The Expendables

Review

The Last Action Heroes

The 1980s was a very special time and place to be apart of. It was full of joy and wonder….well not really. It did however give birth to the action movie genre. Movies filled with big explosions, high body counts, and classic one-liners. Now a days these movies are all but extinct, The Expendables hopes to change that.

Probably one of the most anticipated movies of the summer (for me anyways).The Expendables is uniting the biggest action stars of both past and present. With literally the most powerful cast ever assembled. The movie stars “The Italian Stallion” Sylvester Stallone, “The Austrian Death Machine” Arnold Schwarzenegger, that “Yippie-Kai-Yay, Motherf#$%^r” Bruce Willis, “Masters of the Universe” Dolph Lundgren, “The Wrestler” Mickey Rourke, Jet Li, and Jason Statham. If that wasn’t enough testosterone for one movie, they throw in WWE’s “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Everybody Hates Chris’ Terry Crews for good measure. It’s a cast only one could dream of, but do all these muscles make it easier for The Expendables to climb to the top of the box office? Or will they leave you crying like a little girly man?

If you have been watching the trailers for this movie you may be getting excited about finally seeing all these guys teaming up together but in reality you’re getting a movie that stars Stallone and Statham. The others are there for only a handful of scenes that one would consider them cameo roles.  However when they are all on screen at the same time it’s magical.

No one is really seeing this movie for the story and anyone who says so is a filthy liar. The story is your run of the mill action setups. Stallone leads his group of mercenaries called The Expendables and their called in to due one more job. What happens next is what people will be calling the new “Heat” moment in movie cinema. This time instead of Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, we have a legendary scene that has three of the biggest action stars of all time meeting up for the first time on screen. Sadly this epic moment with Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Willis is over way to quick. Which is understandable because as one of the fellow movie patrons yelled out during my showing “Hey Schwarzenegger go back to work”. With the new mission given, Stallone and his crew head out to do what they do best. Better get a lot of body bags ready. 

As for the action goes it’s a lot like Rambo 4 movie, full of CGI blood, explosions and tons of bullets. However as where the bullets and the explosions made people liquefy in Rambo 4, I’m pretty sure that in this movie it’s due to the sheer amount of testosterones on set.  If you’re one of those people that has to see someone reload a gun in a movie, get lost this movie isn’t for you because The Expendables use cheat codes. Yes, there’s nothing like a little mindless violence now and then.

This very well may be the last hurrah with our action heroes. The movie is far from being perfect but neither were the awesome movies from the 1980s. The Expendables is just a fun, brainless action movie that pays tribute to the films that came before it. This may not be their highest note to go out on but it is a good way to end the summer.