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The Expendables (2010) (part 1 of 2)
With The Expendables 2 nearly here, I thought it would be a good time to take a look at the first one. I won’t be doing a full recap, but if you want to know my general feelings on the film, here’s an expanded version of the review I posted on my blog.
For those of you who have not yet experienced the wonder and magic that is this movie, here’s a brief summary.
Sylvester Stallone is Barney Ross, the leader of an elite team of mercenaries hired by a shady CIA man to kill the dictator of a small island, and also his CIA crony, who’s been looking to get into the drug business. Along the way, Ross falls for a young woman who turns out to be the dictator’s daughter, and we get tons of action, explosions, and macho bullshit.
The Expendables is a fun throwback to the sort of film I’ve been covering in my action movie series: Loud, violent, and cheesy as hell. It’s like an ultra-violent episode of The A-Team, and wouldn’t have seemed out of place in a 1985 theater playing on a double bill with some cheesy slasher movie. Heck, if it were made late enough in the ‘80s, there’s a chance we’d still get Eric Roberts as the villain!
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Ed Harris
A fan of less than great cinema since childhood, Ed divides his time between writing scripts, working an actual paying job and subjecting himself willingly to some of the worst films society has produced.
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