"Next time, I'll deflate all your balls, friend" - Lee Christmas.
Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables had a lot of hype leading up to its release, featuring cheesy one liners, plenty of violence and a plethora of action-stars. Looking back at the film five years on, did it deliver all it promised? Let's delve into this strictly masculine world of guns and explosions to find out.
The biggest thing the film had going for it was the cast. Boasting some of the action genre's biggest names, many people were looking forward to seeing their favourite heroes all in one film. What we get is an overall mixed bag. Two of the 1980's biggest stars, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger, are only in one scene. At the time, Schwarzenegger was still in his political career, and so only filmed for one day. Kind of a cheat that he gets shared billing with the other stars on the DVD cover. Willis' role is more for getting the Expendables started on their mission, and providing all the exposition. Director Sylvester Stallone leads the cast as Barney Ross, along with Jason Statham as Lee Christmas. They make a good double-act, and are involved with all the action throughout the film. The rest of the heroes don't get that much focus, that is except for rogue member Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), who is briefly exiled from the team. The villains aren't as "all-star" as the heroes, with only wrestler "Stone Cold" Steve Austin being of any relation to previous action roles (namely his career in WWE). Because of the lack of focus, seeing all the cast together isn't as awesome as one would've hoped. They seem to get their "cool moment", then disappear for more focus on Stallone more than any other.
The big problem with the film is the lack of development of the characters. Don't get me wrong, I understand the priority of the film is to deliver a spectacle of action and violence, but it is also heavily reliant on the stars of the film to get people interested in seeing it. With such a large cast, it is difficult to give time to get to know the characters with a running time of 103 minutes. However, we need to be able to care at least a little when the heroes are placed in dangerous situations. The plot doesn't really offer much in terms of getting to know the characters, just setting up the next action sequence: The Expendables are tasked to to eliminate a corrupt general and his associate, an ex-CIA agent. Throughout the film, Ross and Christmas (yes, that name is still ridiculous after all these years) discover their location and gather the rest of the team for the big final fight. It's here that most of the fan-service is dished out: what if Stone Cold and Randy Couture had a fight, in a WWE vs. UFC moment? What if Terry Crews were to wield a ridiculously large shotgun and take everyone out? All this and more in a hectic ending after a decent enough build up.
One-liners, in traditional action film style, are used in almost every instance. Some of them are enjoyable, like Jason Statham's quip after taking out a group of guys on a basketball court (see above). Others, particularly Stallone's, tread the line between witty retorts, or just plain bad. The best example of this is his scene with Schwarzenegger, where Willis asks him what Schwarzenegger's problem is as he walks away from an offer: Stallone's response is simply: "He wants to be president". A moderately funny line at the time, but it now seems very outdated and fairly cringe-worthy. That being said, the whole film seemed out-of-place at the time of release, for better or worse. It feels like an action film straight out of the 1980's, just with an ensemble cast. A good thing, then, that it doesn't try to be anything more than that. It delivered lots of action and enough self-awareness to be an overall enjoyable experience. While it certainly offers nothing new to the genre, it is an interesting piece of work that should delivered everything you expect in a film featuring this many action stars past and present.
Pros:
+ Not too self aware, meaning that the one-liners aren't overused and so allows more time for the action to continue.
+ Never a dull moment, whether it be an action sequence or simply seeing this many stars sharing a scene.
+ Enough fan-service to satisfy regular action film viewers.
Cons:
- Undeveloped heroes and villains. No matter how good the action, we have to care about the participants.
- Other than the ensemble cast, offers nothing new to the genre.
The big problem with the film is the lack of development of the characters. Don't get me wrong, I understand the priority of the film is to deliver a spectacle of action and violence, but it is also heavily reliant on the stars of the film to get people interested in seeing it. With such a large cast, it is difficult to give time to get to know the characters with a running time of 103 minutes. However, we need to be able to care at least a little when the heroes are placed in dangerous situations. The plot doesn't really offer much in terms of getting to know the characters, just setting up the next action sequence: The Expendables are tasked to to eliminate a corrupt general and his associate, an ex-CIA agent. Throughout the film, Ross and Christmas (yes, that name is still ridiculous after all these years) discover their location and gather the rest of the team for the big final fight. It's here that most of the fan-service is dished out: what if Stone Cold and Randy Couture had a fight, in a WWE vs. UFC moment? What if Terry Crews were to wield a ridiculously large shotgun and take everyone out? All this and more in a hectic ending after a decent enough build up.One-liners, in traditional action film style, are used in almost every instance. Some of them are enjoyable, like Jason Statham's quip after taking out a group of guys on a basketball court (see above). Others, particularly Stallone's, tread the line between witty retorts, or just plain bad. The best example of this is his scene with Schwarzenegger, where Willis asks him what Schwarzenegger's problem is as he walks away from an offer: Stallone's response is simply: "He wants to be president". A moderately funny line at the time, but it now seems very outdated and fairly cringe-worthy. That being said, the whole film seemed out-of-place at the time of release, for better or worse. It feels like an action film straight out of the 1980's, just with an ensemble cast. A good thing, then, that it doesn't try to be anything more than that. It delivered lots of action and enough self-awareness to be an overall enjoyable experience. While it certainly offers nothing new to the genre, it is an interesting piece of work that should delivered everything you expect in a film featuring this many action stars past and present.
Pros:
+ Not too self aware, meaning that the one-liners aren't overused and so allows more time for the action to continue.
+ Never a dull moment, whether it be an action sequence or simply seeing this many stars sharing a scene.
+ Enough fan-service to satisfy regular action film viewers.
Cons:
- Undeveloped heroes and villains. No matter how good the action, we have to care about the participants.
- Other than the ensemble cast, offers nothing new to the genre.
No comments:
Post a Comment