TERMINATOR : DARK FATE - Tuesday 5th November 2019.

'TERMINATOR : DARK FATE' which I saw at my local multiplex earlier this week is an MA15+ Rated American Sci-Fi actioner Directed by Tim Miller in only his second feature film Directing gig after 2016's critical and commercial success that was 'Deadpool'.  This highly anticipated, much hyped and eagerly awaited film is Co-Produced and adapted from a story by James Cameron amongst others. It will be the sixth instalment in the 'Terminator' franchise and the first since 1991's 'Terminator 2 : Judgement Day' to have franchise creator James Cameron involved. The first five films in the franchise have earned a collective Box Office gross of US$1.85B off the back of combined Production Budgets of US$463M. Cameron considers the film a direct sequel to his 1984 film 'The Terminator' and 1991's 'Terminator 2: Judgement Day', while 2003's 'Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines', 2009's 'Terminator Salvation', 2015's 'Terminator Genisys' and the television series 'Terminator : The Sarah Connor Chronicles' are described as occurring in alternate timelines. This instalment cost in the vicinity of US$180M to bring to the big screen, has so far grossed US$131M, was released in the US last week too, and has received generally mixed Reviews and has failed to make the Box Office expectations initially thought.

Back in 1998, three years after halting the threat of Skynet, Sarah (Linda Hamilton) and John Connor (Edward Furlong) are living a free and easy life of peace somewhere near a beach in Guatemala.  Blissfully unaware that Skynet sent multiple Terminators back through time prior to eradicating the Skynet threat, they are attacked by a T-800 Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) which kills John before disappearing. Needless to say Sarah is distraught by what she has just witnessed and cradles the lifeless body of her young son in her arms.

Fast forward some twenty-two years, and a new, modified liquid metal prototype Terminator known as the Rev-9 (Gabriel Luna) is sent from the future to Mexico City in order to terminate Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes), with a hybrid augmented human cyborg known as Grace (Mackenzie Davis) also sent from the future to protect Dani and ensure she survives at all costs. The two future time travellers arrive within a few hours of each other. The Rev-9 only needs to touch someone momentarily to be able to assume their whole identity and physical appearance, and so it is with Dani's father (Enrique Arce), who is replicated and naturally killed in the process. And so the Rev-9 as Mr. Ramos goes to Dani's and her brother Diego's (Diego Boneta) car manufacturing plant where they are both employed with the sole aim of killing Dani. Grace however, is one step ahead and is able to thwart the Rev-9 and escape with the brother and sister in a pick up truck.

The Rev-9 gives chase in a much larger truck trashing multiple cars on the freeway in its pursuit. En route, is also reveals its ability to divide itself into its cybernetic endoskeleton and a shapeshifting liquid metal exterior. It tears after them, killing Diego in the process and cornering Grace and Dani on a raised section of the freeway.

Sarah arrives just in the nick of time and temporarily disables the Rev-9 with a series of explosives. Dani, Grace, and Sarah retreat to a motel where Grace recovers from dehydration and is in desperate need of some vital medication, for fear of shutting down, which she steals from a local pharmacy en route, aided by Dani. 

Following her recovery, and back on the road, Sarah reveals that she was able to locate Grace because in the years since John's death, she has received encrypted messages detailing the locations of arriving Terminators, each ending with the phrase 'For John'. Grace responds that she had not heard of Skynet or John and that they do not exist in her time. Instead, humanity is threatened by an Artificial Intelligence called 'Legion', originally designed for cyberwarfare. Legion took control of all servers worldwide in the late 2040's and, out of desperation and the will to survive, humanity tried to neutralise it with nuclear devices, resulting in a nuclear holocaust and the AI building a global network of machines to eradicate all human survivors.

Grace is able to track Sarah's messages to Laredo, Texas as they continue to evade the Rev-9 and the local authorities. Arriving at an isolated house in the woods via a commandeered helicopter, they discover the T-800 Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) that murdered John all those years ago. Sarah, sighting the Terminator wants to kill it on the spot, but is prevented from doing so by Grace, who was led to his location from coordinates tattooed on her stomach before her arrival, with the message to seek him out if necessary. The Terminator states that he was left stranded in an altered timeline and left without any purpose after completing its objective, with no further instructions being forthcoming. As a consequence, the T-800 began to learn from humanity and eventually developed a conscience, taking the name 'Carl', starting a drapery business (can you imagine?) and adopting a human family. Learning of how its own actions had affected Sarah, it decided to send her messages to give her some purpose. 

