The Expendables

THE EXPENDABLES

Director : Sylvester Stallone

Year : 2010

Genre : Action

Rating : **1/2

'The Expendables' is the definition of a big, dumb blockbuster movie. It is entertaining to watch and holds your attention for a large majority of the running time, but as soon as it is finished, you instantly forget it. It is like candy floss/cotton candy; tastes good for a few seconds but instantly dissolves and no trace of it remains. Sporting a large ensemble cast featuring  many of the biggest names in action movies; Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren amongst many others, 'The Expendables' is perfectly suited to its target audience of fans who enjoy explosion filled, senseless and violent movies which may have a large amount of bullets and bodies but not a large amount of character or narrative development. Well, if you are one of these people, you will certainly not be disappointed.

The movie tells the simple story of a large group of kevlar clad mercenaries led by Barney Ross (Stallone) who try to save a large Spanish island from the rule of a tyrannous ex - CIA officer who is controlling the entire military force and has the intentions of governing the island as a dictator. In the process, Stallone falls in love with the female contact who is the daughter of the overthrown governor of the island and is intent on saving her.

'The Expendables' is both both directed by and stars Sylvester Stallone, who also directed the shambolic 2008 'Rambo'. However, unlike 'Rambo' which had a really hateable and intriguing villain, 'The Expendables' main antagonist is not at all threatening, which really doesn't give the movie any drive or reason. We are not given any reason why first of all the CIA officer wants the island for himself and how he is changing the lives of the natives on the island. So when the mercenaries land on the islands, gun blazing and slaughter hundreds of henchmen, you are not sure whether they actually deserved to die in such a gory and gruesome way. If the movie had a more threatening villain, 'The Expendables' may seem to have more heft. 'Die Hard' had Alan Rickman's brilliantly evil Hans Gruber and 'Taken' had the kidnapping Albanians. I wish that 'The Expendables' would have  a more easily hatable villain, then I might have cared more about the protagonists' objective. However, I guess that characters or plot are not the main selling point of the movie. Instead the actors playing the characters are the main attraction of 'The Expendables' and  this is probably explains why the movie was such a phenomenal success.

As publicised on the posters, 'The Expendables' stars one of the biggest ensemble casts ever assmebled for an action movie ever. As well as Stallone, Statham, Li and Lundgren, the movie has cameos from some of the biggest names in the genre such as Bruce Willis, Steve Austin, Mickey Rourke, Terry Crews and the quickest cameo ever by the legend known as Arnold Schwarzenegger! While short, these cameos really are entertaining and seeing multiple action legends on screen is a real delight. While they don't provide anything to the very thin plot of the story, they are nice little moments of nostalgia for people who remember these actors from their action movie heydays such as 'Die Hard' and the 'Terminator' series. The acting is as a whole, very good. Stallone is great as Barney Moss, a lonesome assassin looking for a meaning to his life, Statham is excellent as the knife wielding, wise cracking Lee Christmas who is the main comic relief in the movie and the rest of the Expendables are all good in their roles. However, the stand out performer is Mickey Rourke, who in his minor role is fantastic as a damaged ex - mercenary who can't forget his past and now regrets the life he now leads. There is only one female character who is given any development and she mostly needed to be a love interest, a victim and an object of lustful desire. Like most action movies, the female just has to stand around and wait for her knight in shining armour (or in this case kevlar) to save her from the big, bad villain. This is a sad traditional convention of the action genre and one that I wish would change, but hey, why change a formula which has proven to be so popular in the past? If it's not broken, don't fix it.

While the action is directed well and the big explosion scenes are fun to watch, they do get surprisingly dull and the final twenty minute long orgy of explosions, gunfire and people being stabbed and shot multiple times gets tiresome very quickly. The reason for this is, unlike most action movies where the action is escalated and developed, the big action scenes in 'The Expendables' don't move up a level and they stay on the same plane throughout, making us as the audience feel weary and waiting for something else to happen. Stallone clearly enjoys seeing people being blown up, ripped apart by bullets and cut to ribbons by knives and for a while, I was enjoying too. But after long sequences of the same things happening over and over , I really wanted the movie to move on and develop and it didn't. My joy and entertainment levels were soon replaced with boredom and tediousness and I wanted the movie to wrap itself up quickly.

If you are a fan of the big, dumb action movies of the 1970's and 1980's, you should really enjoy 'The Expendables'. It ticks all the boxes that an action movie should, the cast is good and the joy of seeing these legendary actors is undoubtedly entertaining. But if you are after a well - thought out, narrative driven, thought provoking movie, this movie will not be for you. I for one, enjoyed most of it. It is highly entertaining and fun but I am sure that within a week, I will forget most of it. I am soon watching 'The Expendables 2' and whilst I am interested in seeing what a new director does with these characters, I am expecting more dumb action scenes with indescribably long explosions and shootouts which quickly become tiresome. If so, then I will know what to expect, but judging how bored I got through this movie, I expect to be doubly bored by it's sequel. However, I may be wrong and 'The Expendables 2' could turn out to be the 'Citizen Kane' of action movies. Watch this space......

You'll like this if you liked : Die Hard, Rambo : First Blood