Not much more than a typical everyday action flick

Rating: 6/10 (17 October 2015)

Sylvester Stallone, star of the action series Rambo that made it's debut in 1982, takes on the lead of Barney Ross, a CIA operative who leads a band of mercenaries including martial arts prodigy Yin Yang (Jet Li), knife-throwing expert Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), machine gun specialist Hale Caeser (Terry Crews), demolitionist Toll Road (Randy Couture), and sniper Gunner Jensen (Dolph Lungren) on a mission to hunt down a ruthless CIA officer James Munroe (Eric Roberts) who is holds named South American women Sandra (Giselle Etie) hostage with the help of Mr. Church (Bruce Willis). Arnold Schwartsnegger also makes an appearance as an old friend of Barney Ross. Also directed by Sylvestor Stallone, this ensemble cast action film pays homages to classic 1980s action movies such Rambo, Die Hard, Commando, and Predator with its high octane action sequences and crisp special effects.
This all-star action flick has quite the energy, but not as a fun of it should be. There is very plot development and nearly all the characters feel flat and one-dimensional. In fact, there really isn't a single character that stands out from others. Arnold Schwartznegger who's often taken lead roles of action films is blatantly underused, quite disappointing for many action fans. The cast performances aren't terrible, but nothing memorable and the cheesy dialogue certainly doesn't help. However, I found the performances a little more forgiving since these are veteran action stars we are talking about. On the bright side, the film manages to bring out the fun with it's high-kinetic action sequences, soaking the audience with intense 80s-style gun shootouts, blood and guts flying, and just enough explosions to make Michael Bay blush. The only thing that disappoints me about the action scenes is the use of CGI blood which I believe could use some improvement.
The Expendables has its entertaining, but perhaps nothing original. This certainly isn't one of the best of Sylvestor Stallone's works, but I think this is be pleasing for some, but definitely not all action fans. If this film put more effort into its plot development and character construction, this would have been much more entertaining film.