Carl says his farewells to his family and tells them to escape, anticipating that the Rev-9 will arrive soon. Sarah reluctantly agrees to work together for Dani's sake. The group then makes a plan to ambush and destroy the Rev-9 by luring it into a kill box. Dani receives tactical weapons training utilising the huge stash of heavy artillery maintained by Carl in a locked shed on the property, anticipating that this day would eventually come. 

In order to lure the Rev-9 into their trap, they seek out a military grade Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) device from a serving military acquaintance of Sarah. The Rev-9 soon enough catches up with them, forcing them to steal a C-5 Galaxy military transport aircraft to escape. During the flight, Grace reveals that Dani is the future commander of the Resistance, as well as Grace's rescuer when she was orphaned at a young age after Legion seized control of the world. Sarah and Carl come to the realisation that they are fated to meet Grace and Dani, and Sarah concludes that her own history is repeating itself here in Dani. 

The Rev-9 boards their aeroplane by using a KC-10 Extender aerial refuelling tanker aircraft by smashing into the C-5 Galaxy mid-flight. The EMP is destroyed in the subsequent shootout, and Sarah, Dani and Grace are forced to jump from the plane while clinging onto a plummeting Humvee which parachutes and lands precariously on the lip of a dam before falling into a fast flowing river near a hydro-power plant.  

Shortly afterwards the Rev-9 and Carl are battling it out underwater, and gaining the upper hand the Rev-9 approaches the now submerged Humvee containing Dani and Sarah with the water rapidly rising inside the cabin. Sarah releases a parachute at the crucial moment enveloping the Rev-9 and sending him spiralling though the rivers fierce current. Having been washed downstream, the three are reunited, and begin the ascent up to the hydro-power plant, where they are joined by Carl, who by now is looking the worse for wear but still functioning. 

Down but not out, the group makes a stand inside the power plant with the relentless Rev-9 in hot pursuit. In the ensuing battle, Carl and Grace force the Rev-9 into a rapidly spinning turbine and destroy its liquid exterior, so causing an explosion which incapacitates most of the group and mortally wounds Grace. Before dying, Grace tells Dani to use her power source to destroy the Rev-9's surviving yet badly damaged endoskeleton which remains on its mission. Dani reluctantly retrieves Grace's power source from her stomach cavity, and as the Rev-9 gains the upper hand, Carl is able to restrain it, so giving Dani the chance to stab it in the eye socket with the power source. Carl drags itself and the Rev-9 over a ledge falling onto exposed rebar's many metres below. Both now pinned down, and the power source taking effect on the Rev-9, Carl calls out to Sarah 'For John', right before the power core explodes, destroying them both.

'Terminator : Dark Fate' is a good watch, but it's not great. With a marketed disregard for the third, fourth and fifth films in this franchise, this sixth film is intended to be a direct sequel to 'T2 : Judgement Day', which ably puts 'Dark Fate' in third place out of the six instalments seen to date. It's certainly a welcome return to have James Cameron's influence over the Production, and to see Schwarzenegger's and Hamilton's presence together on screen for the first time since 'T2' is also a welcome return to form for the franchise. And Tim Miller's deft Direction with the action sequences especially here proves his worthiness with the skills he clearly honed on 2016's 'Deadpool'. The story is relatable and kinda adds up and makes sense, although it is almost a carbon copy of 'T2' where Robert Patrick's liquid metal shapeshifting T-1000 was sent back from the future to kill John Connor, only to have the day and John saved by the pairing of Schwarzenegger and Hamilton. Are you getting a sense of deja vu here? That said, it's a respectable entry in the 'Terminator' canon that combines well executed action spectacle, a few moments of suspense and emotion, and some much needed levity by way of Carl's justification for becoming more human like, and Sarah's stance on saving the planet from complete oblivion. Worth the price of entry and worth seeing on the big screen for sure, but judging by the Box Office take, any further instalments now seem less likely.

'Terminator : Dark Fate' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

'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-

TERMINATOR : GENISYS : Saturday 4th July 2015.

