An admirable concept executed quite disappointingly.

Rating: 4/10 (14 July 2018)

Before the series became a washed-out, PG-13 parody of itself, it was actually a legitimate attempt to revive both the bullet-slinging, one-lining, squib-spurting 80s action movies of yesteryear and the careers of the ageing actors who starred in them. But this somewhat narcissistic exploit actually missed the point of the pictures it was trying to recapture and, while its intentions may have been somewhat pure and only motivated monetarily by a majority fraction instead of a whole one, this means that it fails in its mission to take action flicks back to their 'glory days' despite the fact that much lead is slung and many Stallone one-liners are slurred, though the blood-packs are entirely replaced with their digital equivalents - and their non-convincing digital equivalents at that. 'The Expendables (2010)' ends up a rather dull slog through cliché after cliché, trope after trope and, perhaps less often than you'd like or even expect, shoot-out after shoot-out but avoids the fun that comes with even the 'worst' of the genre without having the courtesy to being self-aware about it. Ultimately, it isn't an enjoyable experience even though it is technically competent, conceptually admirable and, in essence, watchable. 4/10