Perfect brainless summer action flick

Rating: 8/10 (9 December 2013)

Before writing this review, first of all I will tell that this by no means is a great movie. It's not a dramatic masterpiece of storytelling, nor it aspires to be one. It's a movie that is build on a few simple rules. Guns go bang, explosives go boom, and the hero's are all badasses.
Having said that, it's the ultimate brainless summer flick we can all remember where extremely popular in the 80's and early 90's, and both director and actors have no delusions of it being anything else than that. It all harps back to simpler days where baddies couldn't hit a barn and the heroes are all crack-shot shooters.
The plot starts with the group having to retrieve an item before it falls into the wrong hands, the mission goes awry and the newest member of the group perishes as a result. And the quest for revenge is what drives the film through a plethora of exciting action scenes and firefights which all culminates in the obligatory Hero Vs. Big Bad fistfight to the death.
The main villain (Played by 80's/90's action icon van Damme) is aptly named ''Vilain'' and the acting is equally as corny as you might expect. And in this movie, that's a good thing. The bad guy is assisted by a Russian comrade with an accent that could only be described as ridiculous, and both men have a nigh infinite among of units at their disposal, ready to die for their masters.
The heroes are what they are, they are all badasses in their own rights and most of the characters are perfect caricatures of 80's heroes. You got the tough boss, you got the knife expert, the explosives expert and so on. All of the actors play their role to a t, and they all fit in some way or shape. A few cameos from known (badass) actors (Norris, Arnold, Willis) are done perfectly.
The film is rife with silly errors like infinite ammunition, weird continuity errors and the like... But in a film like this, the errors feel right.
This film won't win an Oscar, and it won't bring you to tears with it's dramatic delivery. What it does give you is a good brainless action flick that gives you a lot of bang for your buck, and leaves you with a content smile on your face at the end.
In the end, lots of bad guys get killed and the heroes stand tall over evil. And that's all you want out of this movie.
As such, looking at it what it is... It's the ultimate summer action flick. 8/10