Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: The Expendables (2010)

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Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 08-14-2010, 04:00 PM:

CINEMA: 13th Avenue Warren, Wichita, KS
AUDITORIUM: 2
PRESENTATION: 35mm/Dolby Digital/Mystery Meat Analog/THX
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: Sound kept switching between analog and digital (probably half the movie played in analog)
RATING: Two and one half stars (out of four)

THE PLOT: Well, this guy hires some mercenaries to kill the leader of a small country because...hell, I don't know. Wackiness ensues.

The key players are Stallone and Statham, with cameos from nearly every member of the Fraternity of Action Heroes. Notably absent were Steven Segal and Jean-Claude Van Damme, both of whom were supposedly offered bit pieces but declined.

Anyway, a weak excuse for a plot serves little purpose but to weave the action sequences together. Shit gets blown up, people get blown up, and nothing is taken too seriously. It was fun for what it was.

The crowd...WAY bigger than I expected...had a ball.

Posted by Stu Jamieson (Member # 4626) on 08-14-2010, 07:29 PM:

When your movie is comprised solely of (almost) every aging hard man in Hollywood, you probably shouldn't get them to talk too much because chances are their deliverances will be somewhat less than spellbinding. Which is why it is especially perplexing that The Expendables has so many talky bits in it and lengthy ones at that. Do we really care about Jason Statham's endless diatribes on his lucklessness in love? Um.....no. Do we care about how Randy Couture got his cauliflower ears? Hmmm......not really. Do we want more shooty bits and explosions? Oh, yes please!

Sly Stallone's new flick is the epitome of WYSIWYG movie making, what you see is definitely what you get. With an all-star gym-jockey cast which includes Stallone, Statham, Li, Lundgren, Rourke, Austin, Willis, Schwarzenegger and Eric Roberts as the bad guy, what more could we want? (Well, I suppose JCVD, Segal, Rutger and Norris would be nice but, hey, let's not spoil ourselves!) The plot revolves around a group of hard-ass mercenaries who head to a small island in the Persian Gulf to do........something. It doesn't matter, the point is they get into trouble and then get to shoot lots of folk and blow shit up and that's all we care about. Slight disappointment in the lack of a Stallone/Lundgren grudge fight - it comes tantalisingly close but, alas, no cigar. The Rambo-ish, over the top cartoony violence does not disappoint, however.

How do you top a movie like Rambo (the circa 2008 version)? Well, you grab a dozen odd Rambos, throw 'em into one movie and press play. The result is predictable and less than the sum of its parts but it is a satisfying slice of beef (and cheese) cake nonetheless.

7.5 out of 10.

Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 08-15-2010, 03:57 AM:

quote: Stu Jamieson
mercenaries who head to a small island in the Persian Gulf

Persian Gulf? Where did you get that from, it was a made up country in South America.

I enjoyed this alot, and I will buy it when it comes out on Blu-Ray for sure. I really enjoyed the scenes with Mickey Rourke in them. I thought he did good in his, Ex Expendables role. I really would like to see a sequel and I'm pretty sure we will get one. It missed in a couple spots but overall it was what you thought it would be. A bunch of the biggest bad ass' in the business doing what they do. Kicking ass!

4/5 [thumbsup]

For the next installment I would like to see; Dwayne Johnson and Rutger Hauer (playing the bad guy) I really don't want to see JCVD or Seagal. Neither of them can accept what they are and think that they are more then Action stars.

Posted by Stu Jamieson (Member # 4626) on 08-15-2010, 10:38 AM:

They referred to it as "The Gulf" so I presumed they meant Persian. In hindsight, South America makes more sense but, meh, whatever. It's not like it makes much difference.

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 08-15-2010, 11:16 AM:

"The Gulf" in question is referring to the Gulf of Mexico.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 08-15-2010, 01:38 PM:

Yes, I am almost sure there will be a sequel. I will also not be surprised if the next one includes Arnold Schwarzeneggar in the cast. His term of office as governor of California ends in early January and I am hoping he will resume his movie career and this movie will be perfect for him. I think his brief cameo role in THE EXPENDABLES was a introduction of his character and as he said in another one of his films "I'll be Back".

I also saw the movie yesterday in the largest auditorium at the Regal Pearlhighland 12 at Pearl City, Hawaii and it was a lot of fun and I enjoyed it very much. The picture quality was not as good as Blu-Ray but the sound was fantastic.

-Claude

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 08-15-2010, 08:48 PM:

Today at Regal 15 in Eugene, #14 in 35mm. Looked and sounded good. [thumbsup]

It is what it is. Some of the dialog is stilted, some of the acting is lousy but that's partly due to the script (Stallone has a writing credit). The plot doesn't matter, is just a framework on which to showcase some bad guys and action heroes and stitch together some nicely-done action sequences and blow people and stuff up one way or another. Mickey Rourke was possibly the best character. I kind of liked this even if the screenplay seems to have been written by amateurs sometimes.

Spoiler Alert - Click to Toggle
Best line in the movie: "He wants to be president" in reference to Ahnuld's cameo appearance.

