Arnold Schwarzenegger and some of Hollywood's other elder statesmen of action movies hit the red carpet in London on Monday (13 August) for the UK premiere of 'The Expendables 2'.

The film is a sequel to Sylvester Stallone's 2010 box-office success and it sees the Rocky and Rambo actor joined by a host of 1980s action stars for a revenge mission motivated by the death of one of their number.

Alongside Stallone and Schwarzenegger, Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme also star, with the latter cast as the villain of the piece.

The movie marks Schwarzenegger's return to full-time movie making after the end of his seven-year tenure as governor of California.

SOUNDBITE Arnold Schwarzenegger saying (English):

"I am very happy, I was very happy to be in the movie business before, I was very happy to be governor of the great state of California and I am happy now to be back again in the movie business. That's the great thing about my life - it's a joyride. It's like going from one thing to the other with great ease and it makes it fun, it makes life spicy."

As for those who have suggested that the likes of Stallone and Schwarzenegger, both in their sixties, are a little too old to be performing the kind of stunts a modern action movie demands, Arnold said that he plans to always "do my best until I drop dead."

'The Expendables 2' will be released in the UK on August 16.