The Expendables (DVD Screening)

(Spoilers)

I am surprised with myself that I hadn’t seen this movie until now, as an action junkie you would think that I would have been all over this release! Action is quite possibly my favourite genre and it would seem that The Expendables had everything going for it to be a serious contender within this genre, just by looking at the cast alone!

The Expendables is nothing spectacular in terms of action movies but it is a really solid action flick which is easily enjoyable. Let’s talk about the cast first, possibly a saving grace for this movie as it is filled with so many recognisable faces. Stallone and Statham do a great job heading up this cast and the action in this movie, as two of the more well known stars it was a wise choice to give them the most screen time. Both do really well in terms of the action and the scene in which they originally escape from the island was a definite highlight of the movie both delivering some awesome action. Jet Li was actually pretty great too, his combat skills are put to good use in a couple of scenes and he was a nice addition to this cast. Terry Crews is an interesting choice, if I am honest I would say that he is better known for his comedic roles and it does take a while to get used to him in this action heavy environment but towards the end he eases into this role and provides some pretty badass moments. Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger both feature but only for one scene, this was frustrating if anything. The scene itself was great, probably the 3 biggest action stars of all time together in an action movie – you couldn’t ask for more. Well you could actually, I wanted to see them in an action scene, I think this happens in the next movie but it was frustrating that they had such small roles in this film.

The action itself was really good and just a lot of fun, The Expendables just love blowing people up and more specifically their heads! The amount of gore was a surprise but did help to grab your attention more in these scenes. Unfortunately for several of the action scenes the CGI was not up to scratch, most specifically the scene in which Paine (Steve Austin) is set on fire, this looked awful and just so fake but I am afraid this wasn’t the only occasion in the movie this happened. Despite this obvious flaw the action still delivered and I was satisfied with what was on offer, another highlight would have to be Jet Li in the back of the truck taking out the enemies with a machine gun, it was pretty cool. Casting Eric Roberts as the villain for this movie was great, he was a recognisable face and was able to perform well and create the right kind of character for this film, the general would not have been enough to satisfy action fans. A few more twists and turns would have been welcome but honestly I think all that the makers of this film were concerned with was producing some great action sequences and although none of them will go down in action history there certainly have achieved a good action movie. Looking forward to the sequels.

BIGGEST FLAW – Poor CGI

BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT – Consistently good action throughout

Rating 8/10