sentence.
Well, I guess we should count our blessings. At least they didn’t hire Megan Fox.
PS: I addressed Yu Nan as Yu in the body of the story, as Yu is her family name. I believe that’s proper etiquette, so please forgive me if I’m wrong. The fault is entirely mine.
It's a bit disappointing. Almost as disappointing as the hat Stallone is wearing in that second picture.
All logic and common sense would have pegged Michelle Yeoh for that role. I recently watched Yeoh in REIGN OF ASSASSINS and she's more beautiful now than she ever was. She's got the gravitas of age and still has amazing screen presence.
But I guess Sly doesn't want to risk being upstaged.