The Expendables (2010) User Reviews

Big action balls!!!

[Mash-the-stampede · 7/10 · 14 September 2010]

So I guess with any film review - it's all about the answers to the important questions. So let's get them out of the way first shall we?

Q) Is the plot descent, with a substantial storyline including dramatic arcs, twists and/or turns?

A) Not particularly.

Q) Are there character arcs and meaningful character developments?

A) A little.

Q) Is there romance?

A) Next question, please.

Q) Is the overall film original?

A) Not at all.

Q) Is it a likely Oscar nomination contender?

A) Hell no!

Q) Is it still awesome?

A) HELL YES!!!!!

Critics should be banned from reviewing films such as these. Anyone with half a brain can tell exactly what kind of film this is and what they're in for purely by the film's trailer alone.

This is a film made for action movie fans and not just regular action movies - I mean REAL action films in the style of the classic 80's action movies where plot and substantial character developments and dialogue took a backseat to intense over-the-top violence, explosions, car chases, sex scenes and catchy, memorable one liners!

The 80's action hero (and villain) breed was a rare phenomenon which will likely die with those very actors who gave them life. No 90's or new millennium "action" movie star will ever come close to being anywhere near as genuinely tough and just plain bad-arse as their 80's predecessor's! Even now with the main 'Expendables' cast pushing 60 +, you know that they would snap Matt Damon's spine in 2 with one hand tied behind their backs!

The 'Expendables' cast consists of Sly Stallone as the fearless leader of the team, Jason (Basketball stabber) Statham as the trusty knife-throwing sidekick, Dolph Lundgren as the treacherous giant one, Jet-Li as the small one, Terry Chews as Wesley Snipes, Mickey Rourke as the tattoo/previous knife-throwing sidekick and Randy Couter as the "who the hell is this guy, oh he's a UFC fighter" guy.

I still can't believe the unbelievable shape these guys are in! They're giants (exception for Jet-li of course).

Still, despite it's 80's throw-back appeal - the film isn't all action. Believe it or not there are slow parts. Mostly unnecessary filler between the action scenes. However the third act of the film makes up for the lack of action and then some!

It's when this third act commences when the true action film we've been waiting to see kicks in and steps up several notches to become the manliest most testosterone-fueled film since the last 'Rambo'!

It's funny, it's loud, it's un-relentlessly violent, an action-packed no-brainer of a film! An 80's action movie fan's wet-dream!!!

Bring on the sequel/s and bring on Jean-Claude Van Damme so he can give Statham the butt-kicking he so desperately deserves!!!

Sex and the city,.... for men!

[iemand-anders1 · 16 August 2010]

I laugh at many of the hate comments as what the hell did they expect? a romantic comedy? award winning performances? deep dialogues? Freudian complex character study?

common give me a break!!! from the start you should know this is all about guns,explosives and one liners from start to finish and homage to silly 80's and 90's action flicks. and this is simply exactly what you get!!

while i will never understand what most woman think so great about sex and the city( fashion? shoes? what the hell?)

so this is for men/boys who will be thrilled to see their old heroes from back in the days once more on screen kicking everybody's ass! (and no, i can appreciate intellectual and deep movies, but it often simply comes down with having the right expectations)

Predictable.

[Big_River · 6/10 · 7 September 2012]

A typical action movie that checks all of the action movie boxes. Lots of explosions, shootings, killings and unrealistic fight scenes.

It's great to see all of the dinosaurs from the 80's team up with each other. Stallone looked convincing as the main guy but it's the youth of Jason Statham that delivers the adrenalin in this movie. I would've liked to have seen more from Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Their roles were far too short for the amount of action experience they have. Steve Austin is the only person that was miscast. Personally, I think that this movie would have been better without him.

I got what I expected and if you like action movies...you will definitely like "The Expendables".

I wish the all action film makers can all go back to the glorious 80's!

[master-yoda99 · 6/10 · 12 August 2010]

I am always more than happy to see Stallone coming out and do movies like this, Rambo 4, and the expendables are the reason why actions films are worth watching. Pure action, fun and entertainment, in my opinion far better than those modern day sissy films with pretentiously complex plot and so-called "in-depth" storyline.

The Expendables has star cast characters, mainly action film stars who by modern day standards are "wash-outs". I love that Stallone is bringing together these actors to show people what true action movie is supposed to be like!

Screw the so called "movie critics", they are just a bunch of pretentious fakes who won't criticize the pointless violence in "no country for old man", calling that "artistic" and "in-depth", but willing to spat on "heoric violence" in films such as the expendables, which in my opinion, has far more value than those so called "artistic violence".

Nuff said, Stallone rocks! I hope he will make more films in many years to come!

They don't get much more explosive than this!