In 1984 a young film maker made a movie that was to find its way into our popular culture and cinema sub-consciousness. His name was James Cameron, and in releasing 'The Terminator' he also established the career of an immigrant Austrian bodybuilder determined to make his name and his fortune in the Hollywood movie business - his name was Arnold Schwarzenegger. In the intervening years there have been three further sequels - 'T2 : Judgement Day' in 1991 with Cameron helming again, 'T3 : Rise of the Machines' in 2003, 'T4 : Salvation' in 2009 and the most lacklustre of the franchise, and now we have a return to form with Arnie back playing our titular cyborg hero Directed by Alan Taylor on a US$170M budget. Those first four films were made for a combined US$509M and returned collectively US$1.4B, and so last night with high expectations I saw the highly anticipated eagerly awaited 'TERMINATOR : GENISYS', and this fifth instalment in the franchise does not disappoint.

So far and for the most part the critics have been less than kind to 'T5', but for me this is very a respectable offering which owes much to the writing by scribes Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier who have woven the altered future premise tightly into the mythology of the past, and in particular the storyline set by Cameron in the first two films. The production values and the effects are solid and right on the money with what Cameron established back in 1991, the Direction is tight and well handled with a sense of urgency throughout, the cast create believable characters that you can relate to, and there are some real laugh out loud moments too that Arnie mostly delivers. What 'T3' and 'T4' lacked, this film more than makes up for. Taking us right back to 1984 by weaving the original story arc of the first two signature films into a changed past and so altering the future should have been what 'T3' was all about in 2003, but at least now we have a reboot that makes sense in the context of those first two earlier films and allows the franchise to go off in a whole new direction.

And so to the film itself. The film opens in a war torn 2029 Los Angeles and the leader of the human resistance against the machines John Connor (Jason Clarke) is pitching his final assault on Skynet to bring down the machines and save all humanity. We learn that in 1997 when Skynet became self aware it launched a global attack which wiped out three billion humans leaving the machines to dominate the planet. Before Skynet is taken down, it sends a T-800 back to 1984 to take out Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) thus preventing John Connor from being born and thwarting any future human resistance effort against Skynet. Kyle Reece (Jai Courtney) is John's trusted and loyal right hand man and he volunteers to travel back to 1984 to stop the T-800 from harming Sarah Connor, and so he steps into the Skynet time machine and is delivered back to 1984. Here the melding of that original film with this one  is very well done, right down to the younger Arnold Schwarzenegger T-800, and from this perspective it does help knowing the original source material.

As the T-800 (Brett Azar as the body double to the younger Schwarzenegger Terminator) makes his presence felt in a recreation of the scene from the original film, he is greeted by the 'Guardian' Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) in older form who announces he has been waiting for this moment. This sets up the altered timeline as Sarah Connor takes out the newly arrived Terminator with some heavy machine killing artillery, as the two Terminators pummel each other. We learn subsequently that the 'Guardian' was sent back to 1973 when Sarah Connor was just nine years of age and has been protecting her ever since knowing that this day would come.

Elsewhere in town the time travelling Kyle Reece falls to 1984 as he did in the first film too, but is soon chased down by a T-1000 (Lee Byung-hun) masquerading as a patrol police officer, as he reprises the shapeshifting liquified Terminator first seen as Robert Patrick in 'T2'. As Reece and the T-1000 go head to head across town with a rising body count, a truck driven by Sarah crashes through a department store rescuing Reece leaving the T-1000 in hot pursuit. In the truck Reece is introduced to the 'Guardian' Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) but is unknowing at this point that the past has been changed and it is now not what he was expecting at all, which changes his mission again completely. Sarah explains briefly that the Guardian arrived when she was just nine years old and he has been protecting her, and training her (like a father figure which is why she also refers to the Guardian as 'Pops') ever since for the events that are now unfolding. Reece comments that the Guardian Terminator looks old, with the response coming back that human tissue ages as it does on him even though inside he is mechanical . . . he is 'old, but not obsolete' the Guardian Terminator concludes.

With the T-1000 still giving chase Sarah, Reece and the Guardian lead him to a sewer where a further fight ensues with a resurrected T-800 rebooted by the T-1000, but the two are successfully dispensed with - the latter disintegrated in a rain shower of acid. As the three collect their thoughts and recover from the last altercation the Guardian reveals he has built, in the intervening years, a time displacement machine similar to that of Skynet's but using 1984 technology. With it, Sarah plans to travel to 1997 to prevent 'Judgement Day'. However, Reece is convinced that she (and he) should travel instead to 2017 because he has had recurring visions of a future altered state in which he was born after 1997 and living a care free life in a world not yet destroyed and overrun by the dominant machines. As Sarah & Reece prepare to travel forward in time to 2017 the Guardian announces he will be waiting for them, prepared and at the ready, in San Francisco in 2017, where Skynet and Cyberdyne Systems Corporation is headquartered.

