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

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outsidah said:
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 actually wanted less story. It feels like they wasted a good 40-50 minutes setting things up with all the reconnaissance in Vilena and Rourke's long ass speech and stuff. The pacing was all wrong IMO.

Should've been something like Commando, very minimal plot that's just an excuse for dudes to be badass and fuck people up.
 
Just saw this tonight, great movie. All you guys talking about writers and story, you're doing it wrong. It had enough story to do what it had too and if you go into a movie such as this going to pick it apart then you can't appreciate any movies like this at all. So don't bother.

Shooting, cutting and punching the shit out of things, with explosion? That's what I came to see.

The Shotgun Crew's character had (see I don't even care that I don't know his name) was brutal.
 
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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I'll take that of a bunch of bullshit exposition that goes nowhere.
 
VOOK said:
Just saw this tonight, great movie. All you guys talking about writers and story, you're doing it wrong. It had enough story to do what it had too and if you go into a movie such as this going to pick it apart then you can't appreciate any movies like this at all. So don't bother.

Shooting, cutting and punching the shit out of things, with explosion? That's what I came to see.

The Shotgun Crew's character had (see I don't even care that I don't know his name) was brutal.
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I'm sorry but this is bullshit. The majority of the movies The Expendables was trying to pay homage to all had legitimately good stories, plot and acting. Action doesn't give you free reign to disregard the other aspects of your film, especially if said action isn't as prevalent as billed and almost edited beyond recognition.
 
harSon said:
- 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 films. 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.
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See now, I was actually surpised how well I thought Lundgren did. But I agree about Rourke. Honestly I am not a big fan but I thought he did a fantastic job in this film.

So was there any point to the development of the Lee Christmas character other than to give them something to joke about on the plane? And how come the "I don't really give a damn about anything" female lead ends up a whimpering baby hanging on Stallone like she's about to go down?
 
VOOK said:
Just saw this tonight, great movie. All you guys talking about writers and story, you're doing it wrong. It had enough story to do what it had too and if you go into a movie such as this going to pick it apart then you can't appreciate any movies like this at all. So don't bother.

Shooting, cutting and punching the shit out of things, with explosion? That's what I came to see.

The Shotgun Crew's character had (see I don't even care that I don't know his name) was brutal.
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Some people cant shut that part of their brains, and just enjoy a film for what it is...just take pity on them and move on.
 
VAIL said:
Some people cant shut that part of their brains, and just enjoy a film for what it is...just take pity on them and move on.
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There's a good way to do it, ie. actually make an attempt to make those aspects serviceable at the very least, and a bad way to do it. Crank and Shoot 'Em Up are two films that are heavy on the action but still made an attempt to have a serviceable plot and acting, and they were infinitely better films for it. Maybe I'd be able to shut off my brain and enjoy the film if the action wasn't as lethargic and horribly edited as the rest of the film.
 
I'm noticing a funny trend in this thread whereby all the people who were shitting on the movie before release now rip it apart in their reviews. Wow WHO WOULDA THUNK IT
 
harSon said:
I'm sorry but this is bullshit. The majority of the movies The Expendables was trying to pay homage to all had legitimately good stories, plot and acting. Action doesn't give you free reign to disregard the other aspects of your film, especially if said action isn't as prevalent as billed and almost edited beyond recognition.
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What like Commando, Rambo, Transporter and so forth?
 
harSon said:
There's a good way to do it, ie. actually make an attempt to make those aspects serviceable at the very least, and a bad way to do it. Crank and Shoot 'Em Up are two films that are heavy on the action but still made an attempt to have a serviceable plot and acting, and they were infinitely better films for it. Maybe I'd be able to shut off my brain and enjoy the film if the action wasn't as lethargic and horribly edited as the rest of the film.
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Shoot 'Em Up...serviceable plot and acting...:lol
 
The film was so good that the only thing I could do after watching it was smoking a cigarette with a stupid smile on my lips.

There is so many good stuff, so many winks, so many epicness... Lundgren was especially fantastic. The film was like going back in time and watch Delta Force again, it´s really a shame Chuck Norris couldn't be here.

Need the uncut Blu-Ray version ASAP, can't fucking wait for it. Hope Stallone can make a sequel with the actors missing.
 
Saw it last night with a friend. The crowd loved it and so did I. Plot was serviceable and easily as good as any big action movie from the 80s. Seemed like everyone got their moment on-screen to kick ass and fuck people up. A few of the characters could have used some more backstory, but with so many action stars the movie would have been 4 hours long to cover them all. In the end I am glad they focused on only a few of them.