[yellowbuket101 · 8/10 · 4 August 2010]

The expectation for this film is obviously very high with one of the best action hero line ups (if not the best) in cinematic history. So I went into this film with a little trepidation and a lot of anticipation. I can honestly say that I was not disappointed. This was a high octane, unbelievably explosive, funny, blood thirsty, proper action movie! This film would not have been out of place in the 80s, but manages to fit into the market of today's cinematic action experience. It is easily much more graphic and gory than most modern day action films, but this adds to the film and creates a degree of realism. Let's face it; if you go around killing people it isn't going to be pretty! This film did what it needed to do, it wasn't afraid to contain blood, guts and violence for the sake of an age restriction but also wasn't overly ridiculous. After all most of the people who will watch this film grew up watching the classic action films of the 80s and 90s and are old enough for a bit of gore.

The plot is not that original, but it doesn't need to be, nor was it expected to be. The cast, goes without saying, was fantastic. What could have been a disaster of conflicting egos ended up being a believable team of mercenaries where banter is rife and keeping each other alive is their number one priority. Stallone can give himself a big pat on the back for getting so many iconic actors onto the screen together and actually making it work. Though the much hyped cameo of two particular people was short lived, it was hilarious and I think a great moment in cinema.

This was a great film that keeps you glued to your seat, constantly makes you gasp and laugh out loud and leaves you pumping with adrenaline. It was ridiculous and wonderful all at the same time, with more bullets and bombs than Rambo and more fighting than Rocky. This is a must see film for any movie buff or action hero wannabe. It is certainly not for the faint hearted, or for kids, but for any true action movie lover this is the ultimate manly film.

Sylvester Stallone, NICE JOB!

Big and dumb, but it delivers exactly what it promises

[zetes · 7/10 · 22 August 2010]

Sylvester Stallone enjoys his old age Renaissance with this amusing throwback to the cheesy action movies of the 1980s and 90s. It's dumb as Hell, and very poorly directed (by Stallone himself), but it does pretty much deliver. Stallone and Jason Statham lead a team of mercenaries, which also includes Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, Terry Crews and some other tough guys. They're hired by Bruce Willis (who appears in one scene alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger) to infiltrate an island nation and assassinate the bloody general who has taken it over (David Zayas, who co-stars in the show Dexter). Stallone discovers that the general is really unimportant, and that the real villain running things is Eric Roberts, with former professional wrestler Steve Austin his second in command. Stallone doesn't really want to get involved in this crazy business, but is ultimately inspired to go through with it because of a rebel woman he meets there (Giselle Itié). The plot doesn't make a lot of sense, but there's a lot of explosions and beatdowns. It delivers what it promises, even if I did forget that I even saw it by the next day. Mickey Rourke has a nice small part as a former member of the Expendables, and Charisma Carpenter (of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel fame) has a nice part as a chick who dumps Statham.

Explosive carnage fest!

[rivertam26 · 7/10 · 18 August 2012]

Being a child of the 80's and early 90's I was a big fan of the kind of action film this movie is throwing itself back to. You know the ones with giant action stars that we had posters and action figures of. The kind of films with senseless violence where everyone in the background of all the action scenes got killed. Te ones with nifty one liners where you never took the plot too seriously but relished the kill scenes because they were amazingly over the top. Like body slams with bone breaking and decapitations. Now looking back on it they were pretty much like slasher flicks but on different level of course. I'm a huge fan of the films that came out in my youth and they made me into the fan I am today. Of course my tastes have progressed but I still love a balls out carnage fest and thats exactly what the expendables. forget the plot, the acting or even the surprisingly funny screenplay. Stallone, Statham, Li, Lundgren, Willis, Schwarzenegger, some wrestlers and hell even Crews. The Expendables is a gory, 100% American action fest. When the film stops to build any type of type of actual story it begins to stall a little but it's a good thing there is some much action and explosiveness at that. Decapitations, knife fights, giant guns, missiles, diving from fire, planes and building blowing, two giant guys demolishing each other, martial arts, one liners and if thats not enough Eric Roberts as a slimy villain it's all good fun and done with a winking eye. It's a hell of ride with more substance than you'd expect and surprising amount of good chemistry between its stars. Good stuff!

Ok. Overrated Action Movie

[pawanpunjabithewriter · 4/10 · 22 September 2020]

I had expectations from this movie, and it didn't deliver a penny. So much action, so much explosion, sometimes good, sometimes unnecessary, but do we need only that in a Movie? What about the story? The story is highly predictable with not much to offer. It's just the action scenes that keep you in awe, but wait, that's not enough right? I don't understand why is it unnecessarily made so dark, gloomy and depressing in the middle? The emotions during the halfway point has no meaning. I do not recommend this movie. Plus it's highly overrated. Trailer was better, movie was worse.

