Expendables 2 Opening
The opening sequence begins with a quick medium shot of a man being tortured, denoted by the man being tied up and beaten. This connotes that the man has been captured for either a crime he committed or for with holding information. The scene is soon followed by extreme long shot of a desert destroyed town, denoted by large smoke emitting from its towers. Though a factory the location appears to be quite isolated, harsh and unforgiving. The audience is soon met by a long shot of a set of un-lisenced cars coming down a hill, denoted by their destructive look and broken wind shields indicating that the people riding these vehicles are a lot of trouble.
As the camera tracks the cars the audience is soon met with a medium shot of the protagonist driving one of the cars. The beret and bullet proof jacket denotes that he is a soldier and the style of uniform indicates to the audience that he belongs to an elite force due to his lack of standard camouflage connoting his sense of responsibility, discipline and importance addressing the stereotype of white middles aged males playing the main role of a movie. This soldier belief is further enforced when the audience is shown a variety of medium shots of different characters of the same uniform behind a large turret guns.
As the cars drive by the audience is met with a medium panning shot of one of the cars side doors that reads "Bad attitude"connoting that the people within these cars don't necessarily follow the rules that normal soldier would and in their situation the things they do could be considered bad. The urgency of the situation is further indicated by the non-diegetic which plays over this part of the sequence- it is fast paced and dramatic suggesting a film with the sub genres of action and thriller, with the use of a swirling orchestral sound giving a heroic feel.
Once again the audience is met with a tracking shot this time through the ruined city driving past flaming debris and the cities victims. The audience is soon met with the first piece of dialogue from one of the characters who says "keep this truck steady toad"- indicating that what ever they are about to do requires accuracy, however this addresses a stereotype since the character saying this is of African descent and seems to be about to commit actions that would be considered the crime. Next the audience is met with a craning long shot of soldiers denoted by their camouflage uniform and armed guns.
A point of view shot is seen, giving the audience a view of what the characters can see as the character drive through the destroyed town. This point of view is followed by a medium shot and a use of special effects as the cars drifts and comes to a stop shooting every soldier in front as it does so. As the cars turn around and drive into a large amount of cement road blocks the use of pleaonastic sounds can be heard as the car collides into the road blocks and sends them flying into their surroundings.
Through out the scene the audience continues to see a large use of special effects as the main characters mow down their opponents around them, whilst the score in the background drops to a more fast paced yet calmer tone leaving its heroic sense in the scene but still creating a sense of thriller in its viewers. The audience is soon met with a change in scenery as they are met with a medium shot of the previous victim at the very beginning of the opening sequence and a lack of a score in the background. Followed by a close up of the antagonist denoted by his rugged look, armed pistol and bandana to represent rebellion against a cause, whilst addressing a typical stereotype of antagonists being of a different nationality.
Once back to the main charcters the audience begins to once again here the non-diegetic score however this time it is faster than before and once again sounds heroic with the use of brass instruments such trumpets. The score soon drops and is replaced by diegetic sounds of a helicopter as it hovers above the character this however doesnt last long as the audience sees a quick cut to the next scene where the character of Asain descent can be seen fighting, once again addressing stereotype this by having the character demonstrate martial arts moves to take down his opponents. The audience is once again met with an array of special effects as the opening sequence comes to an end.
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