The Expendables, 2010

The Expendables, 2010
Director: Sylvester Stallone
Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis



The expendables in short: A team of mercenaries head to South America on a mission to overthrow a dictator.


Preps: It's the premiere in Ljubljana, a must see, because of the fabulous cast and the topic. It just seems good when you see the trailer, and it is definitely worth a shot. Maybe it turns out the way Ocean's 11 did.

Stage: Local Kino Dvor event



Reality: If Ocean's eleven was a splendid idea and a good performance in terms of cast, directing, script, stage, etc, well, the Expendables is nothing like this. It was one of the disastrous pieces I chose to see and spend some time on. The only thing I was impressed about was the amount of good actors, that were in this movie and the fact that the oldies (Arnold, Willis, Stallone) actually stood on the stage together (Imagine Rambo fighting Kindergarten Cop as we did when we were really young). The fact that all of the Rambo sequels were in my opinion better than this one (and I don't like either of the sequels of Rambo) tells a story.

It is maybe a good idea to combine a movie with good cast and some strong explosions, but nothing (and I mean nothing) can really substitute the lack of the story, music, scenery, everything else. I thought about leaving the stage and getting a beer, because I couldn't stand the macho scenes, in which without a shadow of a doubt, the only purpose can be to shoot as many bullets as possible, destroy as many buildings as you can find on the way and tell stupid jokes alongside. I couldn't bare the lame scenario and I couldn't listen to Stallone, because I constantly looked at his facial make-up, which I found repulsing and non-repellent to attraction of the viewer(I mean here that the make up was so poor that I kept on looking at his face, instead of watching the movie).

If I could give 8+ points to Ocean's eleven because of all exclusive elements that the movie posessed, I cannot bare to come up with more than 1 for this disaster. Yes, they all showed up in one place. Yes, they destroyed everything, the whole set exploded zillion times. And yes, the movie involved one great looking woman that kinda needs to be protected against villains. But that's it. No real enthusiasm when seeing this and definitely, none left when it finally ended. Maybe some actors should leave the director's seat to a real director. And choose scripts more wisely. It's not all about appearing again on the big screen, even though the best make-up artist made you look 10 years younger and did a facial lift.

The last thought.. I was actually glad to see Stallone with a gun. I think the genre suits him best. But he would need to decide, what to do - act or direct. Rare persons can do both great.



My personal rating: 1,0 (just for the sake of the cast. The movie really sucks and I strongly recommend you find something else to do or go for a beer :))

Expendables on IMDB
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