The Expendables (MC: 45, RT: 40%)

[hexagram23]

I saw this today, finally. For the most part with the "plot" I was bored to tears. The first half of the movie was so fucking slow. I appreciate a good story in a movie with lots of dialogue. Take Inglorious Basterds for example. Great movie with awesome dialogue.

No offense but you should probably research movies before you go see them. For the last 2 years Stallone has been saying this movie will have minimal story, minimal "character development", and just focus on action as a throw back to those cheesy 80s action movies. Van Damme turned down a role in this movie because Stallone literally couldn't sum up the plot to him when asked about it.

If you went into this movie expecting "a good story with lots of dialogue" you went into the wrong movie. Especially comparing it to "Inglourious Basterds", the two aren't even the same genre.

Lastly I dunno how the first half was slow. Within the first 5 minutes you see 15-20 baddies die including a dude getting blown in half. After that there is various car chases, shoot outs, fights, etc. up until the madness at the end.

[Odesseiron]

No offense but you should probably research movies before you go see them. For the last 2 years Stallone has been saying this movie will have minimal story, minimal "character development", and just focus on action as a throw back to those cheesy 80s action movies. Van Damme turned down a role in this movie because Stallone literally couldn't sum up the plot to him when asked about it.

If you went into this movie expecting "a good story with lots of dialogue" you went into the wrong movie. Especially comparing it to "Inglourious Basterds", the two aren't even the same genre.

Lastly I dunno how the first half was slow. Within the first 5 minutes you see 15-20 baddies die including a dude getting blown in half. After that there is various car chases, shoot outs, fights, etc. up until the madness at the end.

LOL. What about the scenes with Mickey Rourke? (I love the guy) The movie comes to a complete standstill for 10 minutes at a time. So you're telling me the first 45 minutes of the movie were just as well paced as the last 45? I think you need to go back and rewatch this. Yeah in the first 10 minutes were good. Can you tell me what was so exciting after that? Eric Roberts plantation? Stallone's tattoos? Stathams issues with his woman? Mickey Rourke crying about his soul? Story about a dictator father and his all too obvious daughter? Give me a break.

I also was NOT comparing it to IB. There are plenty of action movies with good plots though. Just so we're crystal clear here I mean good for an action movie. Not good comparing to a drama. Here's a few that come to mind The Matrix (1st one), True Lies, Equilibrium, Kill Bill, Die Hard, and so on. These, while all action movies have a protaganist and characters you at least somewhat care about and at one time or another are all human. It's completely bad movie making to make the main characters invincible like in Expendables. I know it does look like I was comparing the two, but I was not.

I did go into the movie knowing it was an action movie 1st, everything else 2nd. Was just let down a lot. Stallone is capable of much more. Or not?

Lastly

I wasnt going for the plot obviously..but shit, if you're going to invest millions in a movie, why can't you hire a single decent writter for a good script? It doesnt need to be oscar worthy, but it doesnt have to be an uninspirated copy paste either.

Anyway, the action was a letdown for the most part. Shaky cam, extremely short sequence (camera cut after any punch or attacks), barely any fight in the first hours...it wasnt all bad, but I was expecting a few more memorable scenes. In 6 months, I probably won't remember anything about this movie.

This. The camera was awful I hate shaky cams with a passion. I know they're going for more "realism" or whatever, but just give me a fucking clear shot of what's going on. Fine in something like District 9 or Cloverfield as it's shot in that style, but actions movies are just less enjoyable this way IMO. The 2nd Bourne movie comes immediately to mind in how much I disliked it because of the camera. Also yes, very, very short cuts in this movie.

Anyway..........

[Xno Kappa]

I agree about the shaky camera. The second fight with Jet Li and Dolph Lundgren had me annoyed to hell considering both actors are genuine martial artists and could've had a much more bad-ass fight scene. I had no idea what was going on half the time during that fight.

[hexagram23]

LOL. What about the scenes with Mickey Rourke? (I love the guy) The movie comes to a complete standstill for 10 minutes at a time. So you're telling me the first 45 minutes of the movie were just as well paced as the last 45? I think you need to go back and rewatch this. Yeah in the first 10 minutes were good. Can you tell me what was so exciting after that? Eric Roberts plantation? Stallone's tattoos? Stathams issues with his woman? Mickey Rourke crying about his soul? Story about a dictator father and his all too obvious daughter? Give me a break.

I also was NOT comparing it to IB. There are plenty of action movies with good plots though. Just so we're crystal clear here I mean good for an action movie. Not good comparing to a drama. Here's a few that come to mind The Matrix (1st one), True Lies, Equilibrium, Kill Bill, Die Hard, and so on. These, while all action movies have a protaganist and characters you at least somewhat care about and at one time or another are all human. It's completely bad movie making to make the main characters invincible like in Expendables. I know it does look like I was comparing the two, but I was not.