Too much testosterone!

[TheCinemassacre · 13 August 2010]

Tough guys. Always going on suicidal missions. Threatened by bullets and blades. Running from explosions. Best friends waging wars. Nearly killing each other, then going to the bar later to laugh about it. Director and star, Sylvester Stallone, gets all his best men together to kick as much ass as humanly possible, allowing himself a severe beating from Steve Austin. Sly took a serious neck injury. Then he goes in front of a Comic Con audience and jokes about it. A man whose Double-"R" franchises, Rocky and Rambo have both been highly successful. But he keeps coming back for more pain and putting his body on the line for the sake of entertainment. There's nothing tougher than that!

The Expendables is a movie that lifts you up out of your seat, pats you on the head, gives you a lollipop then smashes you in the frickin' face! With a cast like Jason Stathum, Randy Couture, Jet Li, Mickey Rourke, Terry Crews, Dolph "I Must Break You" Lundgren, and cameos from Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger, you'd think it would be one crazy mess. Surprisingly, it's more focused then you may think. Just a straight-forward action movie with a reasonable run time that sustains itself and never has a chance to feel dull. It doesn't try to be anything more than what it is.

The only negative: Some of the blood and explosions looked digital. Wish it could have been just a bit more authentic. Sometimes, there was a tad too many closeups during the fight scenes. With so many people fighting at the same time, sometimes I couldn't tell who was punching who. It didn't happen very often, but how cool would it be just for one moment to see three simultaneous fights from a super wide master shot? Never, but I can't blame them. At least let the cameras pull back and allow the choreography to do the work.

It feels nice to get my ass kicked by something I haven't seen yet. It's not Rambo. It's not Rocky. Nor is it another Die Hard or Terminator sequel. It's something fresh, yet feels like it came out of the 80's. It has the perfect blend of humor, blood, sweat, smart-ass comebacks, witty one-liners, and an overabundance of testosterone! Don't expect anything more than action, exposition, action, exposition, all with a nice cherry on top… with sprinkles… and grenades. And some real tough guys. We all wish we could be tough guys. But no, let's just watch'em instead.

Fun action movie

[masonsaul · 6/10 · 20 November 2019]

The Expendables definitely doesn't live up to the possibility of reuniting the greatest action stars of a generation in a single movie, mainly because it divides the screen time in bafflingly misjudged fashion; however, it's a ridiculously enjoyable action movie that brings the carnage.

Overall, this cast is surprisingly lacking in star power. Stallone, Statham, Li and Lundgren are undeniable movie stars but the people they share the screen with do not match them and are not given the screen time to earn it. The most frustrating aspect is Willis and Schwarzenegger being relegated to a cameo.

That being said, the majority of the film is actually a two-hander between Stallone and Statham (probably should've been more of an ensemble) and they are more than capable of commanding the screen together with their endearing charisma and an enjoyable rapport.

The villains are a big disappointment here. David Zayas as a generic dictator is just straight up boring and whilst Eric Roberts' corrupt former CIA agent does fare a lot better, he's still not as fun or entertaining as a film like this deserves.

Behind the camera Sylvester Stallone returns to the intense handheld camera work of Rambo to mixed results. Some of the action gets lost in the mix but it's still capable of delivering the hysterically violent delights. He also keeps it practical for the most part and only uses CG for smaller things (blood spurts and fire) but it still distracts.

Brian Tyler confirms he's one of the best in the business for crafting generic action movie scores with this one. There's nothing particularly memorable here but it's suspenseful and heroic stuff that's even better when combined with this explosive action packed third act.

Best Action Movie of 2010 So Far!

[mysticmstudio · 7/10 · 14 August 2010]

Thies movie brings back nostalgia of the 80's run and gun action movie, and here, its a GOOD thing! All the acting is great, and all the characters are fun and interesting. I was smiling the whole movie, the dialog is fantastic. It's like Die Hard was mixed with pulp fiction, and had a baby with Kill Bill; Its very good and fluent, almost like its all just improv, or like its real mercenaries talking. I wont give away the plot, but the action and dialog really keep it going.

The cast is the best too. All characters are perfect, they all compliment each other in the best way. Jet Li, Jason Statham, and Stallone are the perfect three heroes for any movie. By the final act, the main characters are pretty well developed, with plenty of back story for them. The action choreography is some of the best I've seen in a while, all the action sequences are very fun to see and are thrilling. The movie keeps you on the edge of your seat, wondering what would happen next.

Closing Comments: Its a very good movie, the perfect action film. The sound, acting, dialog, and action come together to make the best action film of 2010 so far. GO SEE IT NOW!!!