Shaky-cam wasn't really a problem for me. It was 10x better than the Bourne movies and 100x better than the first Transformers. I could actually tell what was going on and follow the action, even with all the quick-cuts during the heavy action (which they had to do in order to get every character their spotlight moment and make it feel like it was all happening at once).

I think people ripping on the movie were expecting some grand opera plotline and failed to understand how hard it had to be to shoot an action sequence with so many characters needing the spotlight. I think they did a great job.

My friend and I left the theater discussing cool ways to kill people, so it was definitely worth the experience.

A sequel with some of the missing favorites (chuck norris, Segal, etc) would rock.



For those asking about the Brutality, it was easily as violent as John Rambo.
 
I know what harSon is talking about. Crank and Shoot 'Em Up are stupid, but they have an extremely knowledgeable sense of pace and what makes action dynamic. The Expendables is full of so much boring shit and when it comes time for some real action, it's so poorly handled most of the time.
 
Expendable. said:
I know what harSon is talking about. Crank and Shoot 'Em Up are stupid, but they have an extremely knowledgeable sense of pace and what makes action dynamic.
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Unfortunately, harson didn't talk about "extremely knowledgeable sense of pace and what makes action dynamic" He said that they had "servicable plots" which, in both cases is laughable.

But should I be surprised by your defense of harson "position"?

Well, you are the same guy that was worried poor little Jenny might die in Commando.
 
PhoncipleBone said:
and Crank as well. :lol I loved both movies, but serviceable plot and acting were not features of those movies.
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By serviceable, I mean 'good enough' or 'it does the job'. The acting and plot within Crank and Shoot Em Up weren't good, far from it, but they weren't so pedestrian that they'd detract from their film's action. Basically, while the action scenes in Crank and Shoot Em Up were undoubtedly the best things about these two films, I didn't completely loath everything in between them. This wouldn't have been a problem if 80% of The Expendables consisted of pure action, but that wasn't the case, Stalone decided to have a heavy emphasis on plot/character development that was ultimately poorly handled.
 
I don't know; everything between the action in Shoot 'Em Up was pretty loathsome with only a couple of exceptions (even the action scenes themselves weren't too hot; the majority went on for way too long). Crank is exempt since it doesn't have a plot so much as it has a series of bizarre music videos that all happen to involve Jason Statham.
 
They spent most of the budget shooting people walking into a plane, talking inside a plane, plane flying, people piloting the plane, people driving and talking at the same time.

It's like, half of the movie.
 
The directors of Crank aren't even in the same league as Stallone.

They may be once they find a means of directing a coherent action scene. Gamer was a nice apology for the other shit they've shat out, and hopefully they don't fuck up Ghost Rider.
 
Shoot Em Up's story is bad. The movie even makes fun of it. What the movie does well is acknowledges that its story is dumb and through great pacing never lets it interfere.
 
The Take Out Bandit said:
The directors of Crank aren't even in the same league as Stallone.

They may be once they find a means of directing a coherent action scene. Gamer was a nice apology for the other shit they've shat out, and hopefully they don't fuck up Ghost Rider.
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Eeeeew, Gamer. Crank 1 and 2 are still the best action films in recent memory (along with Punisher Warzone). Sly's films have been shit in comparison.

This movie really really disappointed me. You just know Stallone's a hack now when he can't do anything interesting with THAT cast. The movie could have practically been just ad-libbing and shooting shit. But nahhh. Throw an uninteresting plot and lots of pointless dialogue (that nobody gives a shit about).

I wish they gave this film to John Mctiernan or something. And I have low hope for the sequel if Stallone is directing again. Oh well...at least I got to see Ahnold.

This was also missing some one-liners. What a disgrace to the 80s.
 
Discotheque said:
Eeeeew, Gamer. Crank 1 and 2 are still the best action films in recent memory (along with Punisher Warzone). Sly's films have been shit in comparison.
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You're only right about Punisher Warzone. The rest of your drivel should be handled much in the way Gunnar handled his passenger during the car chase.
 
Discotheque said:
Eeeeew, Gamer. Crank 1 and 2 are still the best action films in recent memory (along with Punisher Warzone). Sly's films have been shit in comparison.

This movie really really disappointed me. You just know Stallone's a hack now when he can't do anything interesting with THAT cast. The movie could have practically been just ad-libbing and shooting shit. But nahhh. Throw an uninteresting plot and lots of pointless dialogue (that nobody gives a shit about).

I wish they gave this film to John Mctiernan or something. And I have low hope for the sequel if Stallone is directing again. Oh well...at least I got to see Ahnold.

