The Expendables

Rated: R for strong action and bloody violence throughout, and for some language.
Release Date: 2010-08-13
Starring: Dave Callaham, Sylvester Stallone
Director(s):
Distributor:
Film Genre:
Country:USA
Official Website: http://expendablesthemovie.com/

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‘The Expendables‘, the latest film by Sylvester Stallone, is a no holds barred movie full of man sweat, rampaging bullets, vomiticious wounds, 80’s tattoos and biceps … What more can you ask of from a film with a cast like this? Well, honestly, you could ask for much more. Let’s be clear: ‘The Expendables’ is not an action movie, rather it is a love story with moments of action. It also doesn’t merit a detailed analysis on my part, nor do I think that deserves to be battered, because it does serve up a large dose of nostalgia . Anyway, it is far from achieving what was intended, largely due to a faulty script. Despite this drawback, the plot conforms to what is asked of it and it won’t be unpleasant, it won’t be anything remarkable.

The premise is simple and straightforward – leader and mastermind Barney Ross (Stallone), former SAS blade expert Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), hand-to-hand combat specialist Yin Yang (Jet Li), long barrel weapons specialist Hale Caesar (Crews), demolitions expert Toll Road (Randy Couture), and precision sniper Gunner Jensen (Dolph Lundgren).  Living life in the fringes of the law, these hardened mercenaries take on what appears to be a routine assignment: a covert, CIA-funded operation to infiltrate the South American country of Vilena and overthrow its ruthless dictator General Garza (David Zayas).  But when their job is revealed to be a suicide mission, the men are faced with a deadly choice, one that might redeem their souls…or destroy their brotherhood forever.

Some of the negative highlights can be narrowed down to a few but no larger than the misuse of Jet Li. Known for his spectacular martial arts moves and fast paced fights without the use of weapons, there should have been some intense and epic battle to remind us of the old days. Although there is a small fight with Lundgren, it fails to impress and for the rest of the film he goes almost unnoticed.
 
Obviously by now, you’ve all seen the trailer with Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis in THE SCENE. It really is worth all the hoopla just to experience that.

This film is bad and wonderful. It doesn’t have a great script, the plot is chaotic, and it’s an old dick party reminiscing of the good ol’ days. I’ll give it this, it has some nice moments, but the story is unchallenging which leaves us unsatisfied.

If it had tried something more daring or have brought the full potential of what they had (Stallone and Drago II), it would have hit a bigger jackpot. Nevertheless, the word is that  there is a sequel in the works where they can perfect the imperfections. Let’s toast to that.