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+
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).
ReplyDeleteGood review Daniel!
I was starting to think that I was the only person who thought the 2nd was the best of the group!
DeleteI 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.
ReplyDelete-James
That's really all they should be, just mindless 80s action.
Deletehappy to hear that snipes is good init. i love this series, and i can't wait to see this.
ReplyDeleteSnipes good especially in the first part of the film, just good to have him back on screen.
DeleteThe Expendables 3 is more of a smooth remix, still delivering the predictable thrill, but much less finessed than Sly's impeccably defined muscles.
ReplyDelete