Expend4bles

Expend4bles
Starring Jason Statham, Sylvester Stallone, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, Megan Fox
Directed by Scott Waugh

To paraphrase Nick Fury from "The Avengers"..."There was an idea, Sylvester Stallone knows this, called 'The Expendables.' The idea was to bring together a group of 80s action heroes to see if they still got what it takes to helm a blockbuster movie. See if it could work by adding some new action blood when needed to fight the battles that most action stars nowadays never could." The concept worked extremely well in 2010 when you gathered the likes of legendary action stars Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Dolph Lundgren and Eric Roberts and combine them with current action stars Jason Statham, Jet Li, Steve Austin, Randy Couture, and Terry Crews and craft a film that's low on script design but heavy on good ole fashion shooting and stabbings. The result was "The Expendables," and it was a huge success. The sequel wasn't as profitable but added the likes of  Chuck Norris, Liam Hemsworth, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Scott Adkins, and was more the same. Then the third film threw away the premise - and the R rating - in favor of centering on newer action stars like Kellan Lutz, Ronda Rousey, Glen Powell and Victor Ortiz (but also gave us Mel Gibson, Kelsey Grammar, Harrison Ford, Antonio Banderas, and Wesley Snipes). After the failure of the third film it seemed these geriatric mercenaries for hire would officially end up in the old folks home, but here's "Expend4bles," and basically it's like letting these old geesers out of the retirement home to play on their motorized scooters and pretend to shoot at things with twigs and tree branches.

Expendable leader Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) reunites with his old team including Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Gunner Jensen (Dolph Lundgren) and Toll Road (Randy Couture) - along with newcomers Easy Day (Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson) and Galan (Jacob Scipio) who's the son of former member Galgo (Antonio Banderas) to stop mercenary Suarto Rahmat (Iko Uwaits) from stealing nuclear detonators for a mysterious unknown benefactor known as Ocelot who plans to use it to ignite World War III between America and Russia. The mission goes awry and Lee is kicked out of the team for disobeying orders.

They get another shot when CIA Agent Marsh (Andy Garcia) discovers a boat containing the nuclear detonator (as well as the nuke itself) on its way to Russia, and new team leader Gina (Megan Fox) - who's also Lee's girlfriend - takes the team (including newcomer Lash, played by Levy Tran) to the boat to prevent the next world war, with Lee in pursuit.


The Good:
To an extent "Expend4bles" delivers what the first two films did as well - provide wall-to-wall blood and violence, shedding the PG-13 rating that the third was chained to in favor of full-on R-rated goodness. There's lots of explosions, bodies getting riddled with bullets, and knives slicing through skin to satisfy even the casual action connoisseur, and ultimately that's the point of the film: it doesn't try to be anything highly cerebral, thought-provoking or emotional: they exist to see things go boom and blood flow from open orifices.

It's easy to bash the film for its terrible script, but that's the charm of the film series. They're throwbacks to the classic 80s action films where Russia was always the enemy, and there's always a new World War on the horizon. To that end "Expend4bles" holds true, as once again the threat of a US/Russia war looms heavily and the generic MacGuffin of a nuclear bomb is in play. There's not much more needed than that, and the film doesn't offer more than that - and that's just fine, as again we don't go into these films looking for something of substance when it comes to storytelling.


The Bad:
In a world where the likes of "John Wick" introduce stylish, visually stunning action sequences (the Dragon's Breath scene in "John Wick 4" is easily the best action sequence I've seen in decades), you need to up your game when it comes to action, and sadly this is where "Expend4bles" remains stuck in the past. The set pieces are things you've seen numerous times before, and the action is as vanilla as they come. Lots of unnamed enemies get shot over and over, just different scenery. The camera remains motionless and there's no grand sweeping shots, no intense first-person POV, no guiding through the battle - just well placed shots that somehow makes intense action sequences look as entertaining as paint running down the wall.

The strength of the franchise was always on its heavy nostalgic leaning toward casting classic 80s action stars, and they should've learned their lesson with the third film: but it seems they didn't. Only Stallone, Statham, Lundgren and Couture return, shells of what they once were, and the addition of "50 Cent," Jacob Scipio (who?), Levy Tran (who?), and Megan Fox (why?) don't do much to invigorate the senses. Fox in particular is an odd choice, as she doesn't seem like the intense action heroine the likes of Charlize Theron, Scarlett Johansson, Milla Jovovich, Gal Gadot or Michelle Rodriguez would bring. She never breaks a sweat, her skin is always pristine, and her hair is always perfectly bouncy even as she's shooting the bad guys. Only Iko Uwais and Tona Jaa (criminally underused) brought a fresh sense of action to the film, while the others just seemed to exist.

Stallone's participation in the film itself is very short, existing almost as a glorified cameo in a franchise he started, and the bulk of the story rests on Jason Statham's shoulders. While he admirably holds his own, this feels more like a Jason Statham action film than an "Expendables" one, and the film is sorely missing on the comradere between Stallone and Statham that made the other films so enjoyable.

The effects and CGI are laughably bad. The blood looks as fake as using CGI ketchup, and the backgrounds are oddly off-balance. It's obvious most of the film is shot on a stage with green screens behind it, and it shows in the most horrible ways.


The Summary:
A sequel long past its prime, "Expend4bles" lives up to its offbeat title and should've been called "Expendfoibles" as it's the weakest of the franchise, limping along like someone well past their prime and should've stayed in the retirement home.


The Score: C