3.5 out of 5 stars from me. [beer]

Posted by Dennis M Dow Jr (Member # 1970) on 08-16-2010, 09:15 AM:

I enjoyed this movie a lot. Yes the story was weak but I actually laughed at a lot of the lines.
The action was a little over the top esp with Terry Crews (token black guy) weapons.
When movie was over the audience applauded which has been something I havent heard in a long time.
4 outta 5 stars

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 08-16-2010, 09:25 AM:

I just read Sam Graham's review. I swear I didn't read it before, yet I seem to be channeling part of Sam's remarks in my review. [uhoh]

What this movie has going for it is it's not pretentious or too clever for its own good. It's straightforward action, doesn't need to make much sense on a plot level.

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 08-16-2010, 10:11 AM:

This movie was exactly what I thought it would be... a plot just strong enough to keep the blowing-stuff-up going. It was also a great vehicle to see all of the action stars play off of each other. Very enjoyable, and quite funny at times. I'll be seeing this one again.

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 08-16-2010, 11:37 AM:

quote: Claude S. Ayakawa
I am almost sure there will be a sequel.

Not if there is a merciful God.

Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 08-16-2010, 05:52 PM:

The Action Gods will allow for one Frank [Razz]

and Stallone has the stories already for two of them.

Edit- to fix my horrible spelling pointed out by Stu [Wink]

Posted by Stu Jamieson (Member # 4626) on 08-16-2010, 05:57 PM:

Stories? There are stories?

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 08-16-2010, 07:58 PM:

At least everyone can be thankful that this beat out the gross for Eat Pray Love in which we learn that having everything is simply not enough. I haven't seen this yet, but I know I'd rather see a Expendables 2 than an Eat Pray Love 2.

Posted by Chad Souder (Member # 343) on 08-17-2010, 08:48 AM:

I got the feeling they just let these guys ad-lib some of their lines, which, if true, was a horrible choice. Also, I think they got to pick their own character names. Was that supposed to be funny?

Notable lines that left me confused because they had nothing to do with anything:

"It's not easy being green" - Randy Couture as Toll Road
"Remember me at Christmas!" - Terry Crews as Hale Ceaser
The entire spider tattoo idea - Mickey Rourke as Tool
Everything referring to needing more money for his family - Jet Li as Ying Yang

I'm sure I'm forgetting some. My brain went numb as I watched. There's a reason these guys don't talk much in their own movies, with the exception of Statham.

Posted by Stu Jamieson (Member # 4626) on 08-17-2010, 09:12 AM:

^ You're right. Just about every piece of exposition was pointless. Stop talking and just shoot something, for heaven's sake!

Posted by Michael Gonzalez (Member # 593) on 08-17-2010, 12:03 PM:

Caught this this past Sunday. Another one of those "Good for what it was" kind of movies. Random thought that crossed my mind was that a movie like "Inception" you almost have to have repeat viewing to follow the complex plot, where as this movie you almost have to have repeat viewings in order to follow the action scenes espicially at the end.

If I remember right from the behind the scenes from the first Predator movie, Jessie Ventura's protable Gatling Gun was not actually possible in real life. I wonder if that Machine-Shotgun is something that could be real? Speaking of real, that CGI blood splatters doesnt seem to have improved much since the last Rambo movie. Looks too much like playing Mortal Kombat 2.

But nitpicky aside, I did like it. Its a given there is going to be a sequel and I will look forward to it. 2 1/2 out of 5

Hale Ceaser just saved all of their lives thus explaining the "Remember me at Christmas line"

Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 08-17-2010, 11:09 PM:

The writing is bad, the acting is bad, the special effects are bad and all it is is one explosion after another.

Great fun...I had a good time!

BTW, it looks like Starplex and Movie Tavern just went all digital in their 2 local theatres.

This one gets a B+.

Posted by Stu Jamieson (Member # 4626) on 08-18-2010, 02:26 AM:

quote: Michael Gonzalez

I wonder if that Machine-Shotgun is something that could be real?

I have seen a video of something like that before. Naturally the device was invented in the good ol' US of A - when you absolutely, positively got to kill every motherf*cker in the room.

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 08-18-2010, 09:26 AM:

Of course it was. All of the good stuff was invented here!

[Razz]

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 08-18-2010, 05:37 PM:

Posted by Stu Jamieson (Member # 4626) on 08-18-2010, 06:24 PM:

Cool. I'll steal that.

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 08-19-2010, 06:44 AM:

Now if someone would make a list like that for six of the top porno movie stars with a running total of how many guys each one of them [sex]

, then I'd REALLY be impressed!

Posted by Steve Wilson (Member # 2411) on 09-06-2010, 09:13 PM:

We had this at the Holiday Drive IN this weekend and it went over pretty good. Our Biggest Labor Day Weekend to date. I loved the movie, so I brought it to the Drive In only after I screened it myself to see if it was any good. Its a Drive IN picture, what else can I say! I give it a 4 out of 5 action movie!

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-06-2010, 11:08 PM:

I can't even read that.

Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 10-13-2010, 10:03 PM:

this was the ONE movie this year, where the volume of the movie gave me a headache (really) - it was just pummeling. The early trailers I had seen were lacklustre at best, but the film was a total popcorn movie, turn off your brain and watch the carnage - too bad some of the camera angles notably during one of the Jet Li's action scene was downright terrible.

[AMC Tysons, screen 10, 35mm]