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-The Expendables- (Stallone, Jet Li, Statham AND Lundgren)

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Just saw it and it was very mediocre.

The characters - They weren't well developed.
The dialogue - Mostly meaningless.
The story - Nothing memorable.
The action - Nothing that hasn't already been done in an action movie. The main characters seemed pretty invincible to the opposing forces.

The bottom line is that the producer blew the budget on good actors when really he should have hired better writers.
 
Jet Li seemed really under utilized or maybe just used wrong, whole short thing was weird and out of place especially for an ass kicking bad ass. Mickey Rourke seemed like a throw in but damn that dude just exudes fucking cool I have to admit.
 
Expendable. said:
:lol I got a response and agreement, so not exactly true there. Despite how mad you may be that this movie wasn't what you wanted.
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Haven't seen it yet.

Nice of you to make assumptions.

What I see is, mostly glowing reviews here.

Unlike you though, I don't tear down movies that I haven't seen yet to the point of receiving Screen Name Re-Assignment Surgery.
 
zero margin said:
Jet Li seemed really under utilized or maybe just used wrong, whole short thing was weird and out of place especially for an ass kicking bad ass. Mickey Rourke seemed like a throw in but damn that dude just exudes fucking cool I have to admit.
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when you're surrounded by equally bad badasses, it's unsurprising.
 
zero margin said:
Jet Li seemed really under utilized or maybe just used wrong, whole short thing was weird and out of place especially for an ass kicking bad ass. Mickey Rourke seemed like a throw in but damn that dude just exudes fucking cool I have to admit.
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That's unfortunate. Li is easily my favorite out of the cast.
 
Calcaneus said:
That's unfortunate. Li is easily my favorite out of the cast.
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oh he had a couple moments but not a lot else memorable I can recall. Almost like the moments that could have been awesome were taken in another direction.
 
zero margin said:
Jet Li seemed really under utilized or maybe just used wrong, whole short thing was weird and out of place especially for an ass kicking bad ass.
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That's what happens when you name his character Ying Yang (seriously?), have him be deduced to cheap jokes, while only really using him in one action scene that feels wildly out of place, and have an extremely odd backstory in which he desperately needs more than his
$1 million share to send his nonexistent daughter to college.
The amount of bad decisions in this movie is staggering.
 
zero margin said:
Jet Li seemed really under utilized or maybe just used wrong, whole short thing was weird and out of place especially for an ass kicking bad ass. Mickey Rourke seemed like a throw in but damn that dude just exudes fucking cool I have to admit.
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I liked Jet Li's character, all the short jokes at least gave him some character and made you wanna root for him. Made him seem like even more of a badass when he's whooping huge dudes.

Terry Crews character was the one that was criminally underused IMO. He didn't really do shit until the climax. Crews is so awesome/funny and badass and he really only got that one standout scene near the end.
 
Sean said:
I liked Jet Li's character, all the short jokes at least gave him some character and made you wanna root for him. Made him seem like even more of a badass when he's whooping huge dudes.

Terry Crews character was the one that was criminally underused IMO. He didn't really do shit until the climax. Crews is so awesome/funny and badass and he really only got that one standout scene near the end.
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true...but Terry's climax was made of awesome and win, dipped in a butter cream sauce.

ryutaro's mama said:
That was one of my biggest fears with an ensemble as big as this one (not enough script/moments spread around) but I'll see how I feel about it.
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if you need a lot of script to enjoy your action movies, this isn't the film for you. as I said back on Monday, it has less "story" than Rambo and features more action than Rambo. it's an okay trade-off with me, as I really didn't need a lot of backstory or such for the characters. they're badasses, and we didn't need a plot to tell us that. that is really kind of the point of having less story in the first place.
 
Dreams-Visions said:
if you need a lot of script to enjoy your action movies, this isn't the film for you. as I said back on Monday, it has less "story" than Rambo and features more action than Rambo. it's an okay trade-off with me, as I really didn't need a lot of backstory or such for the characters. they're badasses, and we didn't need a plot to tell us that. that is really kind of the point of having less story in the first place.
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Well, that isn't what I meant.

I'm not expecting much script here (didn't with Rambo and I loved it). I was just commenting on the people that were mentioning things like Lungren, Crews and Li don't get a whole lot of face time on-screen.
 
ryutaro's mama said:
Well, that isn't what I meant.

I'm not expecting much script here (didn't with Rambo and I loved it). I was just commenting on the people that were mentioning things like Lungren, Crews and Li don't get a whole lot of face time on-screen.
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oooooh...well, they weren't main characters. Li did get a full action sequence of his own and his character was both entertaining and fleshed out. In fact, outside of the main 2 characters, he was the most fleshed out "hero" in the film. Dunno if that's any more reassuring.

Lungren was a little less...but it's appropriate. You'll see why.
 
