By Lionsgate - IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40354464
The Expendables 3 - (2014)
I'm getting there.
The Expendables 3 forced me to go back and retroactively downgrade each previous chapter a notch, because each
Expendables film is a little better than the one before it, but despite that this one isn't super fantastic - only passable. The roster of names in the cast is ridiculous. Sylvester Stallone (the increasing curvature of this guy's eyebrows worries me), Harrison Ford (where he belongs, if you really think about it), Arnold Schwarzenegger (this time constantly yelling "get to the chopper!"), Antonio Banderas (playing the new, weird character), Wesley Snipes (he gets a huge intro, but gradually his character is squeezed out of the film for lack of air), Jet Li (comes and goes like he had other commitments), Dolph Lundgren ("I must break you" - he had so many great lines in
Rocky IV), Kelsey Grammer (keeping busy - but action movies is an unexpected genre for him to branch out in I must say), Mel Gibson (he plays bad guys now, because he's actually a bad guy), Jason Statham (who is kind of plain, but happens to be one of the few current action heroes in this) and Robert Davi (only in this for a moment, but hey, it's Robert Davi.) The Bruce Willis role has been taken over by Ford. It's so ironic that these films are called "The Expendables" because obviously none of the characters are expendable - they're all needed for the next sequel. This one is better in all technical departments, has cleaner, well edited action and generally does what these films do - shuffles out it's roster of big name stars. That said, there's a lot out there that's much better, and you'll still be watching this for the famous faces instead of any memorable
Mission Impossible set-piece or
John Wick-style modern innovation. These movies are throwbacks to the 80s and 90s - if that's your thing, then here it is.
5/10