An Example of Why Action Movies Can Suck

Rating: 6/10 (12 January 2018)

To be terribly honest, Expendables isn't all bad; it's technically accomplished. But there is a reason why the best action movies have simple story lines, because you aren't able to balance between a believable and reasonable motivations as justification for the visceral action sequences.
Something will have to give; and that can break the film. The Expendables is such an example. I think Stallone is an accomplish director but as a screenwriter, he's just not that very good.
The first problem is the damsel in distress. To wage a war against an island nation to save a girl is simply preposterous; no man in their right mind will commit to such a unworthy endeavor. Barney Ross wants to be a white knight, but instead, this film he just comes across as a muscular beta male simp.
Dolph Lundgran's character is absolutely unnecessary and his quarrel with Barney Ross is ludicrous. Jet Li's character is also quite unnecessary and even his action sequences were boring and unimaginative. David Zayas, Eric Roberts and Steve Austin was wasted in this film, as their roles were 1 dimensional and lacked any credibility.
The hand to hand combat was simply tame, slow and weak. it simply showed these guys were too old to do this.
What is good about the film is are the explosions, flight scene, chase scene and the gun fights, which I thought were very well shot and executed. And the script had the occasional great moments, with the banter between Barney Ross and Lee Christmas being the most interesting.
Sigh.