The Expendables
Feb. 14th, 2011 02:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reviewthatMovie: The Expendables
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, Terry Crews, and Mickey Rourke (with cameos by Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger)
Opened Nationwide: August 13, 2010
DVD Release Date: November 23, 2010
Stars: 1
Sylvester Stallone is the leader of a group of mercenaries, who get an assignment to take out a South American dictator. Along the way, they find out that he is being controlled by a former CIA agent who is only interested in making money.
This movie was marketed as a "love story" to all of the action movies from the '80 and '90s, and while there was plenty of action (and plenty of big name action stars), this film was horrible. I generally enjoy "guy" movies, and appreciate plenty of action and explosions, but this was not only not done in such a way that it could have been enjoyable, it seemed to have no real plot to speak of. Sometimes you might catch a glimpse of one every once in a while, but then, it would scurry back off (probably frightened by the acting and the atrocious script. The dialogue was so awful, I'm amazed that no one went back to give it a rewrite ... someone who actually knows how to write, I mean. Naming Jet Li's character Yin Yang, and having him be the "thinker" of the group ... it was so very unoriginal).
There was too much riding on this film having all sorts of big name action stars, without actually giving them anything with meat. It seems a pity that none of them really had anything that they could have sunk their teeth into.
And to have the three female characters in the film also need to have one or another of these guys to come to their rescue, or only be there to be a bit of tail ... it was rather disappointing. No, I'm not saying that I would've wanted a Xena-type character added to the mix, who was vehemently anti-men (or wasn't able to accept assistance), but to have the only representations of female characters either needing saving or to be a disposable piece of ass, that is what I take issue with. These are not the only kind of women out there, and it would have been nice to have seen at least one representation of a woman who was not only intelligent, but who could take matters into her own hands and on equal footing with the boys (at least as far as respect goes). There are more types of women to choose from than just the "whore" or the "Madonna".
All-in-all, I'd say skip it entirely. But if you really feel like watching it, find it somewhere online, where you won't have to pay for it.
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, Terry Crews, and Mickey Rourke (with cameos by Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger)
Opened Nationwide: August 13, 2010
DVD Release Date: November 23, 2010
Stars: 1
Sylvester Stallone is the leader of a group of mercenaries, who get an assignment to take out a South American dictator. Along the way, they find out that he is being controlled by a former CIA agent who is only interested in making money.
This movie was marketed as a "love story" to all of the action movies from the '80 and '90s, and while there was plenty of action (and plenty of big name action stars), this film was horrible. I generally enjoy "guy" movies, and appreciate plenty of action and explosions, but this was not only not done in such a way that it could have been enjoyable, it seemed to have no real plot to speak of. Sometimes you might catch a glimpse of one every once in a while, but then, it would scurry back off (probably frightened by the acting and the atrocious script. The dialogue was so awful, I'm amazed that no one went back to give it a rewrite ... someone who actually knows how to write, I mean. Naming Jet Li's character Yin Yang, and having him be the "thinker" of the group ... it was so very unoriginal).
There was too much riding on this film having all sorts of big name action stars, without actually giving them anything with meat. It seems a pity that none of them really had anything that they could have sunk their teeth into.
And to have the three female characters in the film also need to have one or another of these guys to come to their rescue, or only be there to be a bit of tail ... it was rather disappointing. No, I'm not saying that I would've wanted a Xena-type character added to the mix, who was vehemently anti-men (or wasn't able to accept assistance), but to have the only representations of female characters either needing saving or to be a disposable piece of ass, that is what I take issue with. These are not the only kind of women out there, and it would have been nice to have seen at least one representation of a woman who was not only intelligent, but who could take matters into her own hands and on equal footing with the boys (at least as far as respect goes). There are more types of women to choose from than just the "whore" or the "Madonna".
All-in-all, I'd say skip it entirely. But if you really feel like watching it, find it somewhere online, where you won't have to pay for it.
