HK Neo Reviews: The Expendables

Rating: 8/10 (29 August 2010)

A movie made for all action fans...
Stallone have created something for all action fans to cheer about. Gone are the days of Arnold, Stallone, Van Damme, Seagal, Willis, Norris, when muscles are a part of action cinema. In replacement we have Oscar worthy actors playing action heroes in Brody (Predator), Robert Downey Jr (Iron Man), Tobey MaGuire (Spiderman), and Christian Bale (Dark Knight). It seems that apart from aging martial artist superstars Jet Li, Jackie Chan and to a lesser extent Jason Stratham, special effects and quality acting have replaced brute focus and physical power. So Expendables is really a throwback to the 80s raw action cinema. Those looking for a story, please look elsewhere. Those looking for quality acting, please get real. Those who are tired of revisiting formulaic clichés, please depart. The Expendables is a movie made for real action fans and really you must be crazy not to enjoy it.
Few movies are bullet proof, in other words review-proof. This is one of them. Stallone have certainly aged since his Rocky and Rambo reboot a few years ago, but that is all in the looks. There is no question that Stallone still have the heart, passion and the will to continue making smashing action till it is totally over. Rising star, Stratham, the youngest of the entire lot, ass kicks a whole group of street basketball players. Li, the ever graceful martial artist out-kick the huge Lundgren in the coolest possible fashion, before losing to brute force. Mickey Rourke makes a fitting emotional display as a tattoo artist. Of course, as seen in the trailer, Arnold is back. Short, but effective cameo which only Arnold and no one else can pull off, so easily yet so fun. Mr. Bruce Willis who recently rebooted his Die Hard days, stray away from action, but his chat with Stallone is nonetheless, a fine cinematic moment. If all these fail to keep your testosterone in sky limit, then throw in Terry Crews and Steve Austin in the mix. Now be excited and enjoy the ride.
All in all, The Expendables is a heck of a movie, but in best possible way. Vomit at the story and we get a perfectly brutal and straight forward action extravagant. Assembling a cast of veterans is easy, but for them to kick ass on screen and still be fun, Stallone have achieved the impossible. Sure there are flaws here and there, such as the limited use of Jet Li's fluent abilities and the non-fighting role given to Rourke. However, for action fans, this has been too long coming and finally the wait is over. Rejoice, go to the cinema and celebrate the fun like the good old days. As for Van Damme and Seagal, shame on you for passing this on and as for Stallone, it really aren't over till it is over – so bring on a sequel already...(Neo 2010)
I rate it 8/10

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