Stallone's nostalgic touch makes for a fairly well done action picture

[DonFishies · 7/10 · 12 August 2010]

After undoubtedly helping kick-start the current fascination with bringing the 1980s back to the big screen, Sylvester Stallone has fairly successfully continued the trend with The Expendables. The film, an obvious action movie throwback, follows a group of mercenaries hired to take down a dictator in South America. But, as any action movie fan should know, there is a bit more to their plight than what the group initially expected.

Seeing both The Losers and The A-Team, I was a little apprehensive about what to expect from The Expendables. On one hand, it was a similar film about a rather eclectic group of guys killing everything that stands in their way (albeit, with an added R-rating). But on the other, it was the only one that was merely inspired by other works, instead of outright based on something that had come before it. As well, there is thankfully no revenge subplot to speak of, something the former films followed each other a bit too closely on. With those ideas in mind, it is a bit hard seeing The Expendables as its own distinctive film on the outset. Each film has its own set of balls-to-the-wall action sequences, wise-ass one-liners and quips, and gigantic explosions.

But what sets The Expendables apart, and what is likely its biggest selling point, is the nostalgia factor. Sure, The A-Team was about a group from a beloved TV series. But a few of its original stars merely had cameos in the film. In The Expendables, it is a wild mix of who's who of action stars. 80s stars like Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts and Mickey Rourke are mixing it up with current action stars like Jason Statham and Jet Li, not to mention "athletes" like Randy Couture and Steve Austin. And for added measure, two huge action stars from the decade show up in what may be the greatest cameo appearances ever conceived. It is just a shame that the trailers and press coverage ruined what is essentially, the best scene in the entire film (to think it could have been as well hidden as the zany cameo in last year's Zombieland). This cast alone is reason enough to check the film out for the sheer enjoyment of seeing them all mixing it up on-screen.

But sadly, no one outside of Stallone and Statham really gets a chance to really make something of their characters, outside of the one-dimensional archetypes that set their characters up. Li gets at least two great fighting scenes, but is otherwise to crack a few jokes and be made fun of for his Asian heritage. Roberts makes for a great villain, but gets not nearly enough time to truly feel dastardly. Lundgren gets a real dramatic sequence that could have truly made something of his character, but the performance is almost entirely relegated to happening off-screen. Rourke merely has an extended cameo, and looks like he shot all of his scenes in less than a week after wandering off the set of Iron Man 2, makeup and all. You have to expect that not everyone will get a chance to really do a lot with such a big cast list, but it felt like a bit of a copout having so many recognizable people cast in the film, only to do much too little with any of them.

If there is any benefit in having such a huge cast, it is in Stallone's performance. His character is for all intents and purposes, an offshoot of John Rambo. The film plays much closer to his last outing as that legendary character than it does the other mercenary-based films from this year. But instead of being the timid introvert confusing audiences with his "depth", he is actually quite great in the leader role here. He plays off everyone well, and the added interactions allow for him to pull off a much more enjoyable performance as a result. Statham on the other hand, is the clear standout of the film, alternating between the comic relief and the genuine bad-ass of the whole film. He steers his role well (even with the needless subplot involving an ex-girlfriend played by Charisma Carpenter), and holds his own against everyone, including Stallone. He has a lot of fun in his role, and he is obviously the best thing about the film.

What I really disliked was the rather horrendous looking special effects used for anything outside of stunts and fighting sequences (all of which are rather vicious, but fairly epic to watch given the fighters). The majority of explosions look horribly CG'ed, and any scene with an extended shot of fire looks like it was painted in as an afterthought. With much of the final battle taking place in and around fires and explosions, you can immediately tell how irritating this quickly became. Much the same goes for the blood, which looks like was all added in after the fact. There is nowhere near the same amount of bloodshed as in Rambo, and even less gritty realism. It just looks all too sloppy on Stallone's part, and seems rather careless. This could easily be chocked up to Stallone making the film seem closer to its 80s brethren than it should, but is still a pretty weak excuse for something that easily could have looked a lot better.

The Expendables is an exciting and explosion filled action romp, but it makes clumsy mistakes that easily could have been fixed during production or even afterwards. This is a hard hitting film that hits so many marks, but falls short of a few too. It is Stallone's best work in the past few years, but it also proves that he is much stronger when acting as part of a heavily emphasized ensemble, as opposed to primarily on his own. Here's hoping we are done with mercenaries for a while.

7/10.

(This review also appeared on http://www.geekspeakmagazine.com).

Provides just about everything that you could want out of a movie like this

[Apemangalore · 7/10 · 13 August 2010]

For anyone growing up during the '80's and early '90's, the notion of having a film including all of Hollywood's most legendary action heroes seemed like little more than a pipe dream. So, when I initially heard that Sylvester Stallone was going to be putting together a movie titled The Expendables for just that purpose, I literally freaked out. But does this supposed "culmination of wishes" deliver the goods? Absolutely.

