Review: The Expendables

bill bodkin reviews the expendables…

There’s an old saying in the movie business “suspend disbelief.” It’s a saying that usually applies to summer blockbusters — suspend your disbelief of the over-the-top, near impossible storylines, plot twists, cliffhangers and romances. Just forget that none of this could remotely happen and just enjoy the film.

When it comes to The Expendables, you should not only “suspend disbelief” but “suspend belief” as well.

Yes, The Expendables is one of those terribly terrific, awfully awesome films. The dialogue is rife with clunking one-liners, the camera work is littered with way too close close-ups and the actions sequences are so grandiose, so over-the-top that they are near comical.

But even with all that, this is an absolutely fantastic movie.

The Expendables is a true throwback. It harkens to a day of the red-blooded shoot ’em ups that were big money movies that dominated the box office from the mid-80s to the mid-90s. These films all revolved around overly muscular supermen armed to the teeth dispensing with faceless hordes of dictatorial armies while delivering sometimes witty one-liners. We all have a special place in our hearts for a number of these movies, whether we want to admit it or not. These movies, like The Expendables, are not Shakespeare — and we know that going into it. What we’re left with is a fun, blood-soaked popcorn movie with tremendous rewatchability.

And underneath all the blood-soaked bravado are some interesting performances. Mickey Rourke, playing former Expendable and tattoo artist Tool, was seemingly given the blessing of writer/director Sylvester Stallone to improvise all his lines. Rourke brings an emotional punch in his brief time onscreen — his comeback tour has not effected adversely by this film. The other strong performance comes from Dolph Lungren. Yes, Dolph Lungren. As the drug addled estranged Expendable Gunner, Lungren delivers a deeper than expected emotional yet ass-kicking performance. I almost would’ve loved to have seen an entire movie about his character.

Yet, are we really here to see well-acted performances? No, we want high octane, white knuckle, balls to the wall action and it is delivered with gallons of blood and a house full of bullets. It’s an absolute blast (literally and figuratively) watching the film’s climax, with the biggest action stars running around blowing stuff up and people away. My inner 13-year-old stood up and rejoice with a fist in the air. Yes, it was that awesome.

In essence movie-going public, The Expendables is not a cinematic tour de force. But you already knew that. What you’re expecting is big, fast and loud action that’ll get your adrenaline going. And this is exactly what you’ll get at one of the most fun movies the summer has produced.