EXPENDABLES 3 REVIEW
IMDB Synopsis
Barney and his team, known as "The Expendables", come into conflict with ruthless arms dealer Conrad Stonebanks, the Expendables' co-founder, who is determined to destroy the team
The Plot, the Good
- The story is pretty straight forward. When Barney (Stallone) discovers that former Expendables co-founder turned arms dealer Conrad Stonebanks (Gibson) is still alive he makes it his mission to stop him at all costs.
-The film also knows exactly what it is, and exactly what its audience wants to see. Thankfully there are no forced plot twists or turns.
-You'll have a lot of fun when the actions ramps up to its highest points.
The Plot, the Bad
-A big part of the marketing teased a new versus old clash in throughout the movie. Unfortunately this came out really half assed. The only clash between the new and old members are some corny jokes about computers.
-At a few points the movie tries to make you feel for the Expendables members by getting to their pasts. But it always comes out cheesy and fake. Also its hard to feel for a character talking about the horrors of war when a few minutes later they are smiling as they kill dozens of canon fodder enemies.
-There is an approximately 35 minute gap of time of no action when Barney is looking for new Expendables, and it is boring as hell.
-I never once thought that anyone was in any real danger. None of the enemy mercenaries felt like they put up much of a fight.
Cast, The Good
-You can tell that every actor is having a blast shooting this movie, that sense of fun kept the movie from getting too serious.
-Got to hand it to all the actors over fifty, they still look like they could kick my ass any day.
- Antonio Banderas plays a mercenary that everyone thinks is past his prime, and it is hilarious. His talkative and energetic character is a welcome break from the rest of the macho men Expendables team.
-Even though all of the former/current fighters Randy Couture, Victor Ortiz, Ronda Rousey are not the best actors (don't hurt me), the movie keeps their dialogue to a minimum and focus's on their fighting skills instead.
-Harrison Ford, and Mel Gibson also give in solid performances in their roles, but both are in the film for way too little time. Gibson could have done way more with his villain if they just let him go full on crazy.
Cast, the Bad
-With the exception of Antonio Banderas every Expendables character feels like the same grizzled badass.
-On top of that the cast is way too overstuffed, they could have easily shaved off three or four members and told the same story.
-Wesly Snipe's character gets a cool introduction, but fails to live up to the hype. He's just another uninterseting grizzled badass.
-Kelsey Grammer, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Jet Li are all glorified cameos, In Fact I think Jet Li only has two lines in the movie.
The Action scenes
- The film feels just as violent as any other Expendables film even with its PG-13 rating, and like the other Expendables films the action is pretty top notch. Be prepared for some ridiculously impossible scenes that could never happen in real life. And though the Expendables mow down every living thing in there path without the slightest difficulty, the pure fun of it makes you forgive the movie.
Final Thoughts
-I don't think this or any of the other two Expendable movies have ever hit their mark. To me the Expendables franchise should have been what it advertises, all of the old hollywood action stars coming together for one epic movie. Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Li, Statham, and Bruce Willis are the ones who should have been the Expendables.
Rating
This movie has some very eye pleasing action scenes, but in terms of plot and characters (with a few exceptions) it is weak. I'm not the kind of person for number ratings because some people like movies for different reasons. I'd call this movie a Turn Your Brain Cells Off, because that's the only way you can really enjoy it.
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