One thing that I was worried about going into Expendables was that, despite how exciting the idea of having all of these guys together sounded on paper, the filmmakers wouldn't be able to give each of them the amount of screen time that they deserved. Personally, very seldom did I find this to actually be the case. Perhaps one or two members of the crew could've received a bit more time in the limelight, but on the whole, I thought that they balanced the focus considerably well, without making the whole venture feel like a cluttered mess.

Say what you will about Stallone as a director, but the man knows how to handle action. Not only do these heroes of yesteryear provide the film with such a tremendous sense of nostalgia, but the action sequences, as well as the way in which they're shot, harken back to their time as well, before - and I know that I'm about to sound like a curmudgeon here - action scenes were plagued by the infamous shaky-cam. I won't go into describing how any of these sequences play out, but suffice it to say, it's some delightfully brutal stuff.

Now, as far as the plot is concerned, what you read in the synopsis is… Well, that's pretty much it. Sure, there are a few twists and turns along the way, but if you've watched any action hero classic, you'll see them coming from about a mile away. On top of that, I found the main villain to be pretty silly, and a good portion of the dialogue is just hysterically awful. But, admittedly, that's kind of the fun of the whole experience, as I simply looked at it as a cartoon. A very gory, decapitation-heavy cartoon, but nonetheless!

Overall, I got just about everything that I could want out of a movie like The Expendables: sheer badassery. Sure, the plot is paper thin, and the scene involving a couple of cameo appearances felt just a little anticlimactic, but as far as mindless action films go, this one's tough to beat, at least compared to what else we've been given this summer.

People get shot with bullets, from guns, and die as a result.

[matt-soulliere · 8/10 · 28 July 2010]

If you aren't sure what to expect going into this think Rambo, only there are five Rambos instead of just one, and two of them know karate.

If you do have high expectations going in (as I did), you will start to wonder if perhaps this movie isn't going to be what you were expecting as you watch it. The first hour gives you the two 'big' cameos, which weren't worth the hype (or any hype for that matter), and an out of place Mickey Rourke emotional moment but not much else.

The real payoff comes in the last half hour or so of the movie which is a beautiful symphony of mindless violence, and more than makes up for the beginning.

Overall the movie seemed a little rushed as far as the story goes and I won't be surprised to see a extended cut when this comes out on DVD but it is a solid action movie and worth the watch. And hats off to Randy Couture who actually steals the movie a little bit during the big action scene at the end.

I enjoyed this movie

[0U · 23 February 2020]

A novelty film, the novelty being seeing all of these great action stars together in one big action film. Unfortunately, most of them are past their prime, and it's hard to share the spotlight. The action is great, but it just isn't enough to carry the film this time. The characters and plot just aren't developed enough.

Blowed Up Real Good - "sploit" (spittoon goober)

[Craig_McPherson · 7/10 · 17 August 2010]

Some movies lend themselves to a review, others don't. The Expendables falls into the latter category, even though I'm going ahead with one anyway. This isn't because it's a bad film, but rather because it's the epitome, the essential oil, the distilled essence (to pooch a host of hoary adjectives) of the action genre, and in that sense, it's a home-run.

It's akin to the 1948 classic Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, where the bumbling duo are pitted against the biggest bad-asses of the Universal monster stable, such as Frankenstein's monster, Dracula, the Wolfman, and the Invisible Man.

Don't let the marquee movie posters deceive, sure The Expendables delivers "almost" every name from the 80's action "classics", but some – specifically Willis and Schwarzenegger – both appear in a single scene, and together at that, with Stallone, of course, who is everywhere. It's clearly little more than a wink toward the 80s icons, as well as the trio that founded the Planet Hollywood restaurant chain.

Insofar as popcorn munchers go, like the action vein it mines, The Expendables is pure eye candy. The movie is tailor-made for the big bucket-o'-popcorn and large drink, leaning back and enjoying the mayhem. Plus the movie features Eric Roberts, who saw fit to also star in SyFy's soon-to–be-seen Sharktopus (hey, there's been stranger career moves).

Yes there are passages where the dialogue appears to have been written by someone (Stallone?) on the crapper trying to pinch a big one, but that's typical of the 80s action flick. Plus the movie manages to make Statham stand out from the crowd as the closest thing to a thespian – and I like Statham so all's good there.

All this aside, there's copious amounts of martial arts Kung-Fu, mixed WWE-style wrestling, MMA beat downs and just plain punch-outs, knife fights, major league shoot outs (the carnage that Terry Crews' warhead gun inflicts has to be seen to be believed), and things being blown up on a truly epic scale.

