The Expendables
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Sylvester Stallone
Starring: Sly Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lungdren, Jet Li, Mickey Rourke, Randy Cotoure, and Terry Crews
The Good:
I grew up in the action days of the Arnold Shwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Van Damme, Bruce Willis before he was bald, and I loved every minute of it. So on the way to the Drive-In to check this movie out I was the male equivalent of a Twilight fan girl (or boy in some cases I hear), and like them I was not let down.
This movie wasted no time and got right to the reason we were all there, which was to see bad boys get their world blown up. Like so many movies today, especially action, this movie managed to convey relationships between it’s main characters most notably being the relationship between Sly’s and Statham’s characters. Their friendship mirrored the relationship I have with my closest buddy (minus the killing people) which made me dig the movie that much more.
Which brings me to my favorite part of this gem. Jason Statham, as much as Sly and the rest of the characters rocked the shit, Statham’s role rocked my socks. His hand to hand combat scenes were definitely the best to watch, everything he did in the film was gold, to the way he handled his knives to the way he handled his women. A scene between him , a scumbag who likes to give girls eyejammys, and his basketball buddies that had nothing to do with the plot whatsoever is the bit that had me most punching my fist and saying “hell yeah”, because it’s something that a regular shmuck like me could actually decide to do if pushed to it.
I’m known for being a fan of character driven movies, and nice crisp dialogue…so between the explosions, the fights, and the all around badassery I also got a kick out of Mickey Rourke’s small role with one scene in particular with him expressing regret over doing nothing in a situation he’s convinced could have redeemed him was a nice touching moment. Of course there is cameo by The Terminator and John McClane, now I have to tell you as much as I miss Arnie in the action world I dug Bruce Willis more in that scene due to the dialogue he had to work with it was tits.
The Bad:
Now, the only real gripe I had with this movie was that it ended. I could have watched things blow up and some of the secondary characters getting more screen time so much longer. Mainly the villains, now while the brawl between Steve Austin and Stallone kicked some machismo ass, I wish we could have seen ol Stone Cold more. A little more motivation for Dolph’s role in the film wouldn’t have hurt, and for some of the fight scenes it was a little difficult to see what was going on. Other than that, flawless.
The Bottom Line:
I give this film a B+, it was everything an action film should be. It hit me with a wave of nostalgia which I love with my movies. Another thing it did is left me wanting more, we have a plethora of action stars you can stick in a sequel and with the financial success of this film you can bet your ass they’ll answer the call so make it happen Stallone, until that time…bring on Machete. That’s the bottom line…because Pablo The Kid SAID SO.