Dreams-Visions said:
oooooh...well, they weren't main characters. Li did get a full action sequence of his own and his character was both entertaining and fleshed out. In fact, outside of the main 2 characters, he was the most fleshed out "hero" in the film. Dunno if that's any more reassuring.

Lungren was a little less...but it's appropriate. You'll see why.
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Yeah, like I said, I'll just have to see once I see it on Sunday.

I'm sure the movie will have flaws (most films do)--but we'll see if they drag it down for me.

Case in point, in Zombieland, I hated the fact that
the two really smart girls went to an amusement park, turned on all the lights and sound, completely clueless that teh zombies might arrive
but that one gripe wasn't enough to ruin my overall enjoyment of the movie.
 
Just saw it and....I don't think I liked it. Granted, I kept falling asleep during every non-action scene. I won't say it sucked yet until I re-watch it completely awake but (considering I wasn't all that impressed by most of what I did see) I doubt I'll ever get around to it.
 
ryutaro's mama said:
Was your crowd really into it?
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yes everyone was cheering at the right parts. IF you expected a character piece you came to the wrong movie.


Its like going into Pirahna 3d and expecting the godfather. Fuck Daniel Plainview and his girlish trolling.
 
Dreams-Visions said:
speaking of which: yea, entertained crowd will affect your enjoyment.
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I really hope my crowd is into it.

Last movie were my crowd was hyped was, Transformers 2.

Movie was horrible, but I got dragged to a midnight showing and all fanboys were in the house. They roared when Optimus Prime spoke at the start and were raucous throughout the entire film.

Definitely made the film infinitely better even though I'll never watch it again.
 
Kabuki Waq said:
yes everyone was cheering at the right parts. IF you expected a character piece you came to the wrong movie.


Its like going into Pirahna 3d and expecting the godfather. Fuck Daniel Plainview and his girlish trolling.
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That's not my problem at with it. I would like an action movie (even a dumb one) to make me care about the characters even in the slightest. That's why Die Hard and First Blood are fucking amazing movies. You are right with McClane and Rambo the entire film because there are stakes and a solid backstory.

The Expendables has none of that, and the few times it tries, it falls on its face. When the action amps up you're only reacting to the explosions and not whether the characters will die. It makes for a forgettable waste of time.
 
Buckethead said:
Oh and I just remembered..... Charlie Murphy needs to be in The Expendables II.

"That roidy brotha got a big ass vein stickin out of his neck"
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Damn, I never thought i'd see the day when Charlie Murphy would be mistaken for Eddie Murphy.

Movie was all sorts of awesome. The shaky cam scenes were pretty sucky but otherwise the movie was a perfect throwback.
Watching Stallone run in the movie was so painful to see. He looked like he would keel over at any second.
 
Expendable. said:
That's not my problem at with it. I would like an action movie (even a dumb one) to make me care about the characters even in the slightest. That's why Die Hard and First Blood are fucking amazing movies. You are right with McClane and Rambo the entire film because there are stakes and a solid backstory.

The Expendables has none of that, and the few times it tries, it falls on its face. When the action amps up you're only reacting to the explosions and not whether the characters will die. It makes for a forgettable waste of time.
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Let's look at Commando and Predator.

I didn't give a shit about John Matrix or Dutch Schaffer and yet I loved both of those films. I never felt like either of those characters would fail in their films.

John Rambo and John McClane are competely different characters, in they have grit and are human. Die-Hard and First Blood aren't "dumb" movies either.

Matrix and Dutch were anything but human. They were comic book characters.
 
ryutaro's mama said:
Let's look at Commando and Predator.

I didn't give a shit about John Matrix or Dutch Schaffer and yet I loved both of those films. I never felt like either of those characters would fail in their films.

John Rambo and John McClane are competely different characters, in they have grit and are human. Die-Hard and First Blood aren't "dumb" movies either.

Matrix and Dutch were anything but human. They were comic book characters.
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exactly. I dont think I gave a shit about anybody in Commando yet the movie was awesome.
 
Just got back from seeing it. Was the story worthless? Yep. Was the acting awful? Absolutely. Did I care? Not at all. If you're looking for those things I have no idea why you'd bother with this movie. If you're looking to watch a bunch of bad-asses shoot, slice, pummel and blow up bad guys in a number of satisfying ways all while spouting one-liners, then look no further. There was more shaky cam than a would have liked, especially during the hand-to-hand fighting scenes, but not enough to ruin the movie. The theater I saw this in was LOUD, and it made the movie even better. Every time someone fired a gun (which was...often) I could feel it in my chest. Random stuff:

-Steve Austin and Gary Daniels were absolutely perfect as henchmen.
HOLY SHIT at Daniel's death. Him getting double teamed was maybe my favorite part of the movie.
-CGI was pretty crappy most of the time, but I was enjoying myself too much to care.
-
Also HOLY SHIT (there were a lot these moments) at Stallone emptying each successive handgun clip and then reloading at lighting speed!
-
The fight between Couture and Austin was over way too quick, though him getting punched in the face, WHILE ON FUCKING FIRE was awesome!
-
I actually thought Gunner was dead, so that fact that that not only was he not dead, but that the rest of team readily welcomed back into the crew was ridiculously awesome to me. I now hope there is a sequel just so I can see Lundgren as a fully functional member of the team.
 