This was also missing some one-liners. What a disgrace to the 80s.
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The one-liners that the film did have were fucking horrible, and I still have no clue how Stalone fucked up an Arnold cameo. If it wasn't for the
"He wants to be President"
line, it would have probably been the worst scene in the film, which is saying a lot.
 
VOOK said:
Just saw this tonight, great movie. All you guys talking about writers and story, you're doing it wrong. It had enough story to do what it had too and if you go into a movie such as this going to pick it apart then you can't appreciate any movies like this at all. So don't bother.

Shooting, cutting and punching the shit out of things, with explosion? That's what I came to see.

The Shotgun Crew's character had (see I don't even care that I don't know his name) was brutal.
Click to expand...

But it even failed at that. After the initial disappointing scene there was a solid 40 minutes of zero action. Can't believe how bad Stallone fucked this movie up.
 
I loved it. Fun movie, despite the lack of story and some awkward dialogue.

Disappointed it only did 13m on Friday. A movie like this can burn out quickly and it may not do well enough to garantee a sequel :(

BTW, how was the advertising for this movie (I find it easy to blame Lionsgate for poor performances since their advertising usually sucks)? I wouldn't have heard about it if not for the 'net.

And Punisher Warzone...good? WTF. Movie was trash (and I love uber violent films).
 
Some of you are looking into this movie way to hard. It was a popcorn flick that was also an homage to 80's action flicks. It was over the top, violent, and ridiculous and I loved every second of it.
 
Expendable. said:
But it even failed at that. After the initial disappointing scene there was a solid 40 minutes of zero action. Can't believe how bad Stallone fucked this movie up.
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So? I look at my shelf and I see all these fantastic action movies; Kill Bill, Kick Ass, Hardboild, The Matrix, Commando, Terminator 2, ect ect. And just like The Expendables they also have long parts where no action happens all leading to very explosive finale. Just like the Expendables.
 
Rahxephon91 said:
So? I look at my shelf and I see all these fantastic action movies; Kill Bill, Kick Ass, Hardboild, The Matrix, Commando, Terminator 2, ect ect. And just like The Expendables they also have long parts where no action happens all leading to very explosive finale. Just like the Expendables.
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Except most of those films had scenes that were legitimately good outside of the action tidbits. You're seriously going to try and compare The Expendables action free stretch to stuff like Kill Bill and The Matrix? :lol
 
harSon said:
Except most of those films had scenes that were legitimately good outside of the action tidbits. You're seriously going to try and compare The Expendables action free stretch to stuff like Kill Bill and The Matrix? :lol
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No, obviously Exp can't compare, but nothing during those sections was bad or boring and the action in the movie made up for it anyway.

And since this is an action movie I it's ok. I don't think Exp is great or something I need to see again, but the movie was a solid summer action movie.
 
This movie was too long, with too much drama, and it took itself way too seriously. And you couldn't even enjoy the fight scenes because of the horrible shakey cam.
 
The awesome Atchisson Auto Assault-12 (AA12) :D

aa12.jpg
 
Gilgamesh said:
This movie was too long, with too much drama, and it took itself way too seriously. And you couldn't even enjoy the fight scenes because of the horrible shakey cam.
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I was worried about this.

Movies that seem to be aiming for the 'macho violence that's over the top' have to throw in some bits of cleverness to be good. If the movie tries too hard to actually be legitimate it usually falls on its ass.
 
The Expendables was such an easy movie to get right, plot-wise.

Introduction/character development: expendables pull up to a bar on their motorcycles. Hit on some hot chicks, get drunk as fuck, crack jokes on each other... Some douchebag starts shit with them and a crazy bar fight ensues.

Mission/Job Offer: Make it personal, a team member has turned and kidnapped Barney's wife and daughter or something. Cliche as hell, but it works. Instant motivation for Barney, and the rest of the team members would wanna help out their leader/friend. Would also be personal for the whole team since it's a former member.

That'd be like the first 20 minutes, and the rest of the movie would be balls to the wall action and funny shit.
 
I am drunk as a skunk right now, but holy shit did I enjoy the hell out of this movie. I honestly thought at times it tried too hard to tell a story, but the awesome action scenes more than made up for it. LOVED Dolph Lundgren and Terry Crews especially.
 
The movie was alright. The story was garbage, but even if you don't care about a story in this kind of movie, the action was still somewhat lacking... and Stallone still can't direct worth a damn. I got a fucking headache from it.

However, there are a few good scenes in the movie that prevent it from being bad. Oh, and it's short as shit.
 
Noisepurge said:
If you thought about the story you were watching the movie in a wrong way :D There was too much plot already!
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That's the biggest drawback of this movie. This movie should've been called The B-Team.
 
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