The Expendables (2010) - Stallone's unification of action legends is great fun

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2 Film Excess nominations:

Best Director: Sylvester Stallone (lost to Sofia Coppola for Somewhere)
Best Practical Effects (lost to Inception)
 
+ Best Action Movie of the Year
+ Best Ensemble of the Year

The fierce, gun-crazed poster for Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables

The Expendables are a team of mercenaries, about four older guys and one Chinaman (Jet Li (War (2007)), and they get hired by a man named Mr. Church to take down a South-American dictator.

The Expendables, written by Dave Callaham (Doom (2005)) and co-writer-director-star Sylvester Stallone (Rocky II (1979)), is an event in and of itself. It brings together the heaviest artillery in the American action genre in a way that hasn't ever been seen before: Stallone, Li, Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Terminator (1984)), Bruce Willis (Die Hard (1988)), Dolph Lundgren (The Punisher (1989)), Mickey Rourke (Bullet (1996)), Jason Statham (The Transporter (2002)) and more. In a movie that - for a fan of the genre mind you - really works. Just about everything explodes, while the dialog is sharp and the rock rumbles on the soundtrack.
"Looking for wörk?", as Arnold asks at one point in the film. - And 'hell yeah', we might respond as grateful, action-loving audiences!

Related posts:

Sylvester Stallone:  The Expendables 3 (2014) - Unique, bizarre, largely entertaining third action fireball
The Expendables 2 (2012) - An over-packed action hot-air balloon
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 
Cop Land (1997) - Stallone faces corruption and turns in some good acting in fine crime drama 
Demolition Man (1993) - Romantic sci-fi popcorner from the good ol' action days of yore
Cobra (1986) - Stallone and Nielsen glitter in lowbrow action fare
Death Race 2000 (1975) - AIP's dystopic car smash

Here are the stars of the film at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con to promote it

Cost: 82 mil. $
Box office: 274.5 mil. $
= Box office success
[The Expendables premiered August 3 (Hollywood) and runs 103 minutes. The film is a reworking of a 2005 script by Callaham titled Barrow. Filming took place from April - July 2009 in Brazil, Louisiana and LA. The film opened #1 with a 34.8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed on top for another week with about half as big a take, grossing 103 mil. $ (37.5 % of the total gross). The film's 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were China with 31.7 mil. $ (11.5 %) and the UK with 15.9 mil. $ (5.8 %). The Expendables is rotten at 41 % with a 5.2 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Expendables?

The Expendables 2 (2012) - An over-packed action hot-air balloon

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Explosive poster for Simon West's The Expendables 2

QUICK REVIEW:

The mercenary group of 'expendables' owe money to Church (Bruce Willis (Die Hard (1988)) and therefore take a job, which kills their young sniper.
After this, the plot seems like a rehash of some 80's left-overs; a maniac (Jean-Claude Van Damme (Bloodsport (1988)) with plutonium arrives, and there's also the obligatory revenge.
Unfortunately, this is a bad sequel to the energetic predecessor. The plot is unexciting and old hat. Mickey Rourke has vanished from the group without explanation, and instead we get an uncharismatic Chinese woman (Nan Yu (Beijing Love Story (2014)) and a lot of Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Terminator (1984))-Bruce Willis-Chuck Norris (The Delta Force (1986)) interplay, which unfortunately just isn't very cool. They babble post-modernistic-style around old lines and other action movie references, which almost only works to blow even more air into an already floating construction, this rather bizarre gathering of action star veterans.

Front-man Sylvester Stallone (Rocky (1976)) has said that he thinks this film is much better than the first one, which only shows how wrong the person behind movies can often be about their own creations. - Right around now, he is telling folks in Cannes that with Expendables 3, - hitting cinemas everywhere in August, - they really got it right ... Well, we'll see about that.
Simon West (Con Air (1997)) directed The Expendables 2, which was biggest outside of the US, and particularly in China, where it beat The Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spiderman with a stunning 54 mil. $ in its first 35 days there.
Trivia about the film includes that a stunt man got killed during its long location shoot in Bulgaria, where the film was also sued and fined for environmental damage in the cave seen in the film, where scores of endangered bats apparently died due to the production.
West's next film will be a Jason Statham-starring movie called Wild Card (2014).

Tasteless? - Oh yes. The Expendables 2 last supper advertising gimmick

Watch the trailer for the film here, which looks a lot more exciting than the actual film is

Watch the teaser currently out for The Expendables 3 here

Budget: 100 mil. $
Box office: 311.9 mil. $
= Big hit

What do you think of the first two Expendables films?
Are you looking forward to the coming third chapter?