Honestly? The best, most accurate and true to the genre way to review this film is not to write paragraphs about it, but recline in front of a video camera, decked out in overalls and a trucker cap, chewing on a chaw of tobacco, and spitting into a bucket while saying "things blowed up real good".

Yes, my friends, it's that much fun.

They nearly could have nailed it

[Goettschwan · 6/10 · 22 August 2010]

I guess I'll just list up some things here : Pro - Great cast of action actors working very well together - Straight eighties action with mucho kaboom - Keeps you in your seat - Has some fresh ideas about action scenes and really good martial arts scenes (but see below) Con - If they ever should make a part two, they need a fish-eye lens for not just showing an actors t-shirt. ALL the fight scenes are filmed way to close, and it is distracting from the otherwise excellent fights. - same goes for the number of cuts. If Steve Austin fights Stallone, I do want to see the fight, and not at seemingly two cuts a minute. Let the choreography work, this can't be done at this speed. - The CGI is very visible and unbelievable in some. I don't know if it is intended but it counts as bad in my book. CGI'd blood is a sorry excuse for lack of mechanical effects. - The testosterone level in unison with the one-liners may feel pathetic or funny to your audience. Maybe it is meant to be both, keep that in mind.Thank eighties action movies for that ;)

All in all, they could have nailed one of the best action movies for me, but they kind of went off half baked.

Everything an Action Movie should be, times 2!

[kezopster · 9/10 · 13 August 2010]

Get ready to cheer. Be ready to laugh. Be ready to be amazed with wonderful, live action fighting scenes using everything from fists, to blades, to guns. I don't know how this movie avoided being cheesy, but darn it, it did! Mindless explosions? Not really. Excessive? Again, not really. I hate the sort of climax usually seen in an action movie where the pyrotechnics are the show. I want to see the actors/stunt-men doing their thing. I want to see people. I can see fireworks on the Fourth of July. (Though, trust me, there ARE fireworks in this movie, too.) The balancing of this many stars is incredible and pulled off remarkably well. When Sylvester Stallone made his final Rocky movie (Rocky Balboa), he said he did it as a "thank you" to the fans. Maybe that was the idea behind this one, too, though I heard a quote from somewhere that after seeing wimpy Tobey Maguire as "Spiderman" full of CGI and a stuffed/padded suit, he realized action heroes like himself were, well, expendable.

This is fantasy baseball and fantasy rock-n-roll camp for adults all rolled into a wonderful action flick with enough of a plot to give the characters motivation for their action. A deep plot? Heck no. A predictable plot? Certainly. But trust me, if you thought you've seen it all before, you have yet to see "The Expendables." Thank you Mr. Stallone!

Know what to expect, and don't think that all the legends get equal screen-time

[TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews · 7/10 · 12 August 2010]

Too many chefs spoil the meal. Or something like that. Assembling a group this size of legends in this kind of movie runs that risk. It doesn't fall in that trap... instead, only Sly(one has to wonder why he and Arnie didn't appear together before this... I guess they were too big rivals? Anyway, the Austrian and Willis are hardly in this) and Statham are in this more than a little(the rest are in this at the beginning and end... Carpenter isn't in this much, either). Li doesn't engage in a lot of martial arts(and a mere single fight), Couture just about none, other than taking out goons. Lundgren is cool as usual, in a role of reasonable size. Eric Roberts is perfect as the villain we love to hate. Austin has reasonable presence, and they get good mileage out of him. The acting isn't impressive. Humor mostly tries too hard(with that said, some of it is excellent), especially the forced banter that is meant to make us feel like these guys really know each other. The dialog is corny and clichéd with few exceptions. This is stereotyped all the way, but that's about what would be expected. On the whole, this is like the recent Rambo; a pure, no-holding-back, dirty, bloody, gory 80's action(with that said, it gets to be increasingly disorienting and chaotic when it grows grand in scope... and not all of it works) flick. We've got car-chases, shooting, knifing and huge explosions, and a ton of it(if there are gaps between them, and they can be awkward). Stallone(who remains a dependable, if not flawless director for this sort of picture) tries to have his cake and eat it too, the people on the island are not the enemy, which is nice, but still the native soldiers are gunned down by the boatload. The plot is odd and confusingly poorly told. A small island called Vilena has problems with its government. Mainly because of a rogue CIA agent. The Expendables are hired to take care of it. They go about this by causing carnage wherever they can. This uses classic rock for the score, which is a great and fitting choice. One last thing... are the character names a joke? A dare? Seriously. There is plenty of brutal violence, disturbing content and moderately frequent strong language in this. I recommend this to anyone looking for this kind of thing. The testosterone is through the roof on this one. 7/10

Thank you Stallone, thank you

[RockyBalboaV · 10/10 · 7 August 2010]

Wow.. this movie was very good. I have been looking forward to this movie for over a year and it did not disappoint me. Yes the story is not the best. But that's OK because you don't need a 'very' good story line as long as the movie is entertaining as hell. The acting could have been better but its still good acting. This movie has action, funny moments,intense moments, insane violence just anything you want in an action movie! Most Critics are giving this film negative reviews on but this movie is mostly for the fans. Bottom line very good action packed action movie thats brings back the memories of the 80's. Stallone, Statham, Li, Couture, Crews, Lundgren, Austin, Willis, Schwarzenegger, Rourke, the gang is here!

