The Expendables

Before any of you think that I have lost my mind and that I consider this to be sci-fi or fantasy, I don't. This was just too hard for me to pass up. All the greats of the action genre in  one film, Arnold making his first film appearance since Around the World in 80 Days and T3, and lets be honest here, no one really likes mentioning those movies... ever. I was psyched to see The Expendables since I first caught wind of it late 2009 or very early 2010. I can't remember exactly. I remember all the speculation floating around about if it would succeed with the amount of egos being cast, or if it would just be another Hollywood failure. However it didn't really meet either of those ends. It made a profit, but no spectacularly so--at the same time, there is a sequel in the works. Another interesting fact is that a sequel was being considered before The Expendables was even in theaters. I waited to watch this for a long time so that the buzz would have died off. I will admit that I really wanted to see it on the big screen, but I whenever I was in the city it was for other purposes and was not able to get in.

On with the review.

Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, and Jet Li led a cast of action and wrestling stars. Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, Terry Crews, and Mickey Rourke are the other stars of this film. Notable cameos are Bruce Willis and the aforementioned Arnold Schwarzenegger. Willis' character is the man that gives Stallone's team the job, Schwarzenegger plays an old colleague of Stallone's. The acting is what you should expect from a purely action--not really there. The witty one-liners are delivered on time (and often), and the few dramatic moments are adequately acted.

Now, the action moments! Oh man, were they good. Each of the actors got to have fight that centered on their strong points. There were knife fights, gun fights, wrestling, fist fights, and any mixture of those. The scenes looked good and the actors did their own stunts. Stallone even got a fracture in neck during his fight scene with Austin. That man, Stallone, will just not quit!

Final judgment? If you like action films you will like this film. If you are looking for plot, amazing acting, deep dialogue, or anything else this may not be the film for you. As for me, I enjoy Stallone's and Arnold's old action flicks and this movie took me right back to those. Long live the one liner.