The most recent installment in the Expendables franchise was released Sept. 22, and it falls short in the series. Reprising their roles for the first time in nearly a decade, Jason Statham and Sylvester Stallone return to the series while bringing along some new faces. Even with the introduction of fresh faces, this film had all the elements that it needed to be a great action film.
The film starts off with some quick action scenes to lay down the plot of the movie then reintroduces Barney Ross, played by Stallone. Before long, Ross meets up with Lee Christmas, played by Statham, and we get to see the comedy at the forefront of the movie. The opening scene between Ross, Christmas and Gina, played by Megan Fox, is hilarious and it does a great job in setting the tone for this movie.
The subsequent scene afterwards in the bar does a great job in introducing these characters for the first time in nine years and showing just what kind of movie the audience was in for. It’s after the bar scene where we get to see the entire team of Expendables both old and new. Easy Day, played by 50 Cent, and Galan, played by Jacob Scipio, are both interesting additions to the team and they both have their moments in the movie.
Yet the new cast feels slightly drowned out by how much connection Statham has with his fellow Expendable stars. His screen time with Ross is hilarious and his time on camera with both Randy Couture as Toll Road and Gunner, played by Dolph Lundgren, is short but great. Yet this chemistry between characters isn’t the only thing this movie did well. Something else this film did really well with was its focus on action scenes.
“Expend4bles” doesn’t try to give you too much of a plot at once and instead opts to use the action scenes to flow from plot point to plot point. The plot in question seems somewhat sudden and it feels as though the nostalgia overtook the main selling point of the movie. Seeing Stallone, Statham and Lundgren on screen together overshadows their chemistry with the new characters and only a few moments stand out in their interactions with new characters.
The trope-ish plot and the stardom of its actors hold this movie back from being great, but it still stands as an alright action comedy with some good action plot twists. With a runtime falling under two hours, more time could’ve been put into the new characters to make them truly stand out. Instead, we got an Expendables film with good action and comedy but a dry plot with almost no important focus on the new faces interacting with old faces.
