Movie Review: The Expendables
Rated R
REVIEW: 3 STARS OUT OF 4
Just got back from the 80′s homage film “The Expendables” directed by Stallone himself featuring a “who’s who” of 80′s action movie stars (and some newer folks as well). Looks like people “got it” as the film took away first place for the weekend. Here’s some quick notes on how I liked the film and if you’ll like it or not.
The good: It’s short and breezy at well under two hours. Aside from a bit of a clunky beginning with a few too many poorly filmed shots, the film gets moving quickly and never bores. The action scenes are everything they promise to be – big, loud, unrealistic, outrageous, logic-defying, and have huge body counts.The grand finale is almost overwhelming..but there’s a good mix of guns, fists, knives, karate, MMA, air combat, you name it.
The cast is great. The cameos by Bruce Willis and Ahhnold are a bit disappointing, but for the most part they got a lot out of the crew. Stallone and Statham are the key players, with Statham taking on a good bit of the hand-to-hand combat roles. Jet Li is solid, and Mickey Rourke is surprisingly useful in his fairly small role with a well-acted part. A few of the other actors seem to be a bit unused, but there’s so many players that’s probably just reality.
The plot doesn’t matter, if you even really understand it (though there are a few nice nuances). It’s all about the action, and a return to the R-rated, bone-crushing action by cigar-smoking, brutish good guys. While it’s good that action films (such as The Dark Knight) have gotten contemplative, we should never lose the art of simple destruction of evil by the good, using large guns.
The not so good: The film has some fairly poor dialogue and it makes some scenes a little choppy and not flow well. A few attempts at humor work, but some are stale. Additionally, the camera work will give you a bit of a dizzy spell and some of the shots are a bit overlong and you just want to get on with it already. Finally, the CGI that’s mixed into the film is pretty bad at times, fortunately there was plenty of the real deal punches and explosions to not be distracting.
Bottom Line: Marking the end of an era, perhaps, this film delivers on both being an homage, and being able to fit in with any other 80′s action movie pretty solidly. If the purpose is to have fun and watch stuff blow up, everyone in the theater got their money’s worth.
Also, ignore the reviews. If you think you’re going to like this movie, you will.
All the guys are getting pretty old, but it’s clear that they would still beat the tar out of today’s beta male movie stars.
Who will like it: Dudes 24-55. Butch girls.
3 STARS OUT OF 4
