'THE EXPENDABLES' - archive from 18th August 2010.

'THE EXPENDABLES' which I saw earlier in the week has been long awaited, eagerly anticipated and much hyped since it was made known that Sylvester Stallone was amassing an ensemble cast the like of which is seldom seen on the big screen together anymore, and, is paying tribute to the classic action movies of the 80's that many of the assembled cast starred in and made their names in back in the day! The Screenplay was written by Stallone, he stars as the head honcho of said 'Expendables' and he takes on Directing duties too. With a budget of US$82M this film grossed US$275M and opened up at number one at the Box Office in the USA, UK, China & India, and as we know has so far spawned two sequels and a total combined Box Office haul of US$791M, with 'Expendables 4' announced.

Stallone's Triple 'R' playbook of Rocky, Rambo and now Ross (Barney Ross his elite mercenary leader for hire and king pin of 'The Expendables') all have one thing in common - they enjoy a fight and generally come out on top! And so it is with his merry band of highly skilled, accomplished, and deadly mercenary sidekicks that takes the best of the action hero genre; big ticket actors of yesteryear who still have their mojo's intact; and adds a good dose of blades, guns, grenades and gadgets with a sprinkle of humour and wraps it up with tongue firmly planted in cheek as its nods heroically and enthusiastically at the movies I grew up with!

In this case those heroes are Jason Statham (Lee Christmas - knives), Jet Li (Yin Yang - martial arts), Dolph Lundgren (Gunner Jensen - sniper), Terry Crews (Hale Caesar - heavy weapons), Randy Couture (Toll Road - demolition) with Mickey Rourke (Tool - tattooist), Steve Austin as Randy Paine, Arnold Schwarzenegger as Trench Mauser, Bruce Willis as Mr. Church, and Eric Roberts as bad guy James Munroe.

Ross and his crew are engaged by the mysterious Mr. Church to overthrow a Dictator on a small island state (Vilena) in the Gulf of Mexico. On arrival The Expendables learn that The Dictator (General Gaza) is being kept in power to shield the profiteering exploits of an ex-CIA Officer James Munroe, who is holding hostage the daughter of the General as bargaining collateral and security. As more is discovered about the link between Munroe and Garza and why Mr. Church is so interested in this small island and what Munroe is up to, so the action ramps up, shit gets blown up, the body count goes up and it all wraps up nicely in the end.

This is good honest to goodness mindless entertainment that is a welcome throw back to the action heroes, the action films and the action nonsense of the 80's. Don't expect any more than that, but you can expect to be wildly entertained with a good dose of blood & guts, humour, excitement and adrenaline pumping action. Furthermore, to see Stallone, Willis & Schwarzenegger on the big screen in the same frame chewing up the dialogue in spades is worth the price of your ticket alone, and truly a rare moment in cinema history.

If you have yet to see 'The Expendables' and grew up like me on a diet of action movie fare with these heroes of the big screen,  rent or download the three and watch them back to back for a slice of nostalgia & some gritty no holds barred action! Great stuff!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-