I will admit that I’m a fan of ‘The Expendables’
films and I am also aware that I’m kind of in the minority on that. I mean sure
when you really look at these films, they’re generally nothing more than dumb
cheesy action films that are very much in line with the action films from the
80’s. Still, even with that in mind I still find both ‘Expendables’ films to be
very entertaining. The first film, despite some occasionally clunky editing and
for also being a bit too serious at times, managed to still have some awesome
action sequences that I feel managed to make up for a good chunk of the film’s
shortcomings. But ultimately I prefer the sequel, ‘The Expendables 2’, more
than I do the first one. It didn’t take things as seriously as the first film
did and it had much better action sequences and a far more memorable villain
compared to the generic warlord and CIA agent from the first film. So now we
come to the third ‘Expendables’ film, this one helmed by Patrick Hughes, who
has recently been hired to helm an American remake of ‘The Raid’. As for this
film, it’s faced quite a bit of controversy recently for a few major reasons.
The first, and clearly the most infamous, was when a Digital Copy of the film
was leaked online by piracy sites a few weeks before it was set to be released
in theaters. Seeing how it is estimated that the leaked copy of the film was
viewed more than 2 million times, it certainly is playing a key factor in the
film’s poor performance at the box office. But then you also take into account
that this is the first film in the series to be rated PG-13 after the far more
violent/bloody R-rated first two films. Some may feel that this means that the
new film will be ‘watered down’ compared to its predecessors. However, ‘The
Expendables 3’ still manages to be a fun and corny action film that actually isn’t
affected by the PG-13 rating that much.
After rescuing one of
their old teammates, ex-medic Doctor Death (Wesley Snipes) from prison, the
mercenary group ‘The Expendables’, led by Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), are
then tasked with intercepting a shipment of weapons that are set to be handed
over to a Somalian warlord. However, once there, they soon find out that the
arms trader providing the bombs is none other than Conrad Stonebanks (Mel
Gibson), who co-founded the group with Barney many years ago. He was believed
to be dead after being ‘killed’ by Barney when he found out that he had gone rogue
but it turns out that he’s still alive. When one of the members of the groups
is severely injured in the operation by Stonebanks, Barney ends up disbanding
the team so that none of the others would end up the same way. He then proceeds
to enlist a new younger group of mercenaries (played by Kellan Lutz, Ronda
Rousey, Glen Powell, and Victor Ortiz) in order to capture Stonebanks and take
him into custody. However, the operation soon goes haywire and Stonebanks ends
up taking the new recruits hostage, leaving Barney with no choice but to
reassemble the old gang in order to take down their former ‘ally’.
Like the two films that
came before it, ‘The Expendables 3’ is an incredibly cheesy action film that
very much feels like it came from the 80’s with its constant one-liners and its
fair share of story clichés. However that’s part of what makes these films fun
to watch in the first place. They harken back to the classics like ‘Die Hard’
and ‘Rambo’ and while I may not have been an ‘80’s kid’, I can certainly see
the impact that those films have made on the action genre. I also have to give
these last two films a lot of credit because after the first film tried to be
more serious than it needed to be, the sequels have thankfully not made the
same mistake. They opt for a much more light-hearted tone which is much more suited
for films of this nature. There has been quite a lot of speculation regarding
this film being ‘toned down’ to a PG-13 rating after the previous two films
were rated ‘R’. However I can assure you that this is not that big of a
problem. Sure, that does mean that there are some really noticeable instances
where the violence is heavily edited so that we don’t see anything too violent
or bloody. But at the same time, this film does get rid of something that I’m
well-aware has been a major problem for a lot of people and that is the use of
CGI blood squibs whenever someone is killed so the downgrade to PG-13 isn’t all
that bad. Heck, even under a PG-13 rating this film is still pretty damn
violent, especially during the insane finale.
It’s clear that because
this film is rated PG-13, the filmmakers are trying to market the film towards younger
audiences than they used to. That fact is most noticeable in regards to how this
film spends more time on the new young members of the Expendables than the
older ones. So with that said, if you’re going into this film expecting to see a
lot of the main members of the Expendables, you’re more than likely going to be
disappointed (I can safely say that fans of Terry Crews will be especially
disappointed in regards to the amount of screen-time he has in this film though
from what I hear, this was due to scheduling conflicts) because aside from Stallone,
most of them disappear for a good chunk of the film. Despite this, the film
still has its fair share of stand-outs within its very large cast. The biggest
standout would easily be Antonio Banderas as Galgo, a sharpshooter who is initially
turned down by Ross to join the team but ends up getting hired eventually.
Banderas steals every scene he is in, mostly because he gets a lot of the best
lines in the film and that’s because he’s always talking, which ends up
annoying most of the other Expendables because of his motor mouth. As for Mel
Gibson as the main villain, his presence in the role more than makes up for the
fact that he actually doesn’t do jack for most of the movie. Overall, every
member of the cast does their job even though some don’t have as much
screen-time as others.
These ‘Expendables’
films aren’t for everyone, so if you’re not already a fan of these movies, ‘The
Expendables 3’ isn’t really going to change much for you. It’s just like the
last two that came before it; it’s cheesy, it has a fairly standard plot and
little to no character development. It’s more about the action and how many
action stars can fit into one cast, so much so that some don’t get the proper
screen-time they deserve. Yes, these films haven’t fully delivered on the
action spectacle that the first one promised back in 2010 and there are quite a
few things that could have been done to improve them but I still managed to
enjoy this new one just as I did the other two. This film may not be as violent
as the two that came before it as evident by its PG-13 rating but aside from a
few occasionally heavily-edited action sequences and a greater focus on the
newer additions to the Expendables, the film isn’t affected too much by the
lower rating. It’s sad that this film had to become a victim to piracy because it’s
clear that the whole ‘leak incident’ played a key part in the film’s incredibly
poor opening weekend. Now considering the general critical reception towards
these films, franchise fatigue might have been another factor as well. However,
I hope that this film’s bad luck may change soon because it’s a really entertaining
film just like the other two that came before it.
Rating:
4/5
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