In Commando, just the stakes of his daughter being kidnapped make it worth it. Stallone's character is so void of anything. Who gives a shit about him
trying to save the girl in Vilena? Who gives a shit about ANYTHING Roberts and his crew are doing? We are led to care because of some shady government harassing citizens in one scene?
None of it is explained or given any weight whatsoever.
 
Without quoting you (don't wanna risk seeing your spoiler) Jenny being kidnapped was a plot device that was in itself comical. She was portrayed as smarter than her captors anyway.

Were you honestly worried that an 11 year old daughter of Matrix would die?

Really?

C'MON!!!!
 
Expendable. said:
In Commando, just the stakes of his daughter being kidnapped make it worth it. Stallone's character is so void of anything. Who gives a shit about him
trying to save the girl in Vilena? Who gives a shit about ANYTHING Roberts and his crew are doing? We are led to care because of some shady government harassing citizens in one scene?
None of it is explained or given any weight whatsoever.
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The kidnapping of his daughter would have had some weight if you ever thought she was in danger :lol Really really?

In this movie they kidnapped a hot chick plus even stallone did not really know why he cared for the girl so much until the Rourke speech. That was good enough for me.
 
Kabuki Waq said:
The kidnapping of his daughter would have had some weight if you ever thought she was in danger :lol Really really?

In this movie they kidnapped a hot chick plus even stallone did not really know why he cared for the girl so much until the Rourke speech. That was good enough for me.
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Yep, cause at the of the day, after all that killing. You lose parts of yourself. Plus he didn't want to be like Gunner, and after that speech, it just gave him more reason to do it.
 
I felt so relieved after I watched it. I just can't explain why, but its like the same feeling you get after you confess a secret that you've hidden for so long. I feel so great now. Fantastic film that's even better with friends. Really hoping there's a sequel. I didn't stick around till after the credits so I don't know if there was anything that would hint at one.
 
I had been looking forward to this movie almost a year ago when GAF first mentioned it, but this was a bad film. All I wanted was a solid action flick with cheesy one-liners, and I feel this didn't even deliver that. The pacing was terrible. The movie was forgettable, and the action scenes were filmed poorly and few and far between. A lot of the talent and awesome potential of this movie was just wasted.

The best character in the movie was
the shotgun
. :-/ There were some parts I liked, like the brofist at the end, but the bad definitely outweighed the good. Also, I couldn't see Angel Batista (who is a teddy bear) as this ruthless dictator, and his Spanish sounds like he's from LA.

There wasn't even a good helicopter scene in the movie. Every good action film has a helicopter scene. It's a staple. This one came close to having a cool helicopter scene, but then came up short, sort of like the whole movie. I went into this movie wanting to punch someone in the face because I was amped up with testosterone overload. I left wanting to punch Sylvester Stallone in his facelift of a face. Give me my $12 back.
 
Felt like I was watching a direct to DVD movie. It was nice to see all my old action heroes in one big movie, but man was this thing forgettable. Such a shame really.

Also, Stallone is some kind of wizard. I hope I look that good when I reach that age.
 
Lebron said:
Felt like I was watching a direct to DVD movie. It was nice to see all my old action heroes in one big movie, but man was this thing forgettable. Such a shame really.

Also, Stallone is some kind of wizard. I hope I look that good when I reach that age.
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HGH
 
OMG. So awesome. I got what I wanted, which was minimal plot, bad one liners, and lots of violence and explosions. I gotta say, the experience of this film wouldn't be the same if it werent for the crowd. They were so into it.

And the action nerd match ups in this:
Dolph Lundgren vs. Jet Li
Steve Austin vs. Stallone
Randy Coutere vs. Steve Austin
Jet Li and Jason Statham vs. Gary Daniels
It is impossible to give all the people in this equal time, so many had to be shortchanged. But I loved that they gave nearly everyone a scene to show off in.

And dat gun...dat gun...
 
It did everything I expected from it, thus it was great. It was mainly about the action, which was superb. Jason Statham is such a fucking bad ass, and him and Li kicking ass in the end was awesome, especially how they finished off that one guy. :D

This was the first movie in a long while that I went to that was packed. Everyone got into the violence, which was great. Only at times the shaky cam and low-light really obscured what you saw at times. Every time a throwing knife was used all you heard was "OOoooowww". Everyone got into it, especially the shotgun scene. The effects though, could certainly be better. Especially that shitty fire effect, which was horrible just like the one used in Crank 2.

