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Crawdaddy

Loved every second of this. Some memorable action scenes. More humor than I expected. Each character got a moment or two to shine and Stallone yet again hit all the right marks. In a word - fun. In another -- entertaining.

 

My favorite movie of the summer. It was well worth the wait.

 

****.5/*****

Expendables, The (2010)

 

Sylvester Stallone

 

There's no question this here was the most anticipated action film in quite sometime due to all the legends of the 80s teaming back up. If you're looking for some sort of heartfelt or dramatic story then you can pretty much look elsewhere but if you just want mindless action then Stallone has delivered yet another good one. The limited story focuses on a group known as the Expendables who go on secret missions to kick as much ass as possible. This time they're paid to go to a small island where a drug lord (Eric Roberts) has taken over the military and killing innocent people who try to fight his ways. Stallone, Jason Stratham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Terry Crews and Mickey Rourke round out the good guys with Steven Austin playing the sidekick to Roberts. As the trailers have ruined, we even get Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger in a brief scene with Stallone. Again, if you're looking for some sort of drama then just forget about it but if you like action then you're not going to be disappointed here. I think you can't blame the story for being somewhat one note because they had to find a way to put all these famous names in one movie and that's really not as easy as some might think. All of these personalities need their space and each of them get it with the countless action scenes. I was really surprised by Roberts since he hasn't been mentioned in any of the trailers but he delivers the good as makes for a terrific villain and there wasn't any problem loving to hate the guy. Austin also made for a great villain and his fight with Stallone certainly lived up to the hype. As for the rest of the film, it's simply a lot of fun. We are treated to some terrific, over-the-top and extremely violent action scenes with one of the best coming when Stallone and Stratham take off in a plane and decide to go back and treat the bad guys to a little action. The scene is a very memorable one as is the final giant battle, which lasts a good fifteen-minutes with God knows how many dead bodies and bullets flying around. We even get some very good, smaller action scenes including one where Stratham goes after a man who punched his ex-girlfriend. This is one of the scenes where Stallone lets each actor do their thing and it makes for a good time. The now somewhat legendary teaming of the big three from the 80s only lasts for about four-minutes but it lives up to the hype. We get a few good one-liners and it was just a nice thrill seeing all three together even if this was one of the few scenes without anyone getting hurt or killed. There are a few major problems with the film with the biggest being some extremely bad CGI effects including an embarrassing one where a building gets blown up and eventually falls down. This sequence is so fake looking that it almost takes you out of the film. I'm sure some might be disappointed that not everyone gets equal time on screen but I think Stallone did the best he could getting so many people into the film. Fans of the 80s action are going to have a good time with this one but you really shouldn't take it too serious. Everything here is just meant for fun and on that level it works.

With so many beloved action movie stars in this movie, you pretty much know what you're in for when you go see it, and on that level, the film doesn't disappoint, though it takes a while to get going, and only a few of the characters get much in terms of backstory or even current day personal details, but when it comes to delivering a framework where this stable of action heroes/villains can do what they do best, mainly bring the high-energy hand-to-hand combat, combine that with an insane amount of guns, bullets and firepower on display.
 

The plot is simple enough, a rag-tag group of mercenaries headed by Sylvester Stallone's character gets a job to take out a military dictator in the South American side of the world. The bad guy characterizations are mainly paper-thin, though Eric Roberts does what he can with what he's given in the script. The film takes a while to get to the big action sequences in the end, but the script peppers action bits all throughout the first half of the film as well, in case the audience is nodding off from all the character build-up of sad, lonely mercenaries and bad guys while setting the table for the theater of conflict later on. The script is okay, with a few decent one-liners that most action heroes get to chew on in their own movies. It's

a delicate balancing act to get so many characters involved with their own purpose and motivations, can't say it was entirely successful, but it's decent enough to push the movie along without losing audience sympathy for the mercenaries.

 

There were bits of digital blood splatter that detracted from all the violence and gunfire in the film, but the violence does pull its weight in bringing about some good ol' fashion brutal killings when it's call for in the stand-off situations, very much in-line with the carnage shown in "Rambo" a few years ago, perhaps a little more stylized, though.

 

So if you're in the mood for some violent, messy, action pr0n, and can sit through some of the slower parts, this is the movie for you.

 

I give it 2.75 stars, or a grade of B-.

I liked this film very much and enjoyed just about everything about it. I thought that one scene with Rourke and Sly was great. I give it a solid B and will probably buy the BRD of it.

 

 

 

 

 

Crawdaddy

Thoroughly enjoyed this. Absurd, but amusing. Rourke brings a little pathos, Stallone brings a competent center, and the rest deliver everything else. Absolutely loved the action scene with Couture, Statham (the best straight man of the group, going above and beyond), and Li. They f***ed some evil redshirts up.

And that is what I went for. And it is always nice to see Terry Crews in movies. I love that guy.

Appreciated the R-rated violence.