Expend4bles Movie Release date: Friday, Sept. 22
Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Megan Fox, Dolph Lundgren, Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais, Andy Garcia
Director: Scott Waugh
Screenwriters: Kurt Wimmer, Tad Daggerhart, Max Adams
Rated R, 1 hour 43 minutes
Megan Fox, Andy Garcia, Tony Jaa, and Iko Uwais are among the newcomers who join the cast of the fourth action film in the series.
When it comes to the tardy fourth entry in Sylvester Stallone’s action franchise, the title that first served as irony has now proven all too apt. Expend4bles, which premieres nine years after the poorly received first installment, is the series low point. It started out as an amusingly nostalgic homage to old-school action movies and the square-jawed strong men who featured in them. After this and Meg 2: The Trench, this version is basically a Jason Statham vehicle of poor quality.
If you can believe Wikipedia, Pierce Brosnan, Jack Nicholson, and Clint Eastwood were all considered for this fourth installment of the Expendables series. Considering the outcomes, that appears to be nothing more than Santa Claus’ wish list. The only remaining original cast members besides Stallone and Statham are Randy Couture, who has been the target of far too many jokes about cauliflower ears, and Dolph Lundgren, who is sporting the kind of hairstyle that any respectable scarecrow would never wear.
The newcomers include Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, who is vainly attempting to muster some sort of enthusiasm; Jacob Scipio, who is playing the son of Antonio Banderas’ character from the previous installment and is doing an unfunny Antonio Banderas impression; Levy Tran, who is sassy and has numerous tattoos; Andy Garcia, who is probably thinking back to his time working with Francis Ford Coppola, Brian De Palma, and Steven So However, bulletproof vests don’t have exposed midriffs. She plays Statham’s girlfriend, thus it only makes sense that their foreplay involves a knockdown, drag-out brawl.
Tony Jaa and Iko Uwais are also part of the cast, which would be legitimately intriguing if either action star—known for their roles in Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior and The Raid movies, respectively—had been given the chance to demonstrate their skills. Instead, these two tremendously dynamic martial artists are reduced to brief, uninteresting fight scenes that are so awkwardly shot and choppy-edited that they might just as easily be starring Carrot Top and Yakov Smirnoff.
The plot, if there is one, is around preventing a bad terrorist named Uwais from obtaining some detonators for nuclear bombs, or McGuffins. A CIA agent (Garcia), who screams instructions while sporting the kind of pricey, expertly made outfits that virtually scream, recruits the crew.
Speaking of betrayal, Expend4bles (my computer’s spell check is about to blow up) deceives its audience with a fake-out that occurs early on and other story twists that are so glaringly obvious that only a poor screenwriter could have come up with them. or, as the case may be, three subpar screenwriters.
The chemistry between Stallone and Statham remains strong, making it unfortunate that the former barely appears in the film. Stallone has also stated that this will be the final installment in the franchise, so that’s at least a plus. But then again, how many times has he stated it in reference to Rambo and Rocky?