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Saturday, August 16, 2014

MOVIE REVIEW: THE EXPENDABLES 3







































Barney (Stallone), Christmas (Statham) and the rest of the team comes face-to-face with Conrad Stonebanks (Gibson), who years ago co-founded The Expendables with Barney. Stonebanks subsequently became a ruthless arms trader and someone who Barney was forced to kill... or so he thought. Stonebanks, who eluded death once before, now is making it his mission to end The Expendables -- but Barney has other plans. Barney decides that he has to fight old blood with new blood, and brings in a new era of Expendables team members, recruiting individuals who are younger, faster and more tech-savvy. The latest mission becomes a clash of classic old-school style versus high-tech expertise in the Expendables' most personal battle yet. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

Director: Patrick Hughes

Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Antonio Banderas, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Wesley Snipes

Release Date: Aug 15, 2014

Rated: PG-13 for Language, Intense Sustained Gun Battles, Fight Scenes and Violence 

Runtime: 2 hr. 7 min. 

Genres: Action/Adventure 

Review:

By this point in time you come to expect certain things from the Expendables movies.  The third entry starts off well with a rollicking, if a tad silly, action sequence that brings back Wesley Snipes to the screen.  Honestly, I didn’t know I missed Snipes that much but he perks up the first 20 minutes of the movie with an energetic charisma that’s hard to ignore.  After that sequence, the film turns into a bit of slog as we’re slowly introduced to new recruits, none of which have even the tiniest bit of screen charisma, with the characters we’ve come to know relegated to wait off screen.  The biggest sin isn’t that these characters are faceless and just there to serve the plot, it’s that during this extended sequence nothing happens.  There lots of exposition with Frasier popping up to throw some zingers at the plastic corpse that is Stallone but very little action or fun.  It’s honestly the films biggest drawback because the whole sequence could have been done in about 10 minutes so we could bring back the established fun characters or the other new additions like Antonio Banderas who’s hilarious as a motor mouth killer looking for a new team.  Once the final action sequence starts, you remember why your watching this film, lots over the top action with fun characters and crazy eyed Mel Gibson hamming it up as the villain of the piece.  That’s all I was really looking for in this franchise.

C+

7 comments:

  1. I think we are in agreement on this one. For me it wasn't the worst the franchise has put out (the first film) but it was certainly not the best either (the second film).

    Good review Daniel!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was starting to think that I was the only person who thought the 2nd was the best of the group!

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  2. I kind of wish these Expendable movies would stop trying to be so serious and focus on the fun 80s action movie crossover like the best parts of the second movie.

    -James

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's really all they should be, just mindless 80s action.

      Delete
  3. happy to hear that snipes is good init. i love this series, and i can't wait to see this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Snipes good especially in the first part of the film, just good to have him back on screen.

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  4. The Expendables 3 is more of a smooth remix, still delivering the predictable thrill, but much less finessed than Sly's impeccably defined muscles.

    ReplyDelete

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