MyRating: YYYYDirector: Sylvester Stallone
Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, Terry Crews, Mickey Rourke, Eric Roberts, Giselle Itie, David Zayas, Gary Danniels, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger
MPAA: Rated R for strong action and bloody violence throughout, and for some language
Sylvester Stallone never stops what he does best, which is making action movies. And playing as the tough guy (he will always be our tough guy, whether you like him or not), Stallone proves that he still has teeth for the man of his age as an action star, including playing the triple roles, as he was also the Director and the co-Screenwriter in The Expendables. He never stops in giving his 'best' works, that shows what a spirit this man has in this industry and reminding people that he still exists. "I am still here, don't forget me yet!" (said Stallone with his 'funny-deep-mumble' voice). We have seen how hard he tried in his come back with Rocky Balboa (2006) and Rambo (2008), two of his most iconic and greatest roles. For that, we have to appreciate what he did, regardless how many people raised their eyebrows and questioned his motives with his decision to reprise those roles. Anyway, Rocky and Rambo will always stay in our hearts. One more thing, he never stops searching for new ideas. And we have to admit that his idea of collecting a bunch of 'famous' or 'used to be famous' action stars together in a movie like this was one of the wildest and craziest ideas ever in Hollywood, at the same time it was one of the most exciting ideas in the 'action movies' history. It was a brilliant idea from Mr. Stallone!
This is an old school action movie. Stallone's style! Do we think 'old school' because we think of Stallone and some of his gang here as old timers? It doesn't matter! Because The Expendables was one cool action movie. It was not only cool, but it was also one brutal and bloody violence action movie. The story is about a group of skillful mercenaries, led by Barney Ross (Stallone), who is hired to overthrow a ruthless dictator, General Garza (Zayas), in a small South American island country named Vilena. The group consists of Lee Christmas (Statham), Ying Yang (Li), Gunner Jensen (Lundgren), Toll Road (Couture) and Hale Caesar (Crews), who have various specific individual skills , from blade throwing expert, martial arts, sniping, demolitionist, and heavy weaponry specialist. They not only have to face the General with his full force of armies, but also James Munroe (Roberts), an ex-CIA agent, who is the real puppeteer of the bloodbath conflict in Vilena, and his fierce henchman, Paine (Austin). To infiltrate into the country, they have to work together with their contact, Sandra (Itie), a beautiful local rebel, who has her own secret and reasons for fighting the government. Together, they must stop the General and his puppet master from causing more deaths and destructions in Vilena, a mission too dangerous that may expend their own lives.
What more interesting than too see these bountiful action stars in this movie, who each of them have their own fans and demographics. This was the main strength of this movie and what made it so excited to watch. Stallone, Statham, Li, Lundgren and many other big-tough guys fighting like crazy in one movie. With only one entry ticket? Come on! That itself has made this movie well-worthy to watch. The actions were hard core and very brutal, with a complete package of close and bare fisted combats, heavy weaponry banging, car chasing, bloods spilling, body parts stabbing and dismembering, bone and head cracking, plus many mindless explosions. It will surely satisfy the hunger of the hard-core action fans. The action sequences was well choreographed, and on top of that, the stars made the fights beautiful and excited.
The story was simple. To sum it up easily, it was about tough guys fighting tough guys. No, it was more than that actually, but the actions and the fights were the ones that we wait. The movie was fast paced, with some funny dialogs and humors, and a good chemistry between Stallone and Statham, as the two main leads of the pack. Stallone played his role well as the leader of the group (both in screen and off screen), considering he also sat in the chair of director to maintain all those big egos of all those big actors. Jason Statham did an outstanding job. He has that charisma of a new generation action star, that not only knows how to give engaging and solid action performances, but also knows how to act well. I just love this guy more and more. While Jet Li, even though has a smaller role, also got his share to show his martial arts capability. There was interesting fight between Li and Dolph Lundgren (also Stallone's nemesis in Rocky IV), that you would not want to miss. We can see how Stallone was trying hard here to give all the actors their fair shares of appearances, based on their roles in the movie. He surely did not want to waste any of their awesome talents. Mickey Rourke also has his share of appearance as Tool, an ex-Expendables team member who has retired and loves to tattoo.
The most historic moment was of course the first time appearance of the 3 gods of action stars, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger, in one scene. It was a 'dream' team-up. These two buddies of Stallone, who appeared as cameos here, surely have also helped lifting up the profile of this movie. Even though we have seen the scene many times in the trailer, it still did not reduce the excitement to see them acting together in one seriously-relax conversation and making jokes at each others, including joking Mr. Governor's ambition to become Mr. President. It was the hilarious and golden moment of this movie. Hopefully, next time we can see them fighting together in one action sequence, if there were ever that moment.
This fun and entertaining movie was not without weaknesses. One of them was the poor special effects (you can see it from the explosion effects and the effects of how a man burned with fire near the end of the movie). There were also too many close-shot quick combats, that made some fights could not be seen clearly in details (it was worse with me sitting quite in the front of the fully booked theater). But again, who cares! This movie served its purpose, which was to entertain people with its fully packed and biting actions. And I think Stallone has successfully pulled this one out and made this movie worked well. An action fest that should not be missed by hard-core action-movies lovers. Good job, Stallone! You always know how to entertain us... and we still remember you. (MJ)
