The Expendables Film Review Online
How do you even begin to describe a movie of this magnitude
? Ill start with something that still resonates in my head the total, uninhibited applause of the theatre crowd as each of the actors names appeared in the opening credits. Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Mickey Rourke, Randy Couture, Stone Cold Steve Austin, David Zayas. These are the Olympians of what was arguably the golden age of Action/Adventure films. And to have them all in the same movie is almost unimaginable.Of course if all these actors were still in their primes, their $20 million per picture salaries would have made this movie impossible. But just because they are all past their primes doesnt mean they cant still kick butt. This movie is thrilling partly due to these movie icons still being bad-asses.
Sylvester Stallone, who co-wrote the screenplay, plays Barney Ross, the leader of a group of mercenaries who call themselves The Expendables. Rosss group gets called to do the jobs no one else will do. The members have wide ranging skills, and are made up of a knife specialist (Lee Christmas, played by Jason Statham) a martial artist (Ying Yang, played by Jett Li), a big gun expert (Gunnar Jensen played by Dolph Lundgren), a demolition expert (Toll Road played by Randy Couture) and another gun expert (Hale Caesar played by Terry Crews). The group receives their assignments via their handler, Tool (played by Mickey Rourke).
The audience gets introduced to The Expendables as they complete their current assignment. They board a boat where rebels are about to kill hostages. Though they are hopelessly outnumbered, the mercenaries display their killing skills and ultra cool manner under pressure as they systematically kill every rebel onboard. Among the imaginative kills is one case where the enemy has his upper body decapitated, but his legs are still standing. This first sequence is all you need to see to know what the rest of the movie will hold.
Quickly we get into the main storyline. The CIA approaches The Expendables to do a particularly nasty job.. to overthrow a maniacal South American General named Garza (played by David Zayas). Garza is a drug lord and murderer in a fictitious country called Vilena. When Ross and Christmas go to Vilena to do some reconnaissance they meet a local female freedom fighter named Sandra (played by Giselle Itie). Sandra tells Ross that General Garza is just a figure head, and that the person really responsible for all the atrocities is ex-CIA guy James Monroe (brilliantly played by Eric Roberts) and his right-hand men Dan Paine (a beefed-up Stone Cold Steve Austin) and The Brit (Gary Daniels). Shortly after their meeting with Sandra things go awry, and Ross and Christmas are forced to flee the country in a hail of gunfire and explosions. Sandra is captured before she can escape.
With the knowledge that Sandra is facing certain torture and death, Ross gathers the rest of his mercenary group to go back into Vilena to try to save Sandra and defeat Garza and Monroe.
The action scenes in this movie are exhilarating and constant. There are tons of gunfire and explosions. I was most impressed by all the exhausting hand-to-hand combat, especially by Jason Statham and Stone Cold Steve Austin. They are machines.
Sylvester Stallone is fantastic and a marvel at age 64. His physical presence and energy are those of a much younger man. And though he is the star of the movie, he gives much screen time to the other actors, especially Jason Statham. In fact this role sets up Statham to star in many more action flicks.
The 2 best performances though belong to Mickey Rourke and Eric Roberts.
Rourke plays the long-time mercenary turned overseer as a sort of wise old sage. He is clearly tired and worn out from many years of fighting and killing. There is one standout scene in particular where he gives a soliloquy about his life to Ross. This is another high point in the resurrection of Rourkes career.
Eric Roberts is known for intense supporting roles, and he is superb as the disgraced CIA operative who is really pulling the political strings of the tyrannical General.
Finally, the scene that everyone has been talking about . the one where the Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis share the screen for the first and only time in history is awesome!. They are the 3 Mount Rushmore figures of 1980s action movies, and to see them interacting in the same scene is unbelievable.
The Expendables is not only a great action movie, but historic in what it delivers. Supposedly Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal were also offered roles in this film but turned them down. That was definitely their loss.
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