Expend4bles

I sometimes wonder what will happen to the new generation of the youth of today and what might inspire them. Today in society a lot of young people are inspired by social media influencers, and it´s gone so far with these influencers that people actually live to be in the spotlight with them. This is why i am so happy that i have never been a part of this generation but i grew up as a teenager in the late 80´s. The best part about the 80´s apart from some really good studio albums from Queen, Mötley Crue, Metallica, Don Johnson ( yeah that´s right, he did make awsome music and if you disagree i will beat you up ) and many more artists and bands, the 80´s had so many great action films such as Rambo - First Blood Part II, The Terminator, The Road Warrior, Predator, Die Hard, Commando, RoboCop, Code Of Silence and so many more titles that helped our generation become as intelligent as we are today. You could say that the 80´s was the right time era for action movies because clearly film makers seemed inspired to use the VHS video violence that was making lots of money on VHS sales and rental stores. Of course some of these films made lots of money at the box office as well but it was on VHS where action films really found it´s real audience. I mentioned Rambo - First Blood Part II earlier with action legend Sylvester Stallone and he was really creative during the 80´s. Not only the Rocky sequels Rocky III and Rocky IV of course but several action films as well such as Over The Top, Lock Up, Tango & Cash, Rambo III and Cobra as well. Many years later in 2009 something magical happened when Sylvester Stallone decided to make a real throwback to action films of the 80´s with The Expendables. A cast filled with familiar names such as Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Terry Crews, Mickey Rourke, Eric Roberts, Dolph Lundgren and many more hit the screens worldwide in 2010 becoming a huge hit. It was clear that The Expendables was something action fans have been waiting for. Since then we had 2 really good sequels and for a while it seemed that we would not get any more. But in 2020 we got the news that a 4th film was confirmed and was going to be made. I was really happy about this announcement since i thought they may not make one more. So with a 4th film in cinemas worldwide, is Expend4bles one of the better sequels so far or is this not a worthy film to such an important franchise to carry on the legacy of the 80´s into the future?

The Expendables led by Barney Ross ( Sylvester Stallone ) is sent to Libya to prevent mercenary Suarto Rhamat ( Iko Uwais ) from stealing nuclear warheads from a mysterious terrorist named Ocelot ( Andy Garcia ).  While the team with Christmas ( Jason Statham ) taking the lead to guide the soldiers including new recruits. When Rahmat shoots down The Expendables plane with Barney still on board the place crashes and Christmas looses focus and let Rhamat get away. A burned body is found in the plane crash where they identify the body to be Barney. Grieving over their lost friend and long time leader they are sending in a new team to revenge the death of Barney and get the nuclear warheads. Christmas is not welcome to join the team for not following orders in their last mission, but he is not letting anything stop him from going and finish this once for all.

Unless you like any of the previous Expendables films you will most likely not have any fun with this film either. Since i am a big fan of The Expendables franchise i was really pumped up for this sequel since it has almost taken 10 years to get a 4th film. So how do i feel about Expend4bles in general? I would probably say that this is sort of mixed feelings for me since i feel they did one big mistake with this film. So let´s begin with the positive and that would definetely be that Jason Statham as the character Christmas is always as charming as we all remember him to be. His fighting scenes in this film are definetely some of the best and i can easily say that Statham is the real star of Expend4bles. Oh and i love him beating up a social media star while filming himself, that was hillarious. Dolph Lungdren as the character Gunner have a couple of fun lines along the way and his hair looks like a lost 5th member of the 2000´s Canadian rock group Nickelback ( even if they were formed in 1995, they didn´t become popular until 2001 ) , so that alone makes him worth checking out in this film. Even if Iko Uwais may not get to fight as much as i was hoping he would do, he does have a pretty cool fight scene against Jason Statham towards the end. Martial arts action actor Tony Jaa is fun as the character Decha with a war painting on his face looking like he came straight of the jungle of Predator. Even if i am usually not a big fan of actress Megan Fox, i think she did ok in this film as the character Gina. That doesn´t mean she´s acting any good, but i do feel that at least she made an attempt to act compared to some of her other films. Fun to see legendary actor Andy Garcia here as well, especially towards the end. Ok so i might as well get into the biggest problem i have with Expend4bles and that is the use of so much green screen. In several scenes they have thrown in so many green screens that it becomes very clear they did that to make it easier for themselves making this film. I rather see action scenes done old school style using real locations. If you can´t film an action scene the old school way then at least try and attempt to do it without using green screen and use real backgrounds instead. Does this damage the film in general? I would say yes because they could have fixed this during production of the film if they really wanted to please fans of this franchise. I still had a good time with Expend4bles simply because i love lots of action and violenced combined. Will we ever see a 5th Expendables film? I seriously doubt it since this 4th one is a massive box office bomb in ticket sales. I still feel that you should go watch the film anyway if you enjoy these types of films. Director Scott Waugh may not have done everything perfectly with Expend4bles but still deliver a fun popcorn moment. Expend4bles is a film for a specific audience and if you just want to see lots of bullets, explosions and fighting, this is the film for you. Special kicks? I would love to do that on 200 Russian soldiers, that´s when i really feel at home.

Rating: DDD