Arriving at their future destination Sarah and Reece learn that 'Genisys' is a single global operating system owned and operated by Cyberdyne using Skynet technology. Genisys is soon to go live on line interconnecting every piece of technology and hence everyone around the world. What they don't count on though is the re-emergence of John Connor in 2017 who after some re-introductions, puzzlement and lots of questions is in fact revealed to be a T-3000 nanomachine hybrid that is out to prevent the three from destroying Cyderdyne and Skynet at any cost, and is almost incapable of being destroyed.

The final set piece as Sarah, Reece, the Guardian and the T-3000 all clash in the headquarters of Cyberdyne as the three seek to set bombs to take down the five towers that will bring Skynet on line very soon. The T-3000 can be thwarted however, by any magnetic field and so the two Terminators (old and new) battle it out - with the T-3000 being disintegrated into Skynet's incomplete yet partially active and highly magnetic time displacement device, and the by now dismembered Guardian T-800 thrown into a bath of mimetic polyalloy liquid. As the place explodes simultaneously taking down the five Cyberdyne towers and Skynet, so 'Genisys' is shut down and Sarah & Reece escape to an underground bunker, safe, but locked in and with a diminishing oxygen supply. Needless to say they get out, and I wish I could say they all live happily ever after . . . but, you'll just have to watch out for the upcoming sequels!

Once the credits start to roll though stay in your seat and wait for the closing mid-credits sequence that sets up the next instalment. Suffice to say, and as you would expect, not everything about 'Genisys' was destroyed in the blast setting up the sequel due for release in May 2017 with another to follow in June 2018. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed up too for one more instalment. After it's first three days of release the film has so far made US$54M. Certainly worth the price of you ticket, and see it on the big screen - better than most critics give it credit for, and judging by the packed movie theatre I sat in last night it certainly has an audience.

  

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week - Thursday 2nd July 2015.

It's July, and we've reached the mid-point in the year already and what a first six months we've had cinematically! With big budget epic fare, small independent offerings, some great foreign language films, action, adventure, tragedy, comedy blockbusters, sleeper hits and those that have flown under the radar. What will the next six months bring - well, you'll just have to get out there to you local cinema.  But, rest assured, it all starts here, and it does so with a bang with an action adventure hero who once muttered those immortal lines 'I'll be back!' . . . and he is - here, this week!

First up we have one of the most highly anticipated, eagerly awaited films of the year that is a welcome return of a cyborg hero in this fifth instalment of a hugely successful franchise that also spawned a TV Series - you know what I'm talkin' about! Then, we have a doco about a famed British songstress who departed this mortal coil way too early, and finally a short film assured to gain cult status as it pays homage to the martial arts comedy police action films of the 80's.

With three offerings out & about at your local movie theatre this coming week paired up with the solid offerings still out on general release, you once again have plenty to choose from, so get out amongst it and go see a movie! When you have, drop your friends and like minded readers a line or two in the Comments box immediately below this, or any other Post and share your thoughts on your filmic experience. Enjoy your movie!

TERMINATOR : GENISYS (Rated M) - in 1984 a young film maker made a movie that was to find its way into our popular culture and cinema sub-conscious. His name was James Cameron, and in releasing 'The Terminator' he also established the career of an immigrant Austrian bodybuilder determined to make his name and his fortune in the Hollywood movie business - his name was Arnold Schwarzenegger. In the intervening years there have three further sequels - 'T2 : Judgement Day' in 1991 with Cameron helming again, 'T3 : Rise of the Machines' in 2003, 'T4 : Salvation' in 2009 and the most lacklustre of the franchise, and now we have a return to form with Arnie back playing our titular cyborg hero Directed by Alan Taylor on a US$170M budget. Those first four films were made for a combined US$509M and returned collectively US$1.4B.

