The Expendables movie review

Rating: 7/10

The Expendables follows the story of a team of mercenaries who is given an assignment to take out a corrupt military leader and a rogue CIA operative on a Latin American island. It stars Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Eric Roberts, Dolph Lundgren, Steve Austin, and David Zayas.

What really drew me in about this film is the actors involved in this film. I mean, these are all action legends. I expected a lot from this film. I expected it to be an old style action movie, filled with action sequences and a good storyline. No CGI or shaky cam. After I finished the film, I realized that my expectations were a little too high. However, I enjoyed the film nonetheless.

The action sequences in this film are quite well done. But I expected them to be a little better. I think the editing is not executed very well. There were so many cuts I could barely understand what’s going on. I say, the action sequences are fun and exciting. But the way it was executed was average at best.

The story of this film is quite straightforward. That is action, action, and action. There were a few interesting storylines but most of the time it was just all action. And I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. Action is good. It’s fun. I guess I just expected a little more emotion from this film and I didn’t get that.

There’s really nothing special or bad to be said about the actors in this film. They all do what they do best in this film; fight. To see those legend action stars fight together and against each other was the main thing I liked about this film. These actors’ presence really set a mood and tone for the film.

Now comes the part where I tell you what I didn’t like about the film; the fricking CGI. Sylvester Stallone is the director of this film. I thought him, out of all people, would know how shitty it is to have bad CGI in your film. I thought he would try to make it as real as possible. The CGI in this film is terrible and the explosions are terrible.

I expected a classic action movie but I got a fun action packed movie. I guess that’s win-win for me. The directing is not that great, actions sequences aren’t that great, acting is nothing special, story is nothing special. I say, The Expendables is an average action movie.

My expectations were clearly too high for this film. Come to think of it, what kind of film would I expect these actors to collaborate in? And it clearly is not a film where there’s lots of emotion or crying. It would not be inspirational. It would be a bloody fun film where you would have fun.

The Expendables really did that for me. I had fun watching it. So I say, buy it on DVD or catch it on TV. Watch it with a couple of mates and you will have fun with it. Do not expect a film with good story or acting. Go in there and expect an action-packed movie and you will have fun with it. Cheers.