Sylvester Stallone's upcoming "The Expendables" has been testing in Hollywood and surroundings this week. The general consecus from those that are attended is that it's a good old-school action movie - akin to some of the flicks we all grew up watching in overcrowded theaters on a Saturday Afternoon. I like Sly, and don't doubt he's - yet again - knocked this one out of the park.
Quite a few folks caught the film, including a colleague of ours. Here's 'Her' take :
"They get away with a lot - especially considering it's aiming for a PG-13. Some pretty rough stuff in there. But if there wasn't any violence, to be honest, there wouldn't be a lot else - not much of a story. But hey, it's an action film... and it knows it. So no big beef. And the film doesn't take itself too seriously; in fact, it's closer in tone to some of Stallone's earlier action/comedies, like Tango and Cash. But his inspiration for the film seems to be The Dirty Dozen - in fact, it's very similar to the Dirty Dozen.
"He cast great - not that any of the cast, besides Stallone and Jason Statham, are on the screen for too long - with everyone from Mickey Rourke to Jet Li and [Clint's buddy - Cumquat] Gary Daniels getting some fun moments. Loved [name removed] death scene. The Schwarzenegger/Bruce Willis cameo at the start of the film is fun too - but it would've been fun to have actually had Schwarzenegger get in on the action... like the rest of the guys... if only for a few minutes. Bruce Willis actually steals the show from Schwarzenegger in the scene they do. There were rumors that Brittany Murphy was in the film - but I didn't see her. Did she get cut?.
"Yeah, it's fun - it's a lot of fun. I'm trying to think when the last big action movie like this came out - the only thing I can think of that it's similar to, if only because it encompasses the same blend of action and laughs, is The Big Hit. But as I said, Dirty Dozen is probably a better comparison".
/film reader Rolo Tomassi also saw the film, remarking that ''This is a just a fun, action romp that wows and dazzles with it’s ultraviolent action set pieces and cast of familiar favorites.... As far as looks are concerned, Stallone is cut, but his face looks droopy and elderly, which is weird. It also reminds you that people like Terry Crews should be headlining films and people like Randy Couture have no business trying to act".
A reviewer for Aint it Cool News says, "Stallone set out to do a straight-up homage to 80’s macho action hero flicks. The problem is he sticks so close to that formula and makes no concessions for the changes that have taken place in the last 20 years, he actually creates a movie that suffers for its commitment to being a throw back with nothing new brought to the table. We all remember the hero who runs though a hail of hundreds of bullets and never gets hit, right?'', adding later, "The Expendables is chock full of the worst banter I’ve heard in years and that includes sitting at Denny’s at 2am next to a table of teenage girls. A few, very few, clever lines get out, but the hit-miss ratio will make the creators of “Meet the Spartans” look like geniuses. There was no sense of danger the entire length of the film unless you happen to be evil.''
A far more positive review at the same site says otherwise. "The Expendables is chock full of the worst banter I’ve heard in years and that includes sitting at Denny’s at 2am next to a table of teenage girls. A few, very few, clever lines get out, but the hit-miss ratio will make the creators of “Meet the Spartans” look like geniuses. There was no sense of danger the entire length of the film unless you happen to be evil."
A Collider reader also had a good time with the film saying, ''If the plot sounds simple to you — it is. You walk into a movie like this expecting to see ACTION and CAST, and I have to say, I saw some of the most famous action stars of our time sharing the screen and killing baddies in ways I never even knew possible."
He adds, ''Statham is the winner here as the knife expert. His character (the badass with a heart) is played perfectly and his fight scenes are absolutely amazing. Trust me, you will look at knives with a newfound respect.''
The site FanBoyWeb also enjoyed the bejesus out of the film - like our reviewer, was a bit disappointed in the Schwarzenegger cameo. ''These three guys shared some dialogue among each other conclude by a funny one liner about Schwarzenegger becoming president. Unfortunately we may never see these guys in kicking ass action because they are way passed their prime. You will be shocked as I was as to how old and out of shape Schwarzenegger looked. There’s even a fat joke about him. NOTE: Pay attention and listen for the Terminator theme music to play when Schwarzenegger appears." And the weakest link? "The weakest link in the film by far was Dolph Lundgren’s performance. It was nice to see him team up again with Stallion but I really can’t tell if the guy is a bad actor or what. I cringed every time I saw him on screen because he seamed as if he was punch drunk from the beating Rocky gave him in the fourth movie."
