The Incomprehensibles

Rating: 4/10 (27 September 2013)

The subtitling of a Somali pirate's English in the opening scenes of The Expendables is understandable, it's just a pity that they didn't keep the subtitles going for the other 100 minutes, because a substantial portion of the grunting and growling that passes for dialogue is unintelligible. This would be a problem if anything that was being said was important or required for understanding of the plot, but it isn't, because the plot is a straight line from A to B, entirely one dimensional, so you can fill in the gaps yourself, if you even notice them. On the subject of sound, it is even more uneven than your standard Hollywood blockbuster, but you are not missing much by dialling things down to save your eardrums during the action sequences. There's an amiable buddy-buddy bonhomie running through the script that is enjoyable, and the action well done, and includes the best water plane escape scene since Raiders of the Lost Ark, but overall The Expendables is clichéd and predictable. That's all very well, regrettable, but not objectionable, and it seems clear that this was the film's low-set aspiration anyway, however when you are literally falling asleep during the 'climactic' assault on the evil general's headquarters, I think you can safely say that the film's value as mindless entertainment, it's only real selling point, is limited.