If you don't know or watch The Expandables by now, it's a film about a bunch of mercenaries trying to save an island / damsel in distress from a tyrant / a corporate evil. That's as far as plot goes, but honestly who goes to cinema and hoping to see philosophy drama, although surprisingly there's a fragment of that here. The main draw is definitely all action movie cast, albeit they are somewhat already old. You gotta wonder why is so few action stars nowadays.
Oh before that, I forgot my drawing the previous time..
http://vividobscura.deviantart.com/#/d2wtf2c
Okay so the plot is barely there, that leaves everything in action. With Stallone making this movie, it's a hit and miss, there are some parts that he did right, but some are well kinda suck. First the cast is awesome, Stallone as fearless all-round leader, who says grandpa can't be muscular. Statham as his BFF, knife throwing dude, he is a good choice and he delivers in this movie. Li as "I need money for my family" martial art guy, his acting is not that good, there are a few dialogues that don't work but that is partially the writer's fault too.
Lundgren as drug lover unstable dude. He shares some screen time like Li and like him, he also struggles in acting department. Terry Crews as the infinite ammo guy, he... Well I think we already established acting isn't this movie strong point. Eric Robert as evil dude with money, Steve Austin as hencemen #1, Coutore as MMA guy.. Nothing remarkable until you sees Mickey Rourke, the tattoo artist. He alone has the best acting here. I read about it in reviews, but I only understood when I watched it.
Now, Mickey Rourke earned an Oscar and he deserved it. In mid-way of the movie, there's a scene where Stallone asks him for council. He then delivers reminiscence about his past in some philosophical manner. The dialogue itself is nothing spectacular, a bit rambling even. But he does it with such amazing conviction it becomes believable. His jaws tremble, he sobs and even has teary eyes. Now that's commitment. The sudden shift from shoot'em up to dramatic scene is jarring, especially from this type of movie but it's brilliant in such corny way.
There is also this scene where three biggest 80's action stars first share one screen time. Stallone, Willis and Sch.. Schw... Arnold trash talk to each other. It's funny, although after all this time, I expect something more. If they were younger maybe they would fight. Everyone deliver those macho ego bull shit, but I think the one that got the bad end of deal is Arnold. You know it when you heard the line. Everbody lol.
No Rambo is better..
No Die Hard is better..
"cheessseee"
There is also a female character, I don't know her name.. She's not that important really. The important part is the stunt. Full of gore, pain, blood, death and "Oh that's gonna hurt so bad" moments. I said that Hollywood was lacking in stunt recently. This might just what it need to revive it. It's like Stallone wrote a list of "Stunts I wanna do for a long time but so dangerous, so over the-top, it should be illegal" and made this movie based on that. Some moves looks so horrid like the dismemberment, neckbreaker to knee and you should see Henchmen #2 got Ultra Combo-ed by Li and Statham.
It's not all that great though. There are many times that the camera didn't focus and the action is too fast to be coherent. It's a bit confusing really. The shoot-out is an example of that. There is also the issue of improbability, the stunts are sometimes too absurd. But for what it's worth, if you come to see action movie, you will not be dissapointed. Stallone did a great job to make this caliber action movie which is a bit long overdue.
Unfortunately, Stallone failed on some catrgory. The cast is awesome, but it could be much better. I think it's too ambitious for him to direct, write and also star in it. I respect the guy, everyone said he's too old to do "Rocky Balboa", but it came out quiet good. But there are certain things that can be delegated. Take Blade 2 for example, Del Toro directed it and Donnie Yen choreographed it, it's fluid and coherent, I think it's one of the best vampire movie, which reminds me I was supposed to write note to bash Twilite.... Damn.. Oh right rate 7/10.
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