![]() Crews isn't used particularly well but otherwise I liked everyone else in it, even if there were probably too many of them to really do much with – I thought it was a good move, despite appearing to be an ensemble piece, to put most of the focus on two of them rather than spreading it evenly around. They do have an easy charisma between them and they all play off each other well – whether it be Stallone and Statham or the brief cameos from Willis and Swarzenegger. The cast do help though and not just in terms of having big names in there. These are important because it makes the excess easier to enjoy as just part of a fun package – the film not having enough suspense or thrills makes the lack of this "fun" all the more obvious and notable of a gap. There were a few kiss-off lines but nothing memorable or even "good". What was needed was more comedy mixed in with the action. ![]() We get the odd bit here and there, but really Jet Li's "because I'm small" speech is probably the high point. The second thing that isn't as prevalent as I wanted was comedy. It comes close and there are good moments but generally you find yourself sitting back watching the mayhem for the sake of mayhem, whereas I would prefer to be sucked into and really gripped by the action - I wasn't really here instead most of the action is of the video game style – where the enemy just keeps spawning in front of you and getting chopped down by powerful weaponry. The downside of the action is that, while it is enjoyable, it doesn't deliver enough of two key things. It plays out just the way you expect it to do and those looking for action sequences will enjoy the many fights and scenes where everything blows up (Terry Crews in particular demonstrating to the world why Infinity Ward were out of their minds to make the AA-12 a "secondary" weapon in Modern Warfare 2!). And indeed so it is, complete with unnecessary violence and overblown physical actions and seemingly indestructible heroes. The plot is essentially a small group of mercenaries heading into a tropical island in order to take out the dictator and his ex-CIA puppet-master: so far, so "one man against endless ethnic army" 80's style plotting. The answer to this question turned out to be "sort of" because The Expendables has plenty to enjoy about it but yet somehow falls short of what it could have been. However the real question was can the film produce the boys-only, 1980's action movie fun that the 2010 summer season needed. The answer of course is "no" and I doubt anyone expected it to be any other answer. "Could it be the greatest action movie ever?" some magazines breathlessly asked themselves, assuming perhaps that the cast could somehow just produce a good film by virtue of all just being in it. With the cast it had it was no surprise that The Expendables was being hyped long before it arrived in cinemas anywhere.
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