The Expendables
Director: Sylvester Stallone
Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Giselle Itié and Bruce Willis
Releasing in cinemas: 12 August 2010
Rated: MA 15+
Mothers, keep your daughters in - Rambo’s back in town
Must be the season for fast action thrillers, as there’s no shortage of the genre around at the moment. The latest comes from Sylvester Stallone leading a team of golden oldies in this delightfully over-the-top ‘bang gotcha’ adventure which never stops for a breather. Like rock stars, old adventure heroes never die, they just sometimes get better with age. At least Stallone does - he’s not into a walking frame by any means. The Expendables also features tongue-in-cheek cameos by Bruce Willis and none other than Arnold Scharzenegger.
A
couple of younger members of the cast include Jason Statham who’s
in his element here mixing it well with Stallone; Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren,
and Randy Couture - guys so tough they could play Russian Roulette as
an after-dinner relaxation.
Starting topically with a blast, the film opens with a small group of lethal mercenaries lead by Barney ‘Schizo’ Ross (Sylvester Stallone) rescue a crew from brutal pirates off Samaria. This teaser among other things sets the scene for a rift between Barney and his disgruntled sniper Gunner Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), the drug-affected hot head of the group, which eventually leads to a death-defying car gambit between Barney and Gunner.
The action soon shifts to a South American island where the local dictator General Garza (David Zayas) bends to the will of coolly evil Monroe (Eric Roberts), a former CIA operative. Sent on a mission by Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) to reconnoiter the island, initially Barney doesn’t want to be involved, even for the cash.
Once he meets Garza’s fiery but stunning daughter, the rebellious Sandra (Giselle Itié), Barney with 2/IC Lee Christmas (Jason Statham) and the others decide to go back and save the islanders from dire exploitation. This results in a humongous body count and destruction of biblical proportions but all in a good cause.
Stallone - aka John Rambo - although proving he’s no slouch as a director or actor, still mumbles his lines with ominous stentorian threat. Perhaps he’s not doing the action stunts himself these days, but who cares, with snap editing and an avalanche of digital fudging, you really don’t see clearly enough to know who’s what. Thunderous sound effects give astonishing impact to lethal punches which may even miss connecting. Only a torture scene with water boarding of the luscious Sandra is perhaps unnecessarily brutal in context.
The Expendables is really comic book stuff, supplying explosive action rather than deep and meaningful discussions on the state of the world. The acting tends to reflect the personality of the actor as much as the characters they play. Jet Li (The Forbidden Kingdom) gets ragged about his height, while Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler), now typecast as an aging hippy hoodlum, does a thespian monologue in blue light on the meaning of his life. Although it seems a little out of place, you almost expect a big hand from the rest of the cast.
Stallone introduces a great joke with the short appearance of Scharzenegger, leaving his governor’s desk for five minutes, and exiting on the best line in the film. Triumphant music hammers away on the soundtrack suggesting the era of epics like Lawrence of Arabia, which suits the age of the cast. Indeed, it’s not a problem since we are harking back to the action flicks of the 80s anyway.
Whatever may be said, Stallone makes a competent effort in the director’s chair, and keeps the picture ripping along at full bore. The script and acting are all in line with the extravagant style of the movie - no Oscar nominations here, but what good fun for the masses.
John Bale