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The Expendables (2010) – Trailer Included
The Expendables - In Cinemas Now
Director: Sylvester Stallone
Writers: Sylvester Stallone and David Callaham
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mickey Rourke, Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Eric Roberts, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, Charisma Carpenter, David Zayas
“ We are the shadow, the smoke in your eyes, the ghosts that hide in the night.” – Barney Ross
The late 80’s was a time of ostentatious excess and the action films of the era were no different. Gratuitous violence was backed up by a one liner to let you know it was a make believe fantasy, not to be moralized upon. It was OK to laugh as our lone wolf heroes dished out their own brand of vigilante justice, mercilessly slaughtering faceless dilettante soldiers in absurd numbers. It was just a movie. It was the age of Rambo and Rocky, The T-800 and Dutch, Officer John McClane and Joe Hallenbeck, Harley Davidson and The Marlboro Man…I should stop there, you get the point? A time when tough guy killing machines acted with a grunt, looked like they hadn’t showered in weeks and had no problem rationalizing the morality of pulling a trigger.
This is the bullets don’t hurt, steroid ripped muse that writer, producer and star Sylvester Stallone successfully emulates with The Expendables. In the words of Ivan Drago himself "It's an old-school, kick-ass action movie where people are fighting with knives and shooting at each other.” Packing all the preposterous star power of its casting, that it relies on its nostalgic appeal so heavily does not detract from how well it achieves its primary operational directive.
Making sure it doesn’t get bogged down in exposition and stays true to its roots the familiar plot sees Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) as commander of The Expendables. A motley crue of expert mercenaries that consists of Ex SAS blade ninja Lester Christmas (Jason Stratham), the psycho sniper Gunner Jennsen (Dolph Lundgren) and lightning fast Wushu master Yin Yang (Jet Li). The man who make things go boom is Toll Road (Randy Couture) and armory duties fall to Hale Caesar (Terry Crews).
Taking on a suicide mission, the job is to infiltrate the fictional South American Island of Vilena and overthrow General Gaza (David Zayas), a tyrannical dictator lording over his people with fear and destruction.
Explosive annihilations, deadly political corruption and mass carnage follow as our burly bunch of bicep flexing Cro-Magnons reign down bloody Armageddon as saviors of the tropical isle.
Ross and Christmas use the universal hand signal for kill those guys.
John Doe Says:
Solidly footed in the base level of The Dirty Dozen meets Dogs of War scenario The Expendables reinforces its clichéd borders admirably. The behemoth of pyrotechnics and actors doing their own stunts camouflages some atrocious computer effects and pin pulled to early pacing. Jilted dialogue and zingers impossible to say with a straight face napalm the script at times. Despite all this, its adherence to the fundamentals of kaboom filmmaking and the chance to see iconic screen juggernauts from youth face off one more time means there is a lot of forgiveness in the room. It’s easy to be charmed by the familiar profiles and bombastic hyper violence in easily defined good guys and bad guys territory.
The Italian Stallion knows the dirty little secret of heart pounding action and the recognizable faces mean that fight scenes can be edited between characters without ever losing track of position. Making the most of the 80 odd million dollar budget aerial shots are milked and the exuberant sweeping cinematography by Tony Scott regular Jeffrey L Kimball is inserted to add scope and attempt a more epic feel. Without the cast this would probably have been straight to video but the on location urgency beats a tone of adrenalin to help the rollicking adventure.
Hitting all the marks, the car chase is exciting, the carnage excessive in impact and the hand to hand combat well realized. You don’t expect exploration of themes or development in a film of this type and the few times those daunting walls of deeper meaning are scaled the fall down the other side often results in fracture.
Stallone’s screenplay is aware of his muscle bound casts strengths and they seldom have to stray far to stay in character. The actors get to do what they do best and for the most part it’s all physical. A heartfelt and sincerely delivered speech by Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler, Angel Heart) feels out of place because of the sheer caliber of scope that is so lacking in everyone else.
Sly (Copland, Tango and Cash) plays Ross like he was carrying a rucksack loaded with lead, the same way he portrayed the latest installment of Rambo. War weary, tired of the life but resigned to the fact it’s all he can do.
Jason Stratham (The Bank Job, Snatch) is very much second in charge and he executes the knife swipe choreography with athletic prowess to sell the gooey aftermath.
Opting for exuberance Eric Roberts (Runaway Train, The Pope of Greenwich Village) is cartoon villainy personified. Dolph Lundgren brings his A game and comes out looking better for inclusion. Jet Li suffers at the curse of too many lines while the rest get to be strong silent types.
The much touted cameo from the Governator and Bruce Willis is stiff and tacked on. It may be uncomfortable but seeing the trio of legends in the same frame brings a flash of goosebumps.
Leaving Angel from Dexter behind David Zayas makes the most of his role as the manipulated General. The Pro wrestlers and ultimate fighters like Terry Crews, Randy Couture and Steve Austin are easily forgettable.
The Expendables doesn’t warrant all the hype. Without its banner names there is not much to excite. Still it entertains for sentimental reasons. Failing to live up to the films it attempts to carbon copy and catering to a specific audience that John Doe is a member of, this is a mucho guy movie that goes better with a few beers and a testosterone chaser.
Trailer for The Expendables
A sample of the pyrotechnics as a dock is exploded
The opening Gunfight that sets the tone.
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