And so to this latest iteration. This films owes more to the first two films than is does the latter two. Here John Connor (Jason Clarke) is leading the human resistance against Skynet, and sends back Kyle Reece (Jai Courtney) to 1984 to safeguard his mother Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) from a Terminator killer hunting her down. Unexpected events create an altered timelines and when Reece arrives back in 1984 he is met by a skilled confident combat ready Sarah Connor supported by a Terminator Guardian - a reprogrammed T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger). Hot on the heels however, are dangerous new enemies and unexpected allies as the timeline darts between 1984, to 1997 (the eve of Judgement Day), to 2017 with a T-1000, a T-3000 and a T-5000 all emerging to thwart Sarah, Kyle and the Guardian Terminator while Reece seeks to reset the future, and prevent the Genisys application from going live on-line with potentially disastrous implications for humankind. J.K. Simmons also stars. Watch it on the big screen methinks!

AMY (MA15+) - In 2010 British film maker Asif Kapadia bought us the excellent Documentary film charting the on and off track life of F1 racing great Ayrton Senna with the highly acclaimed 'Senna'. Now in 2015 his subject matter is once again the tragically short life of a another famed personality - this time from the world of music - Amy Winehouse. Featuring previously unseen footage, previously unheard tracks that the singer had recorded before her death on 23rd July 2011 from alcohol poisoning, and the content taken from over 100 interviews that Kapadia had with close family and friends, this films charts the singers early life, her influences, her relationships, the media attention, and her drug & alcohol addiction that led to her untimely death. If 'Senna' is anything to go by, this is likely to be compelling viewing.

KUNG FURY (Rated M) - Directed, Written and Starring David Sandberg this is a 31 minute crowd funded Swedish Produced English language film that pays homage to the martial arts police action movies of the 80's. Set in 1985, Kung Fury is the meanest, baddest, toughest martial arts cop in the Miami Police Force, and he is sent back in time to thwart the worst killer of all time - Kung Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, and end the Nazi grip on a war torn Europe. Full of camped up slapstick martial arts green screen silliness, this is likely to become a cult classic before you know it!

That's it then for the week ahead - two time travelling kick-ass movies both at complete opposite ends of the movie spectrum, and a doco sure to provide an intimate look inside the mind and life of a talented young artist plucked from us too soon. Whatever you choose to view in the week ahead, enjoy your film.

See you at the Odeon soon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THE EXPENDABLES 3 - Tuesday 19th August 2014.

Reading like a 'Who's Who' of Hollywood heavy hitters, Barney Ross is at it again with his likable gang of mercenaries doing what they do best in 'THE EXPENDABLES 3' - which I saw last night.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - just seeing these action stars of yesteryear and this year up on screen together, chewing up the scenery, guns blazing, and clearly having a damn good time during production which is evident on screen - is worth the price of your ticket alone. Screenwriter again for this outing, principle mega star, and leader of 'The Expendables' is Sylvester Stallone playing the lovable rogue Barney Ross. He is one again joined by Jason Statham (Lee Christmas) as his right hand man, Arnold Schwarzenegger as Trench in his biggest Expendables role to date, Dolph Lundgren as Gunnar Jensen the strong silent type, Jet Li as Yin Yang back for more martial arts mayhem as only he can, Terry Crews as Hale Caesar, and Randy Couture as Toll Road.

Needless to say the opening scene (like every Bond movie before) starts off with a bang as our Expendables crew lift newcomer Wesley Snipes (Doc) from a heavily guarded prison train in between one heavily guarded prison where he has served eight years already and another heavily guarded fortress somewhere in deepest darkest Russia. With the use of an agile helicopter piloted by Ross and lots of impressive weaponry, our boys overcome adversity and Doc is rescued.

 On the way home our intrepid mercenaries have to make a little side trip to some downtrodden third world country to collect a package, where more mayhem ensues, there are big explosions, rapid machine gun fire, impressive vehicle stunts, overhead cranes, shipping containers and more shit going down than you could poke a M16 at! It is here that an unwelcome discovery is made in the form of one Mel Gibson playing villain in the piece, Conrad Stonebanks - former co-founder of The Expendables who has subsequently gone rogue and become a ruthless international arms dealer who is after the same package as Ross and his cohorts. Ross believes that Stonebanks is dead by his own hand many years earlier - but not so it would seem, and as the two eyeball each other we know that revenge and closure for either is on the radar front & centre!

Realising that their new adversary is bigger and mightier than the dwindling and ageing Expendables Ross folds up his crew and tells them to ride off into the sunset and enjoy their new forced retirement - alive at least!

