Review of The Expendables (2010) by Halfwelshman — 06 Sep 2011

The Expendables promised so much - not movie magic by any means, but at least a decent bit of nostalgia looking back at retro action movies. It doesn't deliver. The action is competent rather than spectacular, the effects are a bit dodgey, the dialogue is awful, the story even worse.

Jason Statham is the only one of the cast who bothers to project anything even vaguely resembling emotion. Stallone is the worst offender, not only mumbling atrociously through every scene (even by his standards) but proving himself to be one of the most unimaginative and cliched filmmakers working today (he made the ill-advised move to direct this one).

It does have one sensational scene, however. It's an 80s action movie fan's wet-dream - Sly Stallone, Bruce Willis and Arnie in the same room. It's a five minute dialogue scene in a church, and it's the most compelling scene in the film.

We have moved on from American 80s action movies, to the extent that Hollywood can't even cast anyone who isn't from the most obscure locality as a villain. The Cold War is over, and so are it's stars.

It's even more tragic that examples of a younger generation, who actually have talent (Statham and Li) have been roped into this debacle.The greatest crime of all The Expendables commits (as a film full of saggy, jingoistic hooligans) is that it tries to take itself seriously.