I did go into the movie knowing it was an action movie 1st, everything else 2nd. Was just let down a lot. Stallone is capable of much more. Or not?

Lastly


This. The camera was awful I hate shaky cams with a passion. I know they're going for more "realism" or whatever, but just give me a fucking clear shot of what's going on. Fine in something like District 9 or Cloverfield as it's shot in that style, but actions movies are just less enjoyable this way IMO. The 2nd Bourne movie comes immediately to mind in how much I disliked it because of the camera. Also yes, very, very short cuts in this movie.

Anyway..........

Yes Stallone is capable of more but this isn't the time or place for it. You said there's a ton of good action movies with good plots then proceeded to name all 90s or later movies with the exception of "Die Hard"....again, this isn't a 90s action movie. It's an 80s action movie. And none of that shit had good plots. 90% of them could be summed up in one sentence "a guy's family/brother/best friend/dog gets killed, he seeks revenge, etc".

You just don't seem to get it. The main character being invincible is a staple of 80s action movies. It's a staple of action movies in general. Maybe you're younger and don't understand. I'm not sure. I'm 33 and this movie is fairly close to what I expected from the decade that gave us "Cobra", "Commando", "Rambo", etc.

The sole question you should ask yourself is, did you like the action? If the answer is "yes", the movie served it's purpose. If the answer is "no", then yeah you have a legit complaint. But asking about the pacing, character development, the script, the plot....no. You might as well ask about the shit during a porno.

And for the record I'm a huge movie buff but it's about having realistic expectations for the type of movie you're watching. I didn't look for horror in "A Bittersweet Life" , I didn't expect comedy from "Grace", and I didn't expect masterful pacing or character development or realism from an 80s style action romp like "The Expendables".

[Odesseiron]

I'm 29, so don't talk to me about being young and not "getting it". Even in most 80's movies where you claim characters had invincibility, there were still scenes they were vulnerable. Fine, you want 80's movies with good plots where characters aren't invincible? Rambos, Predator, Death Wish (even older) Highlander, Road Warrior, Lethal Weapon, Robocop, Rocky, Terminator & so on. All of these movies are considered top 80's action movies, somewhat humanize characters and have an entertaining story to boot. I love all of those 80's actions movies as campy as they are. This doesn't fit the bill as an 80's action movie. It just stars a whole bunch of them in one movie. I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree.

The action as mentioned before at points was filmed very sloppily. Near the end there was some good stuff, but most of the h2h fights were plain awful. The movie served somewhat of it's purpose and entertained me for half of it. Nor did I ask for realistic expectations of the movie. Movies where there is some semblance of danger is nice though. Even if you know they're not going to die, it's fine. Danger just always increases the stakes. Makes you at least sit on the edge of your seat a bit. For what it was I would give it a 5/10, and would rather watch any of those 80's movies again over this. But opinions are opinions and you have the right to yours.

[fren.]

wrote/assisted for Terry Crews and Jet Li needs to be shot.

This type of movie wasn't made for people like you, thankfully.

[Melena]

Someone mentioned Robocop with Good Plot? I love myself some bad ass Murphy as much as the next guy, but Robocop was about as standard as a plot as you could get. I don't even remember why Arnold was in the jungle for Predator. I will give you Lethal Weapon though as everyone and there mother borrows from "Partner about to retire, just has to bust open one last case" plot.

[Eticket]

Someone mentioned Robocop with Good Plot? I love myself some bad ass Murphy as much as the next guy, but Robocop was about as standard as a plot as you could get. I don't even remember why Arnold was in the jungle for Predator. I will give you Lethal Weapon though as everyone and there mother borrows from "Partner about to retire, just has to bust open one last case" plot.

Robocop was awesome, but yeah... character development in that film was Murphy touring his old house and punching a computer.

Arnie was sent in to kill the Russian dudes in the jungle and to try to find the Spec Ops team that disappeared. Mostly though it was to get his one liners in (Stick around!) and look badass lifting a truck off a block.

[Xno Kappa]

[Ziero]

characters aren't invincible? Rambos

...wut?

This doesn't fit the bill as an 80's action movie. It just stars a whole bunch of them in one movie. I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree.

Four of the six main heros aren't 80s actions stars at all. Only Stallone and Dolph are 80s action guys, the rest are all new faces who just fit the bill.

I love how in the same thread a complaint is made they spent too much time on the "boring parts" (aka story) while someone else complains there wasn't enough story in the movie.

And seriously, most of the best 80s action flicks have very little to no character development. Characters were badass because they were just badass, half their lines were literally one liners, badguys could drop hundreds of bullets in their general direction and never come close to hitting them and everything exploded.

