Directed by Sylvester Stallone
Starring Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, Eric Roberts, Steve Austin, Terry Crews, Mickey Rourke, Randy Couture, Charisma Carpenter, David Zayas, Giselle Itié, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger

Well, here it finally is.. The Expendables. The film that brought together the greatest action stars of Hollywood. Well almost at least. Kind of.

Barney Ross (Stallone) heads a mercenary team called The Expendables. They do the missions no-one else takes or dares to take. Now they are meddling in the business of an island in South America run by a vicious dictator and his right hand rogue CIA operative.

The plot is completely irrelevant because what we're in for is an overdose of macho, 80's style action extravaganza. The film boasts on the collection of it's Hollywood action stars but they're not all here, are they now? Steven Seagal, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Wesley Snipes and even Chuck Norris are nowhere to be seen. They have been replaced by WWF stars Couture and Austin and also.. Terry Crews? Not that there's anything wrong with their presence but they are merely the second choice. And painfully obviously so, I might add since Seagal and Van Damme were both approached on the project but turned it down whereas Snipes was interested but had to pass due to his tax evasion prison sentence.

The film bows to it's main stars past filmographies with it's over the top action set pieces and bad jokes. There's something of a soul missing from The Expendables though. The bad guys meet their gruesome deaths properly and everything in sight gets blown away, but the film fails to maintain heart unlike Stallone's previous film, the 4th Rambo which was exactly as well put together and focused as this film should've been. The Expendables perhaps stumbles in it's already vast variety of legends. There is one thing clearly above the rest.. the brief scene between the three biggest legends present.. Stallone, Willis and most importantly Schwarzenegger, which is worth an extra star alone.

The Expendables is like an average Bond film.. it has to be seen just for the hype and brand, but is easily forgettable. Very unfortunately.

KITEYTETTYNÄ SINIVALKOISILLE
The Expendables on täynnä räiskintää, räjähdyksiä ja huonoja machovitsejä, eli juuri sitä mitä luvattiinkin, mutta silti jokin sielu leffalta puuttuu. Osa legendoista ei ole paikalla erinäisistä syistä ja heidät on korvattu WWF vapaapainijoilla, joka tuntuu valitettavan keinotekoiselta hyvitykseltä. Leffan ääressä viihtyy kyllä mainiosti sen kestoajan, mutta lopulta kannattaa silti mielummin katsoa tähtiensä todellisia klassikoita uusiksi. Yksi korvaamaton tekijä tästä filmistä löytyy ja se on Stallonen, Willisin ja (mikä tärkeintä, jo näyttelemisestä eläkkeelle jääneen) Schwarzeneggerin yhteinen sananvaihto. Taisi ihan pieni tippa tirahtaa linssiin kun nuo nuoruuden machosankarit pääsivät vihdoin samaan freimiin ja itse asiassa koko teatterisali innostui herroille suunnattuihin ablodeihin. Kiitos, kundit. *snif*

The Expendables at IMDb



(I had to add this fucking beautiful teaser as well.. )