Arnold Schwarzenegger says 'The Expendables 2' gave him a welcome break from politics.

The 65-year-old actor - who was Governor of California from 2003 to 2011 - was delighted to be asked back to star in the sequel to the 2010 action movie because it gave him chance to rest from sorting out educational issues by having a ''shoot out'' with Sylvester Stallone and their co-stars while filming the movie.

He told BANG Showbiz: ''I was happy that I was asked to get in the bag.

''For me it was really interesting because one day you are making policy and you're stimulated in how you fix the budget problem of the state and about the maze of educational issues and all those things. Then the next day you are on the set having a shoot out from with Sly and all those guys.''

As well as the full blown action scenes in the movie, Arnold - who also stars alongside Chuck Norris, Bruce Willis, Liam Hemsworth and Dolph Lundgren - was surprised with how many ''funny scenes'' there are in the motion picture.

Speaking at a press conference in London, he added: ''I think this movie is going to really blow everyone away because there is so much great action and there are funny scenes. I mean the movie made me laugh a lot.

''It has a lot of terrific and funny scenes in there and they are as important for the actual movie because they provide relief. I thought that everyone's performance was great and of course I thought that the first one was almost impossible to top but when you see this one you will see that this one is even bigger and better than the first one and I think it's going to be very successful.''