The Expendables (2010)

[The Burgomaster]

AND it was the #1 movie (by a pretty good margin) at the box office over the weekend.  Maybe Julia Roberts should make a movie where she blows up a lot of stuff.

[Flick James]

AND it was the #1 movie (by a pretty good margin) at the box office over the weekend.  Maybe Julia Roberts should make a movie where she blows up a lot of stuff.

Julia Roberts in Eat Pray Destroy

[Trevor]

Julia Roberts in Eat Pray Destroy

Unfortunately I'm going to have to wait until tomorrow to give you karma for that.

[Flick James]

I finally got around to seeing it on Saturday.

It was okay. It definately was not boring. It was ridiculous, but then I expected that. They injected so much tesosterone into this flick that it like a tick about to burst. There were truly entertaining moments, like every time Dolph Lundgren showed up. I was actually surprised at how much I liked him. It comedy factor wasn't as high as I would have liked, and some moments were downright annoying. They certainly didn't have an ending for this. That ending bit was unbelievably stupid and, unfortunately, not in an entertaining way.

Overall it was entertaining and I liked it.

3.5/5

[Torgo]

The story could been better but overall I liked it. I would give it *** out of ****.

[WingedSerpent]

I liked it.  Probably one of the best action films I've seen lately.

[Neville]

Finally saw it, and enjoyed it for what it is, a rather brainless action stravaganza in the vein of "Commando". Once the action kicks in, in the shape of a plane strafing again and again over a pier crowded with bad guys, I was won over instantly.

Still, a part of me is still angry at Stallone. He joined a perfect cast of action heroes, yet himself and Statham get most of the screentime. I wanted more Jet Li and more Dolph Lundgren, but no. Instead we get Sly getting a tatoo in his back and Statham beating the s**t out of some scumbag. At least Eric Roberts seems to have fun playing the kind of well dressed slimy bastards he's been playing for years, and Mickey Rourke to steal every scene he's in.

And then there's the writing. One of the most horrid moments in "John Rambo" was that bit with the mercenaries talking about their testosterone soaked things onboard of Rambo's boat. This feels just like that, but for two hours straight. Stallone can come up with interesting concepts and create iconic characters, but that doesn't make him a good writer. Or a writer, for that matter. He's always been way overated in that aspect. Here he quickly gets the film moving after a boring first act, but some of the characters (specially the latinamerican tyrant and his daughter) are horribly developed, and the dialogue is also a main offender. "Now I can see inside you". Agggggghhhhhhhh!!!!!

And what's worse, Stallone plainly refuses to give anyhting any depth. Assembling such a cast and directing a 80s actioner in this PC era was a great opportunity to explore some of the subtext in those movies, or just to play the nostalgia angle and give us a "The Wild Bunch" with machiguns and oily muscles.

Instead, we get lots of explosions.

[Flick James]

Finally saw it, and enjoyed it for what it is, a rather brainless action stravaganza in the vein of "Commando". Once the action kicks in, in the shape of a plane strafing again and again over a pier crowded with bad guys, I was won over instantly.

Still, a part of me is still angry at Stallone. He joined a perfect cast of action heroes, yet himself and Statham get most of the screentime. I wanted more Jet Li and more Dolph Lundgren, but no. Instead we get Sly getting a tatoo in his back and Statham beating the s**t out of some scumbag. At least Eric Roberts seems to have fun playing the kind of well dressed slimy bastards he's been playing for years, and Mickey Rourke to steal every scene he's in.

And then there's the writing. One of the most horrid moments in "John Rambo" was that bit with the mercenaries talking about their testosterone soaked things onboard of Rambo's boat. This feels just like that, but for two hours straight. Stallone can come up with interesting concepts and create iconic characters, but that doesn't make him a good writer. Or a writer, for that matter. He's always been way overated in that aspect. Here he quickly gets the film moving after a boring first act, but some of the characters (specially the latinamerican tyrant and his daughter) are horribly developed, and the dialogue is also a main offender. "Now I can see inside you". Agggggghhhhhhhh!!!!!

And what's worse, Stallone plainly refuses to give anyhting any depth. Assembling such a cast and directing a 80s actioner in this PC era was a great opportunity to explore some of the subtext in those movies, or just to play the nostalgia angle and give us a "The Wild Bunch" with machiguns and oily muscles.

Instead, we get lots of explosions.

Some valid points. Very enjoyable, but could have been so much more. I would have loved to see more Dolph Lundgren for sure.

[Neville]

Ahhh... you want more Lundgren? Then more Lundgren you'll get:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMDXLrTs6Lo

Whatever you do, make sure you watch past 1:30.

[Trevor]

I bought this sight unseen on the weekend, along with a rather delicious pizza so I ate the movie and watched the pizza.  *

* Actually, it wasn't bad at all: I just go  when I see the names Avi Lerner, Danny Lerner, Trevor Short and Danny Dimbort on a film's credits.

[Jim H]

He joined a perfect cast of action heroes, yet himself and Statham get most of the screentime.

I'm not 100% on this, but I believe a major reason it came out this way was because of scheduling issues.  The film had TONS of scheduling problems because of all the popular people in it.  I agree though, for the way the movie was advertised and sold I really wanted more time with the supporting cast.  They were all good in the time they had, so more would have made it all the better.

I also agree there was some atrocious writing in this.  Not all of it either - some of it was actually pretty good.  It's kind of amazing how widely the quality of writing varies really.

[bob]

I loved this movie. My only complaint was that there wasn't much of Bruce Willis or Arnold Schwarzenegger. Easily the best action movie I've seen in many years.

[Bmeansgood]

I am still bitter because I thought this movie was going to be about the sci-fi series of "Expendables" books by Richard Avery.  My bubble was burst once I found out it wasn't related to the books.   

[Ash]

I was extremely bored and disappointed by this movie.  Couldn't wait for it to end.

1.5 stars out of 4 and 

[Olivia Bauer]

I hate that movie. I was expecting a brain-less guilty pleasure film of pure awesomeness with Stallone and Schwarzenegger together kicking ass. What we get is Arnold being on screen for 5 minutes in an insult duel with Stallone. No action involved what-so-freaking-ever. But yet that was the best scene in the film. The rest of the film was boring, and Mikey Rourke's irrelevant sub-plot plus camera angels that make me wish I was in charge of the cameras in that poorly shot film I just couldn't stand. After a while the film felt like an endurance test of how much cookie-cutter plot, pointless and impossible stunts, and boring-ass sub-plots I could take before leaving the theater. I had to take a break from the film I hated it so much.

I give it 2/10

The "2" is for that short debate between Stallone and Arnold. Other than that I thought that film was a piece of cinematic garbage.

Now if you'll excuse me I need to introduce Mr. Rourke to the concept of Botox.