The Expendables - Review

Can somebody explain to me why most action movies this summer have centered around teams of heroes? First there was The Losers, then we had The A-Team, and now we have The Expendables. Arguably the most hyped of the three, the Sylvester Stallone-directed Expendables features a cast of nearly every everyone recognizable action star of the 80s and 90s. Paying a tribute to the action flicks of the 80s, the cast sure packs a punch, but is it enough to warrant a ticket price?

The movie centers around a team of mercenaries known as The Expendables. Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) serves as the team leader with knife specialist Lee Christmas (Jason Statham) and martial arts expert Ying Yang (Jet Li) as his two most trusted soldiers. Also on the team is the unstable sniper Gunner Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), demolitionist Toll Road (Randy Couture), and heavy weapons specialist Hale Caesar (Terry Crews). The team is given an assignment from the mysterious Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) to overthrow a South American dictator. Upon arriving to the foreign land, they discover there might be more behind the merciless government than they originally had thought.

I'll say this, just like a have a bit of a soft spot for corny B-Movies (as I mentioned in my Piranha 3D review), I also get a kick out of cheesy action flicks. Seeing an ensemble cast of such legendary veterans of the action genre is a treat unto itself. Unfortunately, when the novelty of the cast wears off, there really isn't too much left in this film. The two most prominent actors shown in The Expendables are Stallone and Statham, who while fun in their own right, are easily the weakest characters of the team. They have their moments, and do their part when they get their moment to shine in some sweet action scenes. Jet Li, however, gets some decent screen time as well, but is also out-shown by the previous two.

Dolph Lundgren was surprisingly one of the most enjoyable actors in the movie. He brings his unstable charisma to a very fun character, but like most of the cast, is pushed aside for a lot of the run-time. Mickey Rourke has a very small part as a former member of the team. This was one of the most disappointing parts of the film, limiting the screen-time of who is easily the best and most credible actor in the movie. Some choice cameos from Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger (seriously, Arnold is in this movie!) were fun but had little impact on the film as a whole.

I don't have much to say about the villains either. David Zayas, Eric Roberts, and Steve Austin portray the Expendables main enemies of the film. Zayas and Roberts do their villainous schtick fairly well, while Austin's tendency to overact hasn't changed since his last few films. Their standard villains for this kind of story, but came off a bit flat. For a movie like this, it would have been fun to see a more over-the-top villain. Watch the movie Commando and you'll know what I'm talking about. For a movie with a concept that is so self-aware and cheesy, a crazier villain would have fit right in.

The writing overall was mixed bag. When the team was all together, the movie was awesome! The intro was great, as was the finale, but whenever it decided to chill out with its individual characters, it lost a lot of zip. There is a mostly pointless subplot involving Lee Christmas and his girlfriend, that adds little to no development for the plot or his character. There were a few other subplots that detracted from the movie's focus and what it represented. Plus, the violence was overall pretty tame for this kind of movie, save for the bloody opening and climax. Any gore looked like it was added in at the last minute, leading me to think that Stallone originally wanted a PG-13 rating, but changed his mind and added some last minute violence in post production to get an R rating. For a premise so thin, its a wonder why it feels so unfocused.

Typically, the movie knows what it is. I could complain about how silly and cliche the plot is, but that would totally defeat the purpose. The Expendables wasn't trying to rewrite the action formula, but rather deliver a nostalgic flick for those who have fond memories of the 80s. Typically it succeeded, but there were times it seemed like it took itself a tad too seriously, therefore killing the mood. Still, for the most part, its good 80s fun.

To no big surprise, the action scenes were pretty awesome... most of the time. There's a bunch of good explosions, some sweet fights (Jet Li always rocks), and a heavy dose of guns and knives. The finale alone delivered some crazy explosions that will likely satisfy anyone with nostalgic feelings for 80s action. Unfortunately, the cinematography was not up to speed. Stallone decided to use the Bourne-style shaky cam technique. When the camera wasn't shaking all over the place, it often used uncomfortable close ups on the actors' faces. Why? I have no idea. I will admit that action films on average have improved since the 80s, I still don't understand why shaky cameras have become so popular. An erratic camera is one thing, but I really prefer to actually see what is happening on screen. Overall, the action is fun when you can see it.

Overall, The Expendables was pretty fun, but with a cast like this, I expected more. Had the team had more screen time together, and the camera not been so erratic, I would have probably rated this higher. Overall, its worth a viewing, but probably only one.

My Score: A 2.5 out of 5!