"I need a job! All I know what to do is kill! Goddammit!" - Galgo.
According to the trailer, the Expendables are going on "one last ride", and so they decided to throw everything they had left at this third instalment in the series. The result is surprisingly less awesome than expected. Though there are some enjoyable moments here and there, this is probably the weakest entry in the series to date.
Sylvester Stallone is back as Barney Ross, and the film opens with him and the rest of the team on yet another mission. This time, it's to rescue Barney's old comrade Doc (Wesley Snipes), who along with Antonio Banderas' Galgo, is the most interesting of the team. Doc's calmness and slick fighting style makes you wish he was the focus of the film. Banderas, while involved more with the plot at a later point, is clearly having a blast in his role as the motor-mouthed Galgo, providing some good moments of humour along the way. Barney, however, is really uninteresting in this one, and not very likeable. Straight after Doc is rescued, he decides to break up the team after Caesar (Terry Crews) is fatally shot. It feels really forced and unnecessary, and the old team don't do anything else for the rest of the film until the final fight. Having disbanded the old team, Barney sets out to recruit a younger squad in order to take down the man who shot Caesar: ex-Expendable Conrad Stonebanks (Mel Gibson). While I think the idea of having a younger team has potential, it really isn't used well here. After seemingly completed their mission, they are captured by Stonebanks' henchman, and it's up to the old team and Barney to rescue them. Simply put, they are merely a plot device, rather than developed characters that we care about, making them as expendable as the series' title.
Like The Expendables 2, the best thing about the film is the antagonist. This time, it's Mel Gibson, who gives the best performance as the unpredictable Stonebanks. My favourite moment comes when he gets so fed up with his team being unable to kill the Expendables that he gives a demonstration on his own men, shooting two of them. It reminds me of Jack Nicholson as the Joker in Batman (1989), and is a great piece of dark humour. Arnold Schwarzenegger returns as Trench and, although he's on screen longer than his previous two appearances, is underused. It's nice to see him have a bigger role, but why leave him out of most of the action? Speaking of being left out, Jet Li shows up out of the blue for a combined total of five minutes of screen-time. A renowned martial-artist, Li is used even worse than Schwarzenegger, with him being stuck in a helicopter firing a machine gun for his only action scene. A complete waste of a great talent and potential to have some awesome hand-to-hand combat moments. Harrison Ford is also in the film, and is the only one who should have been in that helicopter, as he is obviously less capable than someone like Jet Li to pull-off more physical scenes. As previously mentioned Snipes and Banderas at least mean there is some interest on the side of the heroes, just not enough for me to be invested in their plight.
Upon it's release, The Expendables 3 garnered some controversy from fans over the lesser age certificate. The toning down of the violence in an attempt to appeal to a broader market meant that the film received a 12 certificate (PG-13 in the United States). For me, the toning down of the violence didn't matter a great deal, especially when looking back at the first film and how bad some of the CGI blood looks. However, I don't think it was entirely necessary to appeal to a wider audience, as everyone already knows what this series is about. When you watch an Expendables film, you know exactly what you're going to get. If shoot-outs, explosions and aged action stars spouting one-liners doesn't appeal to you, you aren't going to watch them, regardless of how violent or not they are. I should point out that there is an extended cut of the film available on home media, which has the rating bumped up to 15. So, if you're really curious, you can check that version out and see if it makes any difference.
So, for now, that concludes my review of The Expendables series. For what it's worth, all three films get the job done in terms of being an entertaining ride. Though are plenty of flaws throughout, they all deliver what action fans want, and are sure to be looked at with a good amount of nostalgia in years to come. Unless, of course, they continue this franchise and squeeze what ever else they can out of it.
Pros:
+ Gibson, Banderas and Snipes are all good fun in their roles.
+ Not as many self references as the previous films, very refreshing after The Expendables 2's overuse.
Cons:
- Uninteresting new cast, not developed enough for me to care if they survive. A real shame, as their performances are all decent.
- Underusing Schwarzenegger and (especially) Li.
- There is no ending. It just stops all of a sudden. Check that part out if you're interested in how not to end a film.
Like The Expendables 2, the best thing about the film is the antagonist. This time, it's Mel Gibson, who gives the best performance as the unpredictable Stonebanks. My favourite moment comes when he gets so fed up with his team being unable to kill the Expendables that he gives a demonstration on his own men, shooting two of them. It reminds me of Jack Nicholson as the Joker in Batman (1989), and is a great piece of dark humour. Arnold Schwarzenegger returns as Trench and, although he's on screen longer than his previous two appearances, is underused. It's nice to see him have a bigger role, but why leave him out of most of the action? Speaking of being left out, Jet Li shows up out of the blue for a combined total of five minutes of screen-time. A renowned martial-artist, Li is used even worse than Schwarzenegger, with him being stuck in a helicopter firing a machine gun for his only action scene. A complete waste of a great talent and potential to have some awesome hand-to-hand combat moments. Harrison Ford is also in the film, and is the only one who should have been in that helicopter, as he is obviously less capable than someone like Jet Li to pull-off more physical scenes. As previously mentioned Snipes and Banderas at least mean there is some interest on the side of the heroes, just not enough for me to be invested in their plight. Upon it's release, The Expendables 3 garnered some controversy from fans over the lesser age certificate. The toning down of the violence in an attempt to appeal to a broader market meant that the film received a 12 certificate (PG-13 in the United States). For me, the toning down of the violence didn't matter a great deal, especially when looking back at the first film and how bad some of the CGI blood looks. However, I don't think it was entirely necessary to appeal to a wider audience, as everyone already knows what this series is about. When you watch an Expendables film, you know exactly what you're going to get. If shoot-outs, explosions and aged action stars spouting one-liners doesn't appeal to you, you aren't going to watch them, regardless of how violent or not they are. I should point out that there is an extended cut of the film available on home media, which has the rating bumped up to 15. So, if you're really curious, you can check that version out and see if it makes any difference.
So, for now, that concludes my review of The Expendables series. For what it's worth, all three films get the job done in terms of being an entertaining ride. Though are plenty of flaws throughout, they all deliver what action fans want, and are sure to be looked at with a good amount of nostalgia in years to come. Unless, of course, they continue this franchise and squeeze what ever else they can out of it.
Pros:
+ Gibson, Banderas and Snipes are all good fun in their roles.
+ Not as many self references as the previous films, very refreshing after The Expendables 2's overuse.
Cons:
- Uninteresting new cast, not developed enough for me to care if they survive. A real shame, as their performances are all decent.
- Underusing Schwarzenegger and (especially) Li.
- There is no ending. It just stops all of a sudden. Check that part out if you're interested in how not to end a film.
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