Explosive action with a big name cast

Rating: 7/10 (10 December 2012)

As the film opens we see a group of Somali pirates preparing to execute their hostages; suddenly their leader is lit up with red laser sights and a bag lands on the deck it is the ransom money; but now he wants more; inevitable that leads to the death of the pirates and more importantly serves to introduce our heroes; a group of mercenaries led by Sylvester Stallone. The mission is a success but one of his men, Dolph Lundgren, gets carried away and has to be let go from the group. Soon after Stallone is approached by Bruce Willis; he has a job for the team; he wants them to go to a small South American island nation and depose the brutal general who is oppressing the population. Stallone goes on a reconnaissance mission with Jason Statham. The make contact with a local who just happens to be the general's daughter; not long afterwards all hell breaks loose and the two of them are lucky to get out alive. The do learn one very important fact; the general is just a pawn of a former CIA operative played by Eric Roberts. Initially they think the job is impossible and plan to turn it down but Stallone decides he can't leave the girl behind to he and the team fly south once again and this time they mean business!
If you want almost non-stop action with gunfire, knife fights and huge explosions then this might be the film for you. It features some of the best known action stars from the '80s to the present day. Given the fact that Stallone isn't a young man any more I thought this might be a bit tongue in cheek but in fact it there are very few Jokey parts and Stallone still has what it takes to lead an action movie. The story isn't original; there were clear nods to 'The Dogs of War'; most notably their 'bird photographer' cover during their recon. The action is fairly relentless, especially towards the end but unfortunately it is a bit confused because everything is so dark. Over all I'd say this is worth watching but I couldn't help thinking all the main stars have been in better action films than this.