Very nice work Stallone!

Surprisingly Good Until The Last Part

[ccthemovieman-1 · 6/10 · 3 December 2010]

I thought this was "fair" overall, not really bad but not good, either. It could have been above-average had the filmmakers not gone over-the-top the last 20-30 minutes with way overdone action. Nothing new there, is it? These guys just don't know that too much action can actually get boring.

Thus, the first half of this film is much better, with a good cast of characters and some surprisingly-good humor. The insults here and there between stars Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham are fun to hear, and there is a great little cameo by one of the all-time greats of action films, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

If you think Mickey Rourke has looked sleazy in some recent films (The Wrestler, Iron Man 2), "you ain't't seen nothing' yet. I have to admit; he's always entertaining. Dolph Lundgren was great in here, too.

Summary: fair-to-good film but overdone non-stop action and Hollywood clichés that last 20-30 minutes downgrade the movie substantially and makes it a rental, not a keeper.

Solid boys-own action but could have done with a few more thrills and a bit more in the way of comic relief

[bob the moo · 18 November 2010]

With the cast it had it was no surprise that The Expendables was being hyped long before it arrived in cinemas anywhere. "Could it be the greatest action movie ever?" some magazines breathlessly asked themselves, assuming perhaps that the cast could somehow just produce a good film by virtue of all just being in it. The answer of course is "no" and I doubt anyone expected it to be any other answer. However the real question was can the film produce the boys-only, 1980's action movie fun that the 2010 summer season needed. The answer to this question turned out to be "sort of" because The Expendables has plenty to enjoy about it but yet somehow falls short of what it could have been.

The plot is essentially a small group of mercenaries heading into a tropical island in order to take out the dictator and his ex-CIA puppet-master: so far, so "one man against endless ethnic army" 80's style plotting. And indeed so it is, complete with unnecessary violence and overblown physical actions and seemingly indestructible heroes. It plays out just the way you expect it to do and those looking for action sequences will enjoy the many fights and scenes where everything blows up (Terry Crews in particular demonstrating to the world why Infinity Ward were out of their minds to make the AA-12 a "secondary" weapon in Modern Warfare 2!). The downside of the action is that, while it is enjoyable, it doesn't deliver enough of two key things.

The first of these is genuine thrills. It comes close and there are good moments but generally you find yourself sitting back watching the mayhem for the sake of mayhem, whereas I would prefer to be sucked into and really gripped by the action - I wasn't really here; instead most of the action is of the video game style – where the enemy just keeps spawning in front of you and getting chopped down by powerful weaponry. The second thing that isn't as prevalent as I wanted was comedy. We get the odd bit here and there, but really Jet Li's "because I'm small" speech is probably the high point. What was needed was more comedy mixed in with the action. There were a few kiss-off lines but nothing memorable or even "good". These are important because it makes the excess easier to enjoy as just part of a fun package – the film not having enough suspense or thrills makes the lack of this "fun" all the more obvious and notable of a gap.

The cast do help though and not just in terms of having big names in there. They do have an easy charisma between them and they all play off each other well – whether it be Stallone and Statham or the brief cameos from Willis and Swarzenegger. Crews isn't used particularly well but otherwise I liked everyone else in it, even if there were probably too many of them to really do much with – I thought it was a good move, despite appearing to be an ensemble piece, to put most of the focus on two of them rather than spreading it evenly around. Of course looking at it fairly, the film is not great – the plot is obvious and full of "groan" moments that we have to have simply because of the genre plus it is hard to shake the feeling that the film is more for the stars benefit than it is about the viewers, like perhaps they enjoyed it more than I did? Overall though The Expendables is a solid enough 80's style action movie that does everything you expect it to do but nothing more. Personally I preferred The Losers to this simply because it delivered action and comedy blended well to make for an enjoyably silly actioner, whereas this doesn't really do that and perhaps takes itself a little too seriously for its own good. A solid genre film and enjoyable as that, but it doesn't do enough to justify the sheer volume of big names in it.

Review: The Expendables

[movieevangelist · 7/10 · 25 January 2011]

The Pitch: The Magnificent Four And A Half.

