The Expendables: Movie Review
Sat, Aug 21 2010 03:40
| action, martial arts, movie review, expendables, violence, martial arts Altrincham, weapons
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When I saw the promo poster for this in the foyer of my local cinema months ago it brought a wry smile to my face. An ensemble cast like this one has to be one of note for anyone vaguely into martial arts, action movies or a good old silver screen dust up. From the demi-god that is Jet Li to the MMA exploits of Randy Couture the “serious” martial arts snob is catered for, as well as those who grew up with the Hollywood exploits of Stallone, his heir apparent Statham, the forgotten man of Dolph Lundgren or the WWE's former poster boy Steve Austin all brought together with cameos from Arnie and Willis to top it off. There is some serious money and pedigree on offer here when it comes to action movies and it really shows.
This film knows it isn't a serious piece of art and treating it as such is a waste of time. With Stallone leading, writing, producing and directing it to various degrees it really is his project and the fact that friends from all over his career pop up such as Rourke and Lundgren gives it a nice feel. The simplistic and rather nonsensical story is precluded by a lovely set piece involving Somali pirates, laser sights and questions about the moral fibre of both mercenaries and pirates alike. It links together a typically American sense of moral crusading and political patronising of the generic foreign stereotype. This roots the Expendables very firmly in the action flick's 80's heyday. The ghosts of Rocky and Rambo stalk this film and the spectrum of weapons from Statham's impressive knife-work to the sublimely ridiculous explosive rounds sending viscera and enemies flying across our screens are as enjoyable as they are cartoonish in their use.
What's really on offer here is a chance to see top class choreography, a blend of styles and approaches and a nod to all the clichés going. Biased as I may be the fight scene between Li and Lundgren is truly a nasty little gem of a sequence. From Li's fast paced “happy feet” style sending kicks, punches and acrobatics at the giant Lundgren is pretty cool and quite enough to make anyone envious and for his part Dolph sends in the sort of punches and vicious attacks that make it all the more exciting.
Since that 'golden' era of the 80's, films like the Bourne and Batman series' have raised the bar in close-quarter fight sequences and technically speaking the Expendables does its bit. Lots of stomps to the knees, summary executions (axe kick to the chin from Statham anyone?) and flowing mixes of hand to hand and gun play in the later set pieces give this film something different. The more surprising parts are perhaps the way in which for all their limited acting the “wrestlers” that are Couture and Austin take star turns when their time comes.
As silly as the endless spinning and body-slams are in reality; on screen they make compelling viewing and the stunt team must take a bow. While there perhaps isn't much here in to compare to “proper fighting” or ideas to bring to training you and a few mates will probably end up trying one of the moves some point soon. Compared to Statham's slightly odd John Wayne-like retribution against a domestic abuser who steals and beats his girlfriend the wrestlers are unfortunately shown up a bit. The nasty and fast paced brutality depicted on the basketball court is as superb as it is gratuitous. For those of you with some time to kill I recommend reading any interviews with Statham – his outlook, philosophy and training advice make him someone I've grown to respect hugely.
There are questions over the need for this film released in the wake of the Losers and A-Team respectively but this one swaggers in late and arrogantly and perhaps has much more to grab your attention. The cast is bigger (in every sense, some of those t-shirts were screaming trying to contain all that testosterone) the action more graphic, the storyline more redundant and the technical aspects excellent. While it may have a rickety old plane; a massive slice of Southern Rock in the soundtrack and lots of dodgy dialogue; machismo, and some cod naval gazing encasing the violence; boisterous energy and casual sexism, for those of you who want to see things blow up and people get messed up – you won't go far wrong here.
This film knows it isn't a serious piece of art and treating it as such is a waste of time. With Stallone leading, writing, producing and directing it to various degrees it really is his project and the fact that friends from all over his career pop up such as Rourke and Lundgren gives it a nice feel. The simplistic and rather nonsensical story is precluded by a lovely set piece involving Somali pirates, laser sights and questions about the moral fibre of both mercenaries and pirates alike. It links together a typically American sense of moral crusading and political patronising of the generic foreign stereotype. This roots the Expendables very firmly in the action flick's 80's heyday. The ghosts of Rocky and Rambo stalk this film and the spectrum of weapons from Statham's impressive knife-work to the sublimely ridiculous explosive rounds sending viscera and enemies flying across our screens are as enjoyable as they are cartoonish in their use.
What's really on offer here is a chance to see top class choreography, a blend of styles and approaches and a nod to all the clichés going. Biased as I may be the fight scene between Li and Lundgren is truly a nasty little gem of a sequence. From Li's fast paced “happy feet” style sending kicks, punches and acrobatics at the giant Lundgren is pretty cool and quite enough to make anyone envious and for his part Dolph sends in the sort of punches and vicious attacks that make it all the more exciting.
Since that 'golden' era of the 80's, films like the Bourne and Batman series' have raised the bar in close-quarter fight sequences and technically speaking the Expendables does its bit. Lots of stomps to the knees, summary executions (axe kick to the chin from Statham anyone?) and flowing mixes of hand to hand and gun play in the later set pieces give this film something different. The more surprising parts are perhaps the way in which for all their limited acting the “wrestlers” that are Couture and Austin take star turns when their time comes.
As silly as the endless spinning and body-slams are in reality; on screen they make compelling viewing and the stunt team must take a bow. While there perhaps isn't much here in to compare to “proper fighting” or ideas to bring to training you and a few mates will probably end up trying one of the moves some point soon. Compared to Statham's slightly odd John Wayne-like retribution against a domestic abuser who steals and beats his girlfriend the wrestlers are unfortunately shown up a bit. The nasty and fast paced brutality depicted on the basketball court is as superb as it is gratuitous. For those of you with some time to kill I recommend reading any interviews with Statham – his outlook, philosophy and training advice make him someone I've grown to respect hugely.
There are questions over the need for this film released in the wake of the Losers and A-Team respectively but this one swaggers in late and arrogantly and perhaps has much more to grab your attention. The cast is bigger (in every sense, some of those t-shirts were screaming trying to contain all that testosterone) the action more graphic, the storyline more redundant and the technical aspects excellent. While it may have a rickety old plane; a massive slice of Southern Rock in the soundtrack and lots of dodgy dialogue; machismo, and some cod naval gazing encasing the violence; boisterous energy and casual sexism, for those of you who want to see things blow up and people get messed up – you won't go far wrong here.