I freely admit to having liked the first Expendables movie. The second movie wasn't as good, but they both had mindless violence and ludicrous villains with outrageously off the wall stories that combined to be the epitome of what action movies were like during the heyday of great bad movies in the 80s and 90s. I had lower expectations for this movie based solely on the buzz that surrounded it.
This movie was made PG-13 to try and get a larger theater audience, and that means that the main reason to watch the movie - simulated violence and excessive gun play - all get neutered. Now, the animated blood from some of the Statham knife scenes was pretty terrible in the first couple movies, but at lest they tried. In this movie, they really don't do that, even though the introduce Wesley Snipes as another blade-wielder who gets in a bit of a rivalry with Jason.
Let's talk about the sheer number of people in this movie - it is unbelievable. I'm shocked that I recognize most of them, but there are a few I have no idea where they are from. I wasn't surprised to see Harrison Ford in the movie, as I remember when Bruce Willis said he wouldn't do the movie unless he got more money. $3m for 4 days work seems like a pretty good deal to me, but Bruce appears to have disagreed. He might have been better off saying he didn't want to do the movie as he knew it was going to suck and he didn't want to be associated with it.
One has to wonder why more of these big names didn't decide to not be in this movie because it was pretty clearly going to be a waste of time for the viewers. It is important to note that I speak of artistry more than overall success, as the movie cost $90m to make and has already pulled down somewhere over $200m.
The movie had some of the same good points as the previous movies - the cinematography was very good, the effects were pretty good, the explosions were over the top, and the badassery was all over the place. There were a few too many callbacks to things outside of this movie; please give Arnold lines that do not have "choppa" in them.
I won't go into the story, but it is ridiculous and results in some of the most confusing battles you can imagine. Trying to keep track of who is who and where they are and what they are doing is almost pointless. There are just so many damn people and they are all trying to get heroic poses and be awesome and, well, it just doesn't work.
Direction was lousy
Acting was not great
Action was good, but muddled
Cinematography was great
Effects were good
Bottom Line: An expensive movie that isn't worth the money or the talent put into it.
1.25/5