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Neens
Time - and botox, it seems - gets to us all in the end. This film has a stellar ensemble cast, but several of the old timers are suddenly incapable of basic mimicry. A large cast also means less for each actor to do, which may have been intentional considering the age of some of the biggest names, but it also means they didn't have enough scenes to film to get back into character, and so just phoned it in. Hey, who can blame them? It's an easy pay check. Annoyingly, apart from Antonio Banderas who totally steals the movie despite the inane dialogue he is given, the best guy was the bad guy, played by Mel Gibson. I say annoyingly, because I still can't forgive him for some of the things he has said throughout his career. There is no doubt the man is still a talented actor, though. Jason Statham is always good, but didn't get much to do in this one. Kelsey Grammer is also entertaining, and so is Glen Powell. Jet Li only had two lines, I think... The plot is paper thin, but that goes without saying. I do love the concept of these movies, but this iteration just didn't work. I'll still watch Expend4bles, though.Siskoid
In for a penny, in for a dime. I'm not really willing to invest a whole pound in The Expendables 3, you understand. By the writers of the Gerard Butler Has Fallen series... oh boy. But huh! While it's a pretty simple plot, it's loads better than the second movie, and I may even prefer it to the first (if only because the action isn't just people shooting in the dark). When evil Mel Gibson decimates the team, Stallone has to recruit some young blood, which seems to defy the premise so you know the old guys are going to return. Happily, there isn't a lot of generational conflict and to tell you the truth, I feel like the new people are more differentiated that the old ones, and though Antonio Banderas' character is a little loopy, he's got a bit more depth than expected. There's an elegiac quality to the movie that gets to the core of the concept - what's it like to have all this experience, but not be as sharp or relevant anymore? The kids are more like a Mission Impossible squad, and they mock the shoot'em up style of the 80s. They have every right to. Rather than just throwing a bunch of old stars together for nostalgic value, Ex3 acts as commentary on their era and is the better for it.danisanna
I feel like they really *tried* to create some depth in this ... it should however be moved into the sci-fi genre because damn, some of those action sequences are a bit much. But great action, star-studded, funny ... I just don't get why they can't produce a proper action movie WITH a credible story plot.xianjiro
Did they really get Harrison Ford to say "Assmanistan"?demagogo
I liked the part where Stallone says something incomprehensible and when explosions.jutuomin
Would it be better if there was some big action star in it? No one knows..Earring72
Just like I & II, dumb, loud and fun only this time not that much fun because of too many lesser characters and the PG-13 rating. Still enough action to fill a Saturday evening with brain set too empty :-) Also at 2 hours much too long.....missdaisy14
It wasn't as great compared to the other two. I'm a bit disappointed. Great cast, okay storyline, horrible script. I really love Antonio Banderas but his humor didn't get me this time.Chieftac
Who spotted the references to Rambo 2, Predator and Air Force One (and probably some more i forget)? :)SilentJoe13
The most expendable movie of the trilogy.Joker of Gotham
The characters of Mel Gibson and Antonio Banderas were the best ones for me. Was nice to see Arnold Schwarzenegger again.The new expendables, I didn't give a crap about any of them.
The second is still my favourite.
3.25/5
Pipistrellus
'Christmas is coming''But it's only June!'
Love love love ♥♥♥
CinemaDump
So to preface this review, let me just say that I am an unabashed Expendables fan and a lover of action movies in general. Watching those 80's/90's action movies with Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallone and my absolute favourite, Arnold Schwarzenegger was for sure one of the big reasons why I became such a big movie lover. I wanted to see every classic, semi-classic and pure garbage action movie ever made. That's why I was so pumped for the first Expendables. It spoke to me, it was like a love letter to everything that was great about action movies. Looking back on it now, it could've been better but The Expendables 2 which came out two years later alleviated quite a few of those problems.The Expendables 3 has been greeted with a lot of criticism from just about everyone. Its box office opening was also pretty soft and that could potentially make 3 the final film of the series. The makers are pointing their finger at piracy from the big publicized leak some weeks ago while everyone else thinks its the PG-13 downgrade from the original R of the first two films, series fatigue or just plain old mediocrity. Going into The Expendables 3, I put all of that out of my head and geared up to hopefully be entertained.
Synopsis
Expendables leader Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) leads his team to extract a former Expendables member Doctor Death (Wesley Snipes) from some prison located in a country which probably doesn't exist. Following this, they make their way to Somalia where Barney Ross wants to break up a weapons deal. The weapons dealer turns out to be ex-Expendables Conrad Stonebanks (Mel Gibson) who betrayed the Expendables way back when but had been thought to be dead. Stonebanks critically injures Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) and makes his escape, leaving Barney Ross with two choices; disbanding the Expendables forever or revenge which would most likely destroy the team anyway.
Review
The opening of The Expendables 3 is pretty silly which is fine with me. Expendables has always had a permanent wink going on but what's really interesting about this third entry is that the wink actually kind of disappears completely after Doctor Death has been broken out. The Expendables are dying and they're getting old at the same time. As much as The Expendables have been a long running joke of old gun-toting geezers to a lot of people, the question of age is well addressed here and it's done with a certain amount of gravitas. I was completely taken aback by the change in tone and I liked it truth be told.
The change in tone doesn't mean that the film ditches everything that made the past movies fun. There are lots of one-liners referencing past action classics (or-not-so-classics) and tons of crazy action mayhem. There are some pretty cool stunts as well and I was pleasantly surprised by how the action was all captured. Patrick Hughes who is a relatively new kid on the block doesn't get everything as silky smooth as you might want. Apart from maybe three or four times where the action was a bit too erratic to properly see what was going on, the cinematography is definitely satisfactory and I never real yearned for the movie to be the R cut either. The past two Expendables movies were just littered with CGI blood which looked awful. Obviously the best case scenario would be to use some real squibs, but I honestly preferred this to the fake CGI option.
In terms of the characters, there are some disappointments as well as some successes.
So how are these youngsters? Two of them are professional fighters like Victor Ortiz and Ronda Rousey while the other two are regular actors. Glen Powell and Kellan Lutz are just OK which is better than what I'm used to when it comes to Lutz. Ortiz and Rousey are a little rough in certain instances but Rousey is the one who comes out the best because of a scene she gets to have a heart to heart to with Sly. Waaay too much time is dedicated to introducing these characters but I did enjoy the banter between the old guard and these youngsters.
Other criticism that I can think of would be that there is some pretty atrocious CGI in this film which looks like it belongs to the nineties. Additionally, there are a lot of faceless enemies that are doing nothing more than getting filled with bullets and there isn't enough screen time for Arnold Schwarzenegger, but like there ever would be in an ensemble movie. Jet Li is also really underused and he never even gets the chance to display any of his martial arts skills.
From all the negativity surrounding this film, I was expecting a truly horrible movie. But that's not what I got in The Expendables 3. I got a movie that tried something different in the sense that it turns up the serious meter. Remember the scene from the first Expendables with Mickey Rourke talking all serious? Yeah, there a lot more of that this time around and I welcome it. The action which is the most important thing is well done, relatively well captured and it's fun, pure and simple. Some jokes fall flat but most succeed. Plus I got to see my favourite action stars minus spoilsport Bruce Willis all in one movie. What more do people want?
Rating
7/10
Jace Lightner
For me, Antonio Banderas and Mel Gibson stole the show!Nahus
Antonio Banderas Forever.Showing items 1 – 15 of 20