The Expendables: Movie Review

The Expendables: Movie Review

The Expendables
Rating: 5/10
Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, Mickey Rourke, Eric Roberts, Stone Cold Austin, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger
Director: Sylvester Stallone
With a powerhouse line up like the Expendables packs, you would expect something either a) pretty spectacular or b) vaguely nostalgic.
Sylvester Stallone writes, directs and stars in this tale - here he's Barney Ross the head of a mercenary unit who we first see in action taking down Somali pirates who're holding a group of people hostage.
Needless to say they're all crack action heroes and as a unit are available for hire.
Which is what happens when Ross meets with shadowy Mr Church (Bruce Willis) in a brief cameo who asks the unit to try and free the small island of Vilena from the vice like grip of a dictator General Garza (David Zayas of Dexter fame). But it turns out Garza is not just the power behind the coup but there's a bad to the bone American financier Munroe (Roberts) lurking around too.
So armed with guns, explosives and the ability to kick ass, the Expendables head to Vilena to fight for freedom. But what they don't know is that someone's double crossing them&
Well, The Expendables is an odd piece - if you like the names of the cast and have been excitable at the idea of them all being together in one film and a lot of stuff blowing up, then this is the film for you. It's the kind of action packed film where people don't get shot once because that's not good enough - they need maybe 5 or 6 bullets to finish them off or if they're really lucky, they can explode in half when shot.
Personally the whole thing left me a little cold - it was almost as if I'd gone back to the 1980s and was watching an action film from then - complete with bad dialogue and a relative lack of decent plot. Sure I get that that is half of the idea (before anyone tells me).
Don't get me wrong - the line up is an incredibly impressive one and it's clear that this is trying to set up a new generation of films using the old generation of actors. And yes, it's very impressive seeing them still strut their stuff (some of the fight scenes have clearly been made and directed by a veteran of the genre) - but there is hardly anything new on show here - except for some extremely big and impressive explosions.
There's also a lack of humour running throughout - and the one scene where it does appear is a reunion of the Planet Hollywood guys Bruce, Sly and Arnie. In that one single scene alone, the whole film starts to come alive.
Yet there is something to admire in The Expendables - once again Mickey Rourke shows himself to be a brilliant character actor with a lot of gravitas during a scene when he talks about being in Bosnia. It's the one moment in the film which shines out. There's a good relationship between Stallone's character and Jason Statham's character - they work well as buddies.
That said, each of the main actors gets some time to shine; Statham's character Christmas is given a girlfriend who grounds him and gives him heart; Jet Li gets to bust out some impressive moves and Eric Roberts gets to chew up the scenery around him.
There's nothing massively wrong with the Expendables - it's just the whole experience is once again, one of those which you leave your brain at the door and just settle in for the ride.

I appreciate there's a place in the multiplexes for films like this - and judging by the mammoth US Box office take, this is likely to do well - but I caution you unless you're a fan of films with a lack of real plot, glowering and sneering bad guys, hardly any strong female roles, plenty of things being shot and blown up, then you're not going to get a lot from the Expendables experience.