I hope that they make another one of these. Keep most of the main cast, add in Seagal, Chuck Norris, and JCVD (who should die in it), and you got a winner.

Great movie. A great action-hero flick indeed. Tomorrow I'm going to practice more with my throwing knives.
 
Just got home. It was almost too much of what I thought it would be. Great job of making it look and feel like it's from the 80s.

I think it was really well shot and acted but edited to shit. That tattoo just magically appeared in 10 seconds of conversation, and somehow an entire army ends up after them during the first visit to the island. What the hell?

Not really a complaint of course, because it was all done to get us to the action as quickly as possible. And the action was amazing... no holds barred. If you can imagine a bad guy dying in a gruesome way, they probably found a way to work it into the movie.
 
Mission said:
Just got home. It was almost too much of what I thought it would be. Great job of making it look and feel like it's from the 80s.

I think it was really well shot and acted but edited to shit. That tattoo just magically appeared in 10 seconds of conversation, and somehow an entire army ends up after them during the first visit to the island. What the hell?

Not really a complaint of course, because it was all done to get us to the action as quickly as possible. And the action was amazing... no holds barred. If you can imagine a bad guy dying in a gruesome way, they probably found a way to work it into the movie.
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How about statham's knife kills and Terry crews gunplay? that shit was just amazing. Makes me feel like just digging through a list of action movies I know I should watch but haven't gotten around to.
 
Mission said:
Just got home. It was almost too much of what I thought it would be. Great job of making it look and feel like it's from the 80s.

I think it was really well shot and acted but edited to shit. That tattoo just magically appeared in 10 seconds of conversation, and somehow an entire army ends up after them during the first visit to the island. What the hell?

Not really a complaint of course, because it was all done to get us to the action as quickly as possible. And the action was amazing... no holds barred. If you can imagine a bad guy dying in a gruesome way, they probably found a way to work it into the movie.
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That part was so terrible. :lol I was dumbfounded how the editors thought that could pass.
 
I was really excited about this movie when I heard about it... the previews made it look awful (IMO) and I was going to wait for a video release.

A friend wanted to see it so we went as a group. I LOVED IT!

Great popcorn flick to just sit back and watch the insane stuff that goes on.

Everyone gets a share of screen time even though some less than others... I didn't think they made anyone look bad though.

I think some of you here are looking way to deep into something that is meant to be a brainless adventure. Story? Character backgrounds? Really? You expected all that out of a movie with just about every action movie badass in it?
 
outsidah said:
I was really excited about this movie when I heard about it... the previews made it look awful (IMO) and I was going to wait for a video release.

A friend wanted to see it so we went as a group. I LOVED IT!

Great popcorn flick to just sit back and watch the insane stuff that goes on.

Everyone gets a share of screen time even though some less than others... I didn't think they made anyone look bad though.

I think some of you here are looking way to deep into something that is meant to be a brainless adventure. Story? Character backgrounds? Really? You expected all that out of a movie with just about every action movie badass in it?
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I was dissapointed in jet li's parts though. He didn't seem to kick anyone's ass without help. WTF is up with that? but yes for sure it was great.

The cast is kind of a sad reflection of what is going on with action movies. They're just not as big as they used to be and the only ones who can do it right are stars from like 15 years ago.
 
I'm not going to lie, The Expendables was a dreadful film.

- The story was horrendous. They had the basic skeleton in place for a decent one, but it wasn't fleshed out enough and tended to jump around frantically without much attention to coherency.
- The acting outside of Stalone, Statham and Rourke (who should have had a bigger role) was equally atrocious. Terry Crews was alright, but he was restricted to a few scenes. I know Jet Li is a legitimately good actor when speaking in his native tongue, but he's pretty horrible when speaking English, which was made worse by the horrific dialog he was given. Lundgren, Steve Austin, Ludgren, Couture and David Zayas were all awful.
- There wasn't a legitimate adversary. David Zayas is not menacing enough to pull off a military dictator, and the audience wasn't really given a chance to grasp the severity of the character. Eric Roberts' character was a massive cliche and a huge joke.
- I went into this film expecting a ton of action, and while there was certainly a lot of it, it wasn't nearly enough to make up for the rest of the film's shortcomings. A lot of the action was rendered completely useless with the horrible editing (shaky cam out the ass, overly quick cuts, etc.), it just completely ruined what was otherwise legitimately good choreographic action.

I'm actually surprised at just how much I disliked this film. I wasn't expecting much considering the trailers, but I was hoping for something that was at the very least enjoyable.

I'd probably give the film a 5.5 out of 10.
 
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