REVIEW: ‘The Expendables’

Who would have thought Stallone’s sappy uttering of the phrase “I’m  expendable” in 1985′s “Rambo: First Blood Part II” would have become  a movie title 25 years later?  Well, here we are and there it is.   While Stallone’s usual directorial efforts are above average but tend  to be overly melodramatic (Rocky 2, 3, 4 & 6; Rambo 4) “The  Expendables” is an action flick that does not take itself seriously.  It  is a mash-up of about a dozen iconic action actors revolving around the  core team of Stallone, Jason Statham and Jet Li.

Stallone,  Statham, Li and team are hired to take out a rogue CIA-agent-turned-drug-lord (Eric Roberts) at the request of the mysterious Mr. Church, played by Bruce  Willis.  The Willis scene is a cameo he shares with  Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Seeing Stallone on screen with these  two immediately made me think of this as a post-bankruptcy Planet  Hollywood reunion.

Shortly into the mission the team realizes  they are being set up by Church, who as it turns out, got his orders  from the CIA.  Once this is revealed they decide to abort the mission  because they are mercenaries, and not CIA pawns.  Wait…  isn’t that what mercenaries are?  After returning home to the United  States they have regrets about leaving a politician’s daughter, played  by Brazilian soap star Giselle Itié, to help defend this small Latin  nation by herself.  So the team hops back on their plane (yes, they have their own plane) and return to take down the baddies themselves.  Once  they arrive the action really begins…and never ends.  By this point  there are more one-liners, explosions and dead bad guys than an action  fan knows what to do with.

An indie film fan like myself may  first ask about the dialogue.  I rarely say this but I think if the  script was any good it could have ruined the fun of the film.  With the  exception of the aforementioned one-liners, the cast basically mumbles everything  else.  And I’m glad they did.  The action scenes are well-shot, over-the-top and plentiful.  More than that, as a viewer, it looks as if  these actors were having a lot of fun “playing” with each other.  There  is a lot of laughing and winking which adds to the tongue-in-cheek  humor with which the film was made.

One could not discuss”The  Expendables” without perhaps mentioning the level of cool that Mickey  Roarke adds to the few scenes he is in.  Prolific television  actor Terry Crews (Everybody Hates Chris, Are We There Yet?) adds comic  relief as Hale Caesar, a suitably ultra-violent  kick-butt-and-take-names-later tribute to 70s action hero Fred  Williamson.  Stiff performances by crossover stars like UFC’s Randy Couture and WWE’s  ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin will keep the film from ever threatening to be on anyone’s  awards list.  Of course, this is not the goal of “The Expendables”.   The goal is to please an audience which it does in spades.  This is  Stallone’s greatest talent and he succeeds once again.  If you enjoyed  the dark violence of “Rambo” (2008) and are a fan of indie action  flicks, you will undoubtedly enjoy “The Expendables”.

Read more of my movie reviews at Red Carpet Crash!