The Expendables
DIR: Sylvester Stallone • WRI: Dave Callaham, Sylvester Stallone • PRO: Kevin King, Avi Lerner, Kevin King Templeton, John Thompson • DOP: Jeffrey L. Kimball • ED: Ken Blackwell, Paul Harb • DES: Franco-Giacomo Carbone • CAST: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Eric Roberts, Stone Cold Steve Austin
The Expendables is pitched to us as a bringing together of stars of ’80s and ’90s action movies, those of an especially high cheese quota. Some were successes, some outright duds – either way our view of them is preserved by nostalgia, and Sylvester Stallone, having drawn what he can from his own iconic roles, has attempted here to perform some CPR on an entire genre.
It would be naïve and pointless to criticise this movie for being light on plot and action driven. This was never going to be a movie of nuance, nor should it be. What we can hope for though, is that the action is executed well and with bombast and that there is a good dose of knowing humour. Should Stallone choose to reinvigorate or revitalise the clichés of these movies that made his name, then all the better.
Of course, no such attempt is made, in any way. Instead the movie seems to offer very good reminders of why these movies are no longer made. A light plot if forgivable, but such a paltry one is frustrating. The most basic of efforts has been made to construct a movie, with an odd scene, or more often a line of dialogue, to frame events before we get back to the action. You may miss the very brief mention of what the villains are up to (something to do with drugs) but don’t worry, their agenda is ultimately of no concern. All you need to know is that the bad guys are holed up in a presidential palace in a rogue South American island state, waiting for Stallone et al to arrive and take them down to Chinatown.
The setting is fictional and this certainly is not in an attempt to create a hidden political allegory. There will be no bloodless coup, to liberate the army of the rogue nation being manipulated into following orders. In the grand old tradition of unfortunate henchmen the only purpose these soldiers serve is to be killed in imaginative ways. Shot, torched, mangled and knifed by Jason Statham – never mind that the soldier’s wife and family may be in the neighbouring village. This military can be disengaged by dropping down into an underground tunnel, despite there having been a stone ceiling overhead moments earlier.
And so the film gasps for breath while waiting for the next set piece. Thankfully it is in the action that The Expendables succeeds. The film is littered with body dismemberment, brutality, car chases, hand to hand combat and a rip-roaring final act in which anything that can be set alight will be. The pace and the flourish of the action is the film’s salvation and delivers the movie’s entertainment value. Crucially, the action also produces some humour, which it otherwise lacking or forced.
This aside, Stallone’s main achievement, and the movie’s talking point, has been the casting coup, albeit one which failed to acquire Jean Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal. The screen time for each star is so imbalanced though, that had Van Damme and Seagal agreed to appear, you have to question what there would have been for them to do. There is a sliding scale of attention given to the various characters and the film’s potential is undone by this. A duo of cameos in a single scene has more impact than those forming part of the core group of mercenaries, who disappear for entire chunks of the film. Statham, the dullest of the lot, has the most work do, being the freshest face of the line-up. He headlines with Stallone and Jet Li and certainly has the most screen time along with Sly, owing to his pointless romantic B-plot.
Stallone has suggested The Expendables might be his swan song as an actor. To his credit, he is front and centre throughout the movie, involved in the action and by his own admission taking a beating. This is in contrast to his revisit to Rambo two years ago, a film which was an object in distracting us from the fact that Rambo was a pensioner and had an air of melancholy about the whole thing. However, Li, billed as one of the core group is given very little to do particularly in such a weapon-heavy story. The rest of the group, even Mickey Rourke, is given short thrift. Summer 2010 has given us two other soldiers of fortune movies (The A-Team and The Losers) where the individual and their niche is key to the team. Here, the big names are as disposable as the faceless henchmen. It comes across as wasteful.
Curiosity and hope will draw out this movie’s audience. There are definite caveats, the slap shot style of storytelling will test loyalties and patience but somehow the charm of a boot print on a crushed skull may make it worth your while.
William O’Keefe
Rated 15A (see IFCO website for details)
The Expendables is released on 13th August 2010
The Expendables – Official Website
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Category: Cinema Reviews
Someone pinch me, I recently got done watching The Expendables and Sylvester Stallone was much better than I wished for. What can I say, I am the biggest Sylvester Stallone fan as opposed to a movie critic nevertheless I thought The Expendables was remarkable
Go watch it if you haven’t yet, I give it a thumbs up. Did I forget to point out just how much I like Sylvester Stallone …
Jet Li really did great acting on this one! Awesome work!