Star/director/co-writer Sylvester Stallone explained in an interview with G4's Attack of the Show that what made the blockbuster-action genre fade away was CGI. He said that every generation has to create their own style, so Hollywood began to focus on special effects and comic book plots. So to pay tribute to those great films of the 80's and early 90's, Stallone wrangled up some of the biggest action stars of the past and present in an attempt at a mega-blockbuster called The Expendables.
A five man team of mercenaries with the same name as the movie are offered a job by "Mr. Church" (Burce Willis). Their task is to liberate a tiny, fictional South American island-country from the clutches of a dictator. But the dictator is well protected, and has the financial support of a corrupt American businessman. Needless to say, the odds are stacked against The Expendables.
The movie's draw is the all-star cast of action heroes of today and yesterday. While Stallone's character leads the mercenary team, he's joined by British badass Jason Statham, martial arts legend Jet Li, former NFL player Terry Crews, and three time UFC heavyweight champion Randy "The Natural" Couture. Mickey Rourke also appears as the team's informant, Dolph Lundgren is a former Expendable turned villain, WWE Hall of Famer "Stone Cold" Steve Austin plays the evil American's right hand man, and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has a cameo as Stallone's bitter rival and competitor.
Each of these guys have their moments, but it feels like a lot of them had an unfair amount of screen time. Of course, this problem could be blamed on the size of the film's cast versus the film's length; it's less than two hours long. But even with these limitations, every member of the ensemble get's their moment of glory, whether it's making the audience laugh or gasp. The biggest reaction from the audience at the midnight showing I attended was an inside joke shared between Stallone and Willis about Schwarzenegger.
What also made The Expendables somewhat disappointing was the way the action was portrayed. Yes, there's fair amount of gore, but it just felt a bit lacking for film of this magnitude. The worst part was Li's fight with Lundgren, because there were too many camera angels. If you look at any fight scene from a quality martial arts film, you may notice that there are only two or three camera angles, and they're spread out enough to allow you to appreciate the talent of the people on camera. In the five minutes that Li and Lundgren get, cameras are changing every five seconds. You could blame this fight's failure on the mismatching of fighting styles; Li's fast paced kung fu versus Lundgren's wreckless brawling. But if that was intended, you may have to question the purpose of Li's casting in the first place. It seems that the studio relied too much on star power versus delivery.
Flaws aside, The Expendables is a great recovery movie for those that will be dragged to Eat, Pray, Love this weekend. Action fans who don't need to take things too seriously will enjoy themselves. Just be sure to cross your fingers in hopes that there won't be a sequel...unless it's better.
