Director: Sylvester Stallone
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham & Jet Li
While featuring a, unsurprisingly, predictable plot and its characters being largely two-dimensional, The Expendables certainly features enough old-fashioned action and an impressive, if aging cast, that there is enough to excite fans of these stars and of the 1980s/1990s action films of whose tone is trying to be captured here.
Several years in the making and boasting a cast of some of the biggest heavyweights of 1980s and 1990s action cinema, The Expendables seems like a dream film for many an action fan. The Expendables is the latest film in Sylvester Stallone’s comeback after reviving his characters of Rocky Balboa and Rambo to mixed results (Rocky Balboa was a touching look back at an aging pro’s career, Rambo a disappointing flop). This time Stallone tries for something more ambitious in uniting other action legends many of whom, like Stallone, haven’t seen successes today to match their glory days. While some names like Seagal, Van Damme and Snipes turned down roles, others like Lundgren, Li, Rourke, Willis and Schwarzenegger accepted and are complemented by current action stars like Statham and wrestlers like Austin and Couture looking to build film careers. The resulting film is one that could never live up to expectations of audiences and doesn’t really try to either which is disappointing but there are enough fun moments and action to make this a worthwhile film for fans of the genre and these stars.
Having recently had to expel a teammate from going too far, Barney Ross (Stallone) and his mercenary team dubbed ‘The Expendables’ are called upon by a CIA operative named Church (Bruce Willis) to take on a mission on the island of Vilena where a general named Garza (David Zayas) has become a dictator and with the help of a former CIA operative named Munroe (Eric Roberts), have enslaved the island and producing mass amounts of heroin. The Expendables’ mission is to oust Garza and Monroe but, to do so, must face down an army, Munroe’s henchmen and possible conflicts with old teammates.
As action cinema has moved away from the style of films seen in the 1980s and 1990s featuring muscle bound heroes and more towards leaner action heroes such as Matt Damon’s Jason Bourne or the recently revamped Bond films with Daniel Craig, many of the stars of those older action films have either retired from acting, moved towards other genres or continued making action films in that old mould but with straight-to-DVD fodder. The Expendables however, is Sylvester Stallone’s attempt to revive the style of action film where he once made his name and, in doing so, has enlisted an impressive cast of names who were once legends. There is certainly enjoyment to be found for fans of those older films in The Expendables even if age has resulted in some being unable to equal feats performed in their earlier films. There’s room for study somewhere in the film over the fate of that older style of action film and in its stars trying to relive old glories to see if they are still capable of doing so. It is disappointing that, for such an impressive cast, that the plot of The Expendables is very thin and very predictable with two-dimensional villains and even several of the heroes filling over-familiar personality types. There are things to enjoy however as if ever a question was asked over who would win in a fight between Dolph Lundgren and Jet Li, or wrestlers Randy Couture and Steve Austin or in seeing the long awaited onscreen appearance of Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Willis which stays just on the right side of fun, though isn’t the gun toting scene fans may have hoped for. Expectations for a film such as The Expendables amongst fans could never be met but there is some fun here, some decent action though the thin plot and characters leave you feeling that something better was deserved
A film like The Expendables isn’t one where concerns over whether an actor’s dramatic performance is good are an issue. The cast merely need to look tough and perform well in action scenarios and on this ground, the cast mostly deliver. Stallone is a dependable leading man where Jason Statham and Jet Li get the more energetic fight scenes. Dolph Lundgren gets more to work with as an Expendable that’s washed up and feeling resentful while Rourke is likeable as another Expendable that has retired to work as a tattoo artist. Schwarzenegger and Willis fit in a few wisecracks in their short scene together though the remaining Expendables members such as Randy Couture and Terry Crews are largely sidelined until there is an action sequence requiring them to turn up armed. David Zayas and Eric Roberts lead the cast of villains with neither being particularly memorable or threatening and Steve Austin just spends the film looking mean as one of Munroe’s henchmen until the finale requires him to actually fight.
While there is some decent action and some fun to be had at seeing so many old, and new, action stars on screen at once, The Expendables never lives up to expectation with a thin plot and undeveloped characters though if you’re in it for the action, as most likely are, there is enough to satisfy though not of a quality that matches past action classics.
Rating: 3/5
