Great action scenes, not much else

Rating: 6/10 (29 November 2010)

Sly Stallone and his merry band of mercenaries (including Jet Li and Jason Statham) take on an assignment involving an island run by a dictatorial general and a CIA renegade (Eric Roberts). For various reasons, Stallone decides not to pursue the assignment after visiting the island, but circumstances (like his attempted assassination) find him and his hale fellows returning to the island to turn an army of bad guys into yesterday's guacamole. We are able to buy a visibly aged Stallone in the lead the same way we went along with old John Wayne and old Clint Eastwood. Statham actually seems to have the lion's share of screen time, and that's fine as the man is definitely in his prime. Li gets to show his stuff as well, and serves as the movie's comic relief. Dolph Lundgren and the others are essentially doing cameos, and that's just fine with me as too many cooks most assuredly can spoil the broth. The plot is a bit creaky and drags between the action scenes, but those action scenes are marvelous and right out of the golden age of action flicks, namely the 1980s. The only thing bothering me was watching Stallone on various talk shows promoting the film and claiming he had a very modest budget to work with. The actual budget: $80,000,000. That ain't exactly chicken soup.