The Review: I think I was born at just the wrong age. I was two when Rocky came out, and still at primary school when Arnie was first flexing his biceps for the camera. I did grow up on a diet of action, but it was Die Hard and Robocop that helped shape my formative years. But as action movies, driven by those late Eighties classics, have evolved and grown more complex over the last thirty years, I've come to appreciate the dumber things in life. While I like to be intellectually challenged by some of my viewing, once in a while you just need to see stuff get blown up real good.

So thank goodness for Sylvester Stallone. He's managed to find ways to extend his Rambo and Rocky series well past their natural lifespans, but especially in Rocky's case he's tried to find a different perspective with age. There is a part of the audience for these movies though, in which I shamelessly include myself, that longs for the succession of cheesy one liners and men shooting things until they explode. Forget character development and intricate plot developments – and by and large Stallone has, in a return to old school action movie making.

The concept felt fairly high to start with – cram as many action movie stars, old and new, onto the screen and let them have fun. Sensibly, the central team isn't too numerous, with the big names evenly divided across the good, the bad and the morally ambivalent, but only a few get any real screen time. The highlights are Jason Statham for the good guys, who Stallone seems to have recognized uses his charisma to cover up his acting deficiencies, but who uses his particular Transporter-style fighting to the best effect in the many, many, many fights and brawls. For the bad guys, Eric Roberts chews the scenery and spits it in every direction, probably about the only one to find just the right tone. Mercifully, Stallone avoids the ageist navel-gazing that ultimately crippled the likes of the Lethal Weapon series, but there is still slightly too much contemplation at times. Come on, blow something up, will ya? Don't get me wrong, it's by no means perfect. The action scenes vary from the pretty good to the I- don't- understand- what- just- happened- because- you-can't- shoot- or- edit- properly, Stallone's attempts to add emotional resonance, mainly in scenes with Mickey Rourke, have all the depth of the shallow end of a paddling pool and are about as enjoyable, a joke about Jet Li's height wears so thin you can see through it and there isn't a truly iconic action sequence that will stand the test of time. But it does deliver just enough big muscles, big explosions and giant pulsating stupidity to be a guilty pleasure.

Why see it at the cinema: Actually, if you want an action movie to watch this summer, try The A Team. You can watch that any time. The Expendables should only be seen on a Friday or Saturday night, with a willing crowd who are as drunk as possible. That is a recommendation, in case you were wondering.

The Score: 7/10

Stallone is Dependable...

[fmarkland32 · 7/10 · 25 August 2010]

A gang of mercenaries (Stallone, Statham, Li, Couture and Crews) take on and single handedly destroy a Colombian army led by rogue CIA agent Eric Roberts and his two bodyguards Stone Cold Steve Austin and Gary Daniels, while Lundgren is kicked out of said gang and turns against his former comrades. The Expendables is a lot of fun, indeed i'm amazed at the reviews this has gotten. Indeed this is pretty much what you would expect, the story is right out of the Golan and Globus play-book, the acting is actually better than that and while the fight sequences rely too heavily on the shaky camera such doesn't take too much away from the choreography or the fact that the Lundgren Vs Li is a highlight. The rest of the action is very well staged and quite exciting. The climax in particular though is what gives The Expendables it's high marks, whether it be throwing a missile and exploding it, or the automatic shotgun this has all the hallmarks of goofy 80s action. Indeed my only complaint would be Lundgren's scant time (hopefully in the sequel he'll get to cut loose) and the way Li's martial artistry wasn't as exploited as it should've been. Other than that this is highly enjoyable stuff and really you get what you pay for. In a time when action cinema doesn't even deliver on the action and body-count (Usually long exposition for 80% of the movie) The Expendables is refreshing to see, It's also nice to see that the stars of our youth still have it. It's no Wild Bunch, but then really what is. Count me in for the sequel and hopefully Stallone recruits Arnold (for more of a part), Van Damme,Norris, Seagal and Michael Dudikoff.

* * * out of 4-(Good)

"Makes Michael Bay look like Bergman"

[reinbo · 10/10 · 14 August 2010]

Awesome action picture in the line of Rambo 4. This movie is really loud!

If you are a fan of big macho action cinema as it was like in the '80s, you will not be disappointment. I liked all the characters, especially the ones played by Lundgren en Rouke. It also hods Stratham's finest performance, who plays the lead next to Sly.

I was a bit disappointed with the scene with the 'big three'. That scene was quite boring and Arnold looked really old. I guess they did not have time to make more out of it.

Back to the movie. It has some great action scenes. The one with the plane bombing the hell out of the village in the beginning is an instant classic. Last half an hour it goes completely insane when everybody is fighting everybody and the rest gets blown to pieces.

Greatest action movie so far. Stallone did it again 25 years after Rambo 2, he completely blew me out of my seat. 10/10