Review of The Expendables 3 (2014) by Quincytheodore — 19 Aug 2014

Old and new, mostly old, meet at this worst of the Expendables series. With more star power than ever the third installment is actually a regression instead of improvement. While some actors undeniably show their age, Wesley Snipe, Antonio Banderas and Mel Gibson as the new additions have acting and action quality. Yet the result is a dull movie made up by less appealing fights and more plodded pacing. There's barely any excitement, self-deprecating humor or grandiose action that's expected from Expendables. At this state it's just below average action flick and a waste of the star value.

The cast consists of actors who had headlined their own successful movies, and possibly still could do so in present time. However, the high number of characters doesn't help much as the movie tries to divvy screen time to accommodate them. Each probably has one or two scenes on their belt, and even that is mostly shared with Stallone. Without sounding too rude, Stallone looks as if he still wears the residue of makeup from his fight in Rocky IV. It's honestly sad to see some of them age, Ford and Arnold also don't look very compelling.

Story isn't told that well either, screenplay is fragmented and the editing is a bit choppy. The flow is erratic with scenes seemingly too short and dialogues are too campy and prolonged. It appears messy as though the movie wants to incorporate several sequences in a row but fails to deliver a polished pace. This translates into the fights, which unfortunately are less engaging than the previous two titles. The violence has been dumb down into vanilla fight, typical punches and shooting that are eclipsed by more brutal and fast paced action of late. It has its moments, Wesley Snipes and Ronda Rousey look more convincing, but overall tone of the action is definitely softer.

What worse is it uses more CG this time. Preceded by horde of summer blockbusters before it, that also have emphasis on CG, the movie's looks artificial and apparent. If audience wants to see obviously fake explosion or stunt, they would but the ticket to mutated turtles show. The Expendables 3 simply doesn't offer any that hasn't been done better by recent movies. Despite the flaws, Mel Gibson produces a good acting, better than the rest at least. Antonio Banderas also brings his usual fiery performance, although the material could be better for him.

It's a hard case to recommend The Expendables 3, what separates it from some Cinemax retro movie is the name line-up, and it's even more disappointing that a movie with these names turns up to be so mediocre.