Review of The Expendables 3 (2014) by Bruce722 — 25 Feb 2015

The Expendables 3 is easily the worst of the franchise so far. Sure, it had plenty of historic action heroes and some great nostalgic one-liners (Arnie yelling "get to the choppa" is gold) and it even had a halfway decent plot, albeit not an entirely original one.

The fight scenes were a step down from the previous films and the pacing and plot development wasn't as solid, though neither of the first two really delivered on that front to begin with. I suppose my biggest problems with the movie are two key things.

The first is that the film's beginning effectively erases the characters that they established in the first two. Wesley Snipes character comes in and basically points out that Jason Statham and the rest of the expendables are newbies compared to him, even though he's only been locked up for 8 years.

While this could be considered nitpicking, the first two films made the team out like a group of guys who have been battle tested for years and years together. Well, considering that the first film takes place four years prior to this one, that means the events of the first film take place with the team together for a maximum of four years, and likely less.

I'm sorry but that continuity doesn't vibe. The other thing that I didn't care for was the actual newbies that were introduced to breathe new life into the cast. While I think they don't necessarily do a bad job individually, I just don't think they made sound casting decisions.

This franchise has been built on action heroes of the past. If you're going to go young, you need to target the actions heroes of the present. Now certainly nobody expects Dwyane Johnson, Chris Pine, Vin Diesel, Mark Wahlberg, Chris Hemsworth, Sam Worthingston, Tom Hardy, Matt Damon, or any of the other megastars of today to sign on.

For one, most of them are a little too old to act as "young kids" and simply put, they are stars and don't need this franchise. The money nor wouldn't be right and they likely wouldn't dare touch the films.

However, there are other young up-and-comers they could've targeted that would've made better sense, in my opinion, and they could've gotten creative and tried to mirror the megastars of the past. How about using Jason Momoa to take the mantel of the large and physically impressive Arnold Schwarzenegger? He did star in the remake of Conan.

They could've even included a joke where Arnie asks him something along the lines of, "are you trying to replace me, or something?" What about Tony Jaa? He is probably the next great asian martial artist in the style of Jet Li or Jackie Chan.

How about bring him in? I actually loved the idea of Ronda Rousey. Her acting chops are better than Gina Carano's and she represents a new age where women might have a chance at becoming legitimate action heroes.

Who's the next Jason Statham or Wesley Snipes (action hero with more of a kickboxing flare)? Honestly, it might be Taylor Lautner. The dude is an absolutely insanely talented martial artist. Why not give him a go? As for the guy who effectively replaces Sly, I think Taylor Kitsch is twice the actor Kellen Lutz is, but Lutz did a decent job so I can't complain there.

That being said, doesn't a line up of Kitsch, Momoa, Jaa, and Lautner sound better than Lutz, Victor Ortiz, and Glen Powell? I also must point out that I miss Mickey Rourke's character. He has been absent in these last two and I don't get why.

Were there fun explosions and gun battles? Certainly. Was there any real substance beyond that though? Not really.