The Expendables
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Mickey Rourke
Featuring heroes carved out of granite, women who need rescuing and OTT villains who get blown in half, The Expendables is an un-PC, poorly constructed mess. It is also the most enjoyable action film of the year so far.
Make peace with the fact that Stallone’s latest is a throwback to those 1980s flicks where muscle-bound grunts took on tanks in a T-shirt, and the moments of carnage will have you whooping out loud.
As a group of mercenaries led by Barney Ross (Stallone) take down a dictator on an island in the Gulf of Mexico, necks get snapped, men the size of telephone boxes throw one another around and a lot of shit gets set on fire. Having assembled a stellar cast, Stallone gives his main players decent screentime, with Li and Statham kicking serious arse and Rourke stealing every scene he’s in.
Not so impressive are the much-vaunted cameos by Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger (a real letdown) and a script that should have delivered a lot more quality one-liners. For hardcore action fans, though, The Expendables is indispensable.
3/5
Good for: Stallone fans.
Review: Pierre de Villiers
