THE EXPENDABLES 
Starring:
Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lungren, Mickey Rourke, Eric Roberts, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, Giselle Itie, David Zayas, Charisma Carpenter, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger
Writer/Director:
Sylvester Stallone
Running Time:
103 mins
Out to buy on Blu-Ray/DVD 13/12/10
"The only thing faster is light"
Returning from a successful mission, Barney Ross (Stallone) and his mercenary team are approached by CIA operate Mr. Church (Willis). He wants to hire them to overthrow a military dictator, General Gaza (Zayas) who has taken over the island of Vilena, in the Gulf of Mexico and becoming a threat to US interests. Before they agree to take the mission, Ross and knives specialist Lee Christmas (Statham) head to the island to see for themselves. They are greeted by Sandra (Itie) a young woman who reveals the hardships her people are going through and the fact that it is an American, rogue CIA operative James Monroe (Roberts) who is funding the dictatorship and training General Gaza’s heavily armed soldiers. When Ross and Christmas are discovered, they barely escape the island with their lives but Ross decides that this is a mission that isn’t about money but saving the people from Monroe and General Gaza.
There was a time when men were men, muscles where always on show, no army was too big and guns never ran out of bullets, it was the 1980s but can a screen legend of that decade recapture what made action movies from that period so great?
During the 1980s the action star was king. Schwarzenegger, Willis and Stallone ruled the box office as one-man armies taking on as many henchmen as villains could throw at them. Muscle bound killing machines with unlimited ammo and access to explosives, these action stars got the job done and saved the day with minimum dialogue, little character development and hardly any storyline. Imagine, if you can, an idea to unite not just the big hitters from the 80s together but many other action stars from the decade and a few modern faces as well. Well that is exactly what Sylvester Stallone has done.
The idea was simple. Bring together as many action heroes from 80s, 90s and 00s, make them into a team of freedom fighting mercenaries and take on an actor who is no stranger to been a villain. Throw in a couple of sexy women and cameos from a couple of legends and you have the building blocks of an action fest. When you add a basic plot, some corny lines and create characters that action fans can get behind and you have action gold.
Starring, co-writing and directing, Sylvester Stallone has gathered together a who’s who of talent from across the action decades. British action star Jason Statham, Asian legend Jet Li, 80s brawler Dolph Lungren, comeback king Mickey Rourke, 80s villain supreme Eric Roberts, man mountain Terry Crews, former UFC champion Randy Couture and WWE superstar ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin bring the action heat to ‘The Expendables’. With all of these huge action stars comes the problem of giving them enough screen time to show what they can do and this is the joy of the movie. The plot, Stallone’s team of mercenaries for hire head to a Central American island to overthrow a dictator but come up against an army and a ruthless villain in the shape of Eric Roberts, allows each of these stars to have their screen time for dispensing violence. This is where the film excels, with bullets, knives and explosives flying all over the place when the action kicks in but what Stallone does extremely well is create a camaraderie between himself and the rest of the Expendables. These are heroes all have different styles and give the action fan someone to route for, whatever style of action they love.
Recreating the style of a 80s action fest does have its faults and they are faults that have plagued the genre for decades, the lack of any real plot and some truly dreadful dialogue. Where modern action fans might expect to be treated with a more intelligence, especially after new standards were set with the ‘Bourne Trilogy’ but this is not the point of ‘The Expendables’. This is meant to be clichéd, over the top and complete nonsense and that is why it is so good. You want the big guns that never run out of bullets, the massive explosions, a relentless procession of bad guys to kill and a finale that is so over the top that it has to be seen to be believed because this is what pure action is all about.
‘The Expendables’ is action gold. Yes it is completely stupid, yes the plot and dialogue are clichéd nonsense and yes it is completely over the top but that is the point. With an action cast that is only missing Chuck Norris, Steven Segal and Jean Claude Van Damme to make it the best collection of action stars ever seen in a movie and your chance to see Stallone, Willis and Schwarzenegger share the screen, ‘The Expendables’ is what action films are all about.
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