This was a 90 minute movie where the entire last half of it was action. Every character in it had multiple badass moments including some sick kills and pretty epic fist fights (Dolph vs Li was hard to follow? wut?), even moreso when you realize they were pretty much all doing their own stunts (even Grandpa Stallone). And the very minimalistic story more then explained why these guys would do what they did.

God damn nitpicky nitpickers. One of the manilest man movies made in the history of Men and you'll still get a buncha little girls crying over "story" and "script".

[Qalbert]

<redacted>

[6souls]

Lionsgate announced an official release date of August 17, 2012 for The Expendables 2. That is a week after G.I. Joe 2 (August 10) is scheduled to arrive in theaters. The original opened on August 13, 2010 and made $274.5 million worldwide on a budget of $80 million.

http://geektyrant.com/news/2011/3/31...ease-date.html
http://www.comingsoon.net/news/cinem...s.php?id=75812

[6souls]

We reported back on March 9th that Sylvester Stallone would hand over writing and directing duties to someone else for Expendables 2 because the shoot took so much out of him. The word is that hired director Wayne Kramer (Running Scared, The Cooler) has departed due to the obligatory "creative differences".

Stallone has decided not to bring on another director and just direct the movie himself.

http://geektyrant.com/news/2011/4/9/...medium=twitter
http://www.expendablespremiere.com/

[6souls]

http://geektyrant.com/storage/post-i...es2poster3.jpg

I can't help to be a little excited to to a sequel to Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables. As terrible as the the script was for the first film I still had a lot of fun watching all these action stars kicking ass and blowing shit up.

The Expendables 2 is gearing up for production, and has been given the release date of August 17th 2012. Nu Image / Millennium Films and Lionsgate are producing the film and they've released a full detailed plot synopsis for the film up at The Cannes Film Festival, and it does contain *spoilers*.

Stallone did not write the script, and he will not direct the film, but he will be back to reprise his role as Barney. The screenplay is being written by David Agosto and Ken Kaufman, a director for the film has yet to be announced.

Check out the plot synopsis below! I also just want to point out that for some reason word Villain is spelled Vilain throughout the whole document. You would think a studio would make sure all the spelling was right before they released something like this.

Stallone, Statham, Rourke, Lundgren, Couture and Crews return as hard-edged but noble mercenaries in the second installment of Sylvester Stallone's old-school action thriller, The Expendables.

As payback for taking out the corrupt CIA agent Monroe (Eric Roberts) in the first Expendables, cagey Agent Church (Bruce Willis) forces the Expendables to do an "easy mission": retrieve a missing CIA package from Gazak, a civil war torn country in Easter Europe.

The easy mission turns deadly when the Expendables are ambushed by a team of ruthless rival mercs, the Sangunaires, competing to get the same package. Tool (Mickey Rourke), the heart and souleof the Expendables, is brutally murdered by Vilain, the leader of the bloodthirsty guns for hire. Still, the Expendables manage to pull of the mission and return with the CIA package, but it's a hollow victory.

As their thoughts turn from grief to revenge, Tool's beautiful young daughter Fiona shows up. Cut from the same stone as her dad, she wants to join the Expendables when they hunt down Villain and his men. Barney (Stallone) promises her the Expendables will avenge Tool's death, but will not risk putting his best friend's daughter in harm's way.

Fiona, who is young and wile, embarks on her own revenge mission, complicating matters for Barney when she is captured and ransomed by VIlain. Now Barney and the expendables must risk everything to save her, kidnapping CIA Agent Church and pulling off a daring heist of the CIA package they were hired to bring back.

When Agent Church reveals why the CIA package is so valuable to Vilain, the stakes go up even higher. Inside the package are canisters of radioactive cesium which Vilain has been tasked with releasing on the people's uprising that threatens the thirty year rule of Gazak's vicious dictator, President Dogot.

The Expendables, along with Agent Church, are now faced with an impossible mission: rescue Fiona, foil a dictator's vicious plot to kill scores of innocent people, and avenge the death of one of their own.

Spoiler: show

http://geektyrant.com/storage/post-i...PENDABLES.jpeg

http://geektyrant.com/news/2011/5/23...ndables-2.html
http://gordonandthewhale.com/the-exp...ilers-included

[Ragnus]

Oh boy. My least favorite arch type. The "badass" beauty who turns into the damsel in distress which just gets in the way.

[Kainos]

lol so they are going with the same exact plot as the first movie? save the girl , kill the dictator......

[Senji]

, kick ass, and blow shit up?

Was there supposed to be anything else?

[Tyrath]

We care about the plot? News to me.

[Senji]

This is the greatest trailer made by a man, made for men.

bump for awesomeness

[Xno Kappa]

omg this movies plot is gonna suck so much!