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The Expendables Review

The Expendables had a lot to live up to. 1980s action movie fans have been waiting for a team-up like this for nearly three decades, but at the same time the world has changed enough so that a standard 80s action flick wouldn't work any longer. It also had the stigma of an ensemble cast, which seldom works out well. Fortunately, in true 80s style, The Expendables ignored all logic and did what it knows best.

And if there's anything the people working on The Expendables knows, it's how to make an action movie. We have explosions, gun fights, knife fights, fist fights, airplane stunts, and a pretty good car chase. The good guys are impervious to damage, the bad guys are suitably evil (including an excellent goon portrayed by Steve Austin), and the vehicles are bulletproof.

One of the most impressive accomplishments here is that Stallone managed to get this many big names into the movie without things feeling forced. The only true throwaway scene - the one featuring the cameos by Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger - was short, simple, and played well enough that you don't mind the fact that it doesn't need to be there. Mickey Rourke had only a slightly bigger role than Willis and Schwarzenegger, but provided some of the strongest character moments in the movie. Randy Couture and Terry Crews were the least-used members of the team, but got enough screen time that they were actually valid characters and provided some of the best individual fight scenes in the final act. Dolph Lundgren was the resident psychopath to great effect, while Jet Li provided the martial arts when needed. The team leads - Stallone and Jason Statham - worked perfectly together.

As fun as it was, the critical comments are not invalid. The characters are indeed pretty thin: I can't remember what the character names were for those played by Stallone, Lundgren, Schwarzenegger, or Austin, and I only remember the character names for Li (Yang), Willis (Mr. Church), and Statham (Christmas) by luck. They were still "Li," "Willis," and "Statham" while I was watching the movie. But in the end, I didn't care. I went to see Inception for a fantastically executed, thought-provoking movie. I went to see The Expendables to see an homage to the most awesome period of filmmaking, and it delivered exactly as promised.

Collector/Modeler Interest:
Stallone has a flat black '55 Ford pickup (a throwback to his '50 Merc in Cobra) that can be replicated using Monogram's F-100 custom kit.


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