Sylvester Stallone has assembled a myriad of actions stars both past and present for his macho, testosterone laced, action flick throwback to the 80’s The Expendables and largely he has succeeded. The action is sleek and riveting and will excite just about anyone into this sort of mayhem. The problem with the film is some of the scenes that take place between the carnage. It would be easy to blame this on Stallone’s script, but the truth is, the only reason some of the scenes don’t work is due to the acting chops of some of the “actors” onscreen.   Let’s face it, master thespians, most of these guys are not (why am I sounding like Yoda?). No one ever expects Jet Li or Dolph Lundgren to be nominated for an Oscar. 

Stallone, one of the biggest box office titans of all time has never truly achieved the respect he so richly deserves. The man is responsible for creating two of the biggest pop culture icons of all time (Rocky and Rambo), and has proven himself to be a solid actor, writer and director. In the last few years, Stallone has come back with a vengeance with his poignant and touching Rocky Balboa and his hyper-violent Rambo. With The Expendables, Stallone proves once again that he is the maestro of action and proves once again that he is an artist worthy of our respect. It is evident from this film, that Stallone has forgotten more about making an action movie than most directors today will ever learn. He has created a bone crunching, orgy of bullets, explosions, knives and severed limbs and it couldn’t be more exciting. 

The cast is a virtual who’s who of action stars including Jason Statham, Jet Li, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, Terry Crews and Dolph Lundgren. Stallone clearly understands that most of the above names aren’t skilled thespians and wisely leaves most of the acting to himself and Statham.  That being said, Stallone sheds any and all ego and gives each of his “expendables” a showcase scene. Lundgren gets plenty of screen time battling Li and Couture in separate scenes and it is apparent that he had quite a bit of fun filming this movie. Statham (who is clearly the second lead) gets the most scenes, a sub-plot involving his girlfriend (Charisma Carpenter) and he shares an easy chemistry with Sly. In fact I’d like to see them appear in another film together.   A menacing Steve Austin as an evil henchman gets to fight just about everyone and Terry Crews gets to run around firing the biggest gun I’ve ever seen.

The cast is rounded out by Mickey Rourke as a retired “expendable” and Eric Roberts as the chief villain of the film. Rourke unfortunately never gets into the action, but he shares two solid scenes with Stallone and serves as the moral compass of the movie.  I would very much like to see these two titans share the screen again. Roberts hams it up a smarmy ex-CIA agent, turned drug dealing lunatic and reminds us that no one is better at playing malevolent scumbags than him. 

It is not a surprise to anyone that has seen the trailer for the film that both Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger make an appearance here. The three originators of Planet Hollywood share one scene together which is both amusing and strangely surreal at the same time, albeit very short. It should be noted that while Willis and Stallone work well together on screen, Schwarzenegger feels like he is playing a parody of himself. Perhaps it is time for “the governator” to officially retire from acting and stick to politics. As nice as it is to see the kings of action movies together on screen for the first time, it just makes me really want to see a film starring the three of them. How about Stallone and Willis team up for Die Hard 5 and Schwarzenegger plays the villain? I’d gladly pay to see that.

What about the plot you say? Does it really matter? All you need to know is that Stallone has delivered an explosive, adrenaline laced flick for the guys that is the very definition of a summer popcorn movie. If you’re a fan of this type of film, there is no way that you will leave the theatre disappointed. You’re more likely to leave smiling from ear to ear.