The Expendables 3 (2014)

Sadly Over-hyped

Amateur movie with Big budget

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

The first was a trip down 80s nostalgic lane, the second was an improvement and an entertaining action film in its own right. This third instalment has lost its grip on classic action films that charged its predecessors, so much so that even aficionados struggle to find enjoyment in this mindless mess. Barney is up against an adversary from the past, in which he decides to abandon his current team and recruit younger members in order to eliminate the enemy uprising. Aside from the predictable old versus young sub-plot, does the story sound familiar? Is that a resounding yes? Well, you would be right. The exact same narrative structure where the Expendables must defeat the disposable enemy mercenaries from creating global terror which then concludes with a short fist fight with the antagonist before they all grab a pint at the local bar and wait for all this to blow over...! Now, we have horrendous visual effects which include but not limited to: false explosions, disastrous demolitions, helicopter dogfights, Stallone's still face and...wait, that's not visually altered? Oh...anyway, the point is the quality of the acting, action and storytelling has lowered drastically. So low, that it comes across as tired and generically uninspired. Introducing new fresher faces to the team was a good idea, but their chemistry is nowhere near as dynamic as Statham and Lundgren. The cheesy banter was non-existent, it's only when the experienced players come onboard that the entertainment value heightens. Snipes taking a dig at himself for tax evasion, Schwarzenegger shouting "get to da choppa!!!" and Gibson being his usual crazy self, that is when the dialogue and characterisation strives for fun. Banderas was a welcomed addition however, it just wasn't enough to save this generic boring sequel. Mindless fun sure, but the worst in the series by far. Did 80s action films utilise horrific visual effects like these? No. Stop saving money and remain authentic! Otherwise this whole franchise will be expendable.

Manny's Movie Musings: "The Expendables" is awesome; "The Expendables 3" is awesomely bad. There are too many characters that are undeveloped, and so we don't care about most of them (the original members are sort of safe, as fans already have an attachment to them); the editing seems like it was done by a film student; it's rated PG-13 (so we get that corny, 1990s style James Bond violence); the action sequences are incoherent and so over the top that they can't be taken seriously, and therefore the audience has no emotional connection to them because you get the feeling that no Expendable will be killed off; and many characters doing things that make no sense. Oh, there is somewhat of a story here: The Expendables are hired to capture an arms dealer, things go bad, and many characters say lots of bad inside jokes that puts this movie into the comedy genre. Lots of wasted money and talent, and lots of disappointed 1980s/1990s action movie fans like me. My most memorable, movie moment of "The Expendables 3" is the scene when Mel Gibson (playing the lead bad guy) explains to Sylvester Stallone why Gibson became the way he is. It's the only well acted scene that gave this movie any real depth.Mannysmemorablemoviemoments

After an action packed start Sly decides to retire his old Expendable crew and recruit some new blood for a deadly mission in Romania. Needless to say it all goes wrong and it's down to the old guys to come and save the day. As per usual our heroes are immune to bullets, have an unlimited supply of weapons and the plot is as predictable as what day it is tomorrow. But that's all part of the fun. We get a star studded cast though sadly Antonio Banderas still thinks that he's playing Puss in Boots. Probably the weakest of the first three movies but still good fun.

This, the third film in the series, opens with Barney Ross, Lee Christmas and the team rescuing former team member Doc from a heavily armoured train that was taking him to high security prison. They then head to Mogadishu to prevent an arms shipment. The mission goes wrong and Barney identifies the reason as Conrad Stonebanks; a former comrade gone bad who Barney thought he'd killed some time ago. He is determined to get him this time but doesn't want to risk his team. The CIA want Stonebanks alive so Barney and a team of new, young Expendables set off to capture him. It appears that the mission has been a success but then the tables are turned and the new team is captured while Barney escapes. Stonebanks challenges Barney to come and rescue his new team and to do that he will inevitably need the old team, as well as some old friends and an enthusiastic Spaniard named Galgo. This all leads to an explosive finale and an inevitable fight between Barney and Stonebanks.Those who enjoyed the first two films in the series will know what to expect; an ensemble of action stars getting together to cause mayhem. The plot is a bit cliché but that doesn't really matter as there is plenty of over the top action. The cast do a solid enough job although some are distinctly underused, or in Jet Li's case hardly used at all. Wesley Snipes and Antonio Banderas are welcome additions to the team but it is Mel Gibson who stands out thanks to his performance as Stonebanks. There is a very high body count but somehow the violence feels a bit toned down; I guess that is why it got a '12' certificate in the UK rather than a '15' like the previous outings. Overall a decent enough film if you want some brain-in-neutral action and plenty of familiar faces.