Review of The Expendables 3 (2014) by Nelson R — 22 Sep 2014

Barney (Sylvester Stallone) and the rest of the Expendables are back for a third movie along with other new and past stars such as Harrison Ford, Mel Gipson, Wesley Snipes, and others. This movie is also packed with intense action scenes and of course Sylvester Stallone mano-a-mano with a bad guy. Expendables 3 pokes even more fun at the stars former roles as well as their personal life. It also has the best acting of the three movies due to the actors playing off of past criticism of their acting roles. This Expendable's has the best storylines of the three with a twist and "new school" feel.

This movie has so many action stars past their primes that you wonder when Chuck Norris is going to show up. That being said they all play their parts exceptionally well for the type of movie it is (action movie with comic relief). Some of the stars in the movie besides the ones previously named are Jason Statham, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Antonio Banderas, Victor Ortiz, and Ronda Rousey. The movie did a good job bringing in new up-and-coming actors and meshing them with the old. I thought Antonio Banderas was also a nice surprise. He played the role of goofy Expendables wannabe perfectly, especially after being a guy not accustom to a secondary role. Another great performance was by Sylvester Stallone. At the end of the movie, he showed a different side than his usual "badass" self as his character Barney shows a softer more reflective side of himself after being an Expendable (mercenary) for so long.

Using the star power of the movie, the screenwriter/producer (Stallone) incorporates lots of jokes about the stars in the movie. One example of this is, after the team saves Wesley Snipes, from being held hostage on a train, they ask him if he had ever been to prison and what for. He replies, "Yes, tax evasion." This is Stallone playing off of Snipe?s personal life where he actually went to prison for tax evasion. Another example of this is when the expendable team was under fire running back to the helicopter, and Schwarzenegger screams, "GET TO THE CHOPPER!" Making fun of one of Schwarzenegger's famous lines from Predator. A final example is Barney being told numerous times not to have a heart attack. This comes from a Hollywood rumor a few years ago that Stallone had died of a heart attack.

With Stallone being the lead actor, I know some people will say that all of the Expendable movies have had bad acting. This is where I disagree; this is where Stallone?s screenwriting genius comes into play. I'm sure he has heard that he as well as some of the other stars in the movie have been called bad actors from past roles. So he plays off of that, he puts in comical lines where you can tell he knows he is making fun of his and others acting, while laughing at the critics. There are times in the movie when an actor responds to a question or a statement with a smart response and a smirk on their face. As if telling the critics, "Yeah, I can laugh at myself, as well as receive a nice pay day.".

Expendables 3 earns a solid rating. I love action and comedy movies, so putting the two together makes it even better. Sylvester Stallone may be in his sixty's and look like plastic, but, he as well as the others still can put out an entertaining movie. The Expendables series may be nearing the end, but this movie seems like a passing of the torch and will have fans asking for more.