The next set up is Ross catching up with underworld talent scout Kelsey Grammer (Napoleon Bonaparte) to recruit new, younger, tech savvy and disposable blood to The Expendables to capture Stonebanks and deliver him to the CIA alive - represented this time not by Bruce Willis' Church, but by Harrison Ford's Drummer. Along the way recruited to the fold are the new bloods - Antonio Banderas as Galgo, Kellen Lutz at Smilee, Victor Ortiz as Mars, Glen Powell as Thorn and token ass-kickin' female Ronda Rousey as Luna. Watch out for Banderas because he hams it up beautifully, and clearly is having  great time doing so!

After the new gang are recruited they head off to where Stonebanks is holed up - some fictitious eastern European no-hope war torn country where the new Expendables and joined by the old Expendables and Drummer in the sky doing helicopter acrobatics with Trench and Yin Yang riding shotgun . . . or machine gun! This is the climatic ending that sees helicopter and tank assaults on a booby-trapped one-time office tower where the Expendables are housed, close quarter hand to hand combat, more artillery used and abused than you can image, explosions aplenty, a rapidly rising body count, and jaw dropping action backed up by quick quips and one liners that is sure to raise a smile. And then of course there is the final showdown between Ross and Stonebanks!

Having grown up with these guys in the 80's and the action films they made, this is an updated throw back to that era. It's heavy on the fire power, heavy on the body count, heavy on the ego's and heavy on the quips but it's all good fun, and I found myself chuckling and laughing out loud several times. When Arnie shouts 'Get them to the Choppa' you know he's having a blast, and when Ford says of Church (the Bruce Willis character he replaces from the previous two films) - 'he's out of the picture' - you'll understand the double meaning in this comment that I'm sure Stallone wrote in especially when Willis exited stage left!

Directed by only second time helmer Aussie Patrick Hughes - this is good fun, totally over the top, and good on Stallone for pulling such a talent pool for our entertainment and serving up a dose of nostalgia. For the fourth instalment we should expect to see Cage, Segal, and Chan in there too, and maybe Danny Trejo as the villain - now that would be something! There are those that will dismiss this for a host of reasons, but three films in, Hollywood A-listers lining up to star, and a fourth film announced - The Expendables must be doing something right, and clearly there is an audience!

  

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THE EXPENDABLES 2 - archive from 11th September 2012

Saw 'EXPENDABLES 2' last night and loved it! This is great mindless entertainment that combines the best of 80's action movies, star power, fire power, quick witted humour and a body count that does itself proud. If you were brought up on a diet of 'Rocky', 'Rambo', 'Terminator' and 'Die Hard' as I was back in the day then you're gonna love this! 

To see Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Willis on the big screen together chewing up the scenery and clearly loving it is worth the price of entry alone. Throw in Statham, Lundgren, Norris, JCVD, and Li makes this a priceless outing. The dynamic trio are great together and memorable for their egos, excesses and enduring humour and I laughed out loud more times that I can remember. 

Directed by Simon West and co-written for the screen by Sylvester Stallone, this time around Mr. Church (Willis) enlists Barney Ross (Stallone) and his Expendable Team to retrieve a package from a crashed plane somewhere in the former USSR - seems simple enough and a good ol' paycheque at the end. But of course, things don't go too simply as they had at first thought and one of Barney's men is taken hostage in return for the package . . . or the hostage gets it!

Handing over the package the hostage gets it anyway, and so now revenge is on the agenda and the retrieval of the package which tells of the secret location of a plutonium storage mine deep in the Russian mountains, where the local men are being forced to work and their families persecuted along the way. The lynch-pin of this mob of gangsters, crims and miscreants is aptly named Vilain (JCVD) who must be halted before the plutonium gets into the wrong hands and more widespread damage is caused on a scale even bigger than the Expendables!

Also starring Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris, Liam Hemsworth, Randy Couture, and Terry Crews, this is a winning formula, a huge cast doing what they do best, and a treat for movie geeks remembering the good old days of action yore! They don't make 'em like this anymore . . . unless you're Expendable! Brilliant . . . for all the wrong reasons! Bring on 'E3' . . . and of course they are - out on 14th August 2014 at a big screen new you, and Previewed in 'What's new in Odeon's this week - Thursday 14th August 2014'

-Steve, at Odeon Online-