Sly has done it again

Rating: 10/10 (22 November 2010)

Movie brilliance is measured by the amount of fun you have when you see it. Film brilliance is determined through cinematography, story, direction, acting, and message. Sylvester Stallone has managed to grasp, in his direction, the fun feel of his 80's & 90's cheese ball movies (Cobra, Over The Top, Rocky 3, Demolition Man, Judge Dredd) and mixed them in with over the top acting and a fairly decent storyline. Stallone has shown to be a matured director is his day, beginning from "Rocky Balboa" and "Rambo" which were very underrated films in my humble opinion, he brings us to "The Expendables." Expendables glorifies the lives of mercenaries for hire and shows us how you can lose your mind in blood-lust. Although it is full of gritty action scenes, decapitations, limbs lost, and brilliant martial arts the story is very desirable. Stallone and his cronies are hired to go into a hot military zone and silence an American defector who is selling weapons to the enemy. Along the course of the mission, Stallone's character falls for a woman and his decisions become based on her safety opposed to that of his team. The movie is very brilliantly shot against darkness and all of the fight scenes are story driven. The ending offers more than a few surprises and the supporting cast is brilliant. Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Randy Couture, Mickey Rourke, Steve Austin, Eric Roberts, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Bruce Wills are all amazing in their respective parts, with Statham's support as the most front-loaded towards Stallone's story. If you are going to catch and action film, this is the one you do not want to miss.