You remember the old Peanuts cartoons where all the grown-ups spoke in that 'wa wa wa waaaa wa waaaaaaa' voice? That's sort of what this movie is like. The words the actors as speaking as more or less irrelevant as the truly ridiculous amounts of explosions, fights and gun violence revolves around them on screen. That's not to say it's a bad movie by any stretch of the imagination. Roger Ebert and his ilk may from time to time look for deep meaning in a movie but now and again, you just want to say it 'fuck it, pass the popcorn' and if those movies are your kind of movies, then The Expendables is the perfect movie for you.
A truly ridiculous collection of action stars assembled for this movie: Sylvester Stallone, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Terry Crews, Mickey Rourke with cameos by Ah-nold and Bruce Willis. The fact that Eric Roberts and Charisma Carpenter are also in this seems kind of irrelevant given the rest of the cast.
The plot, well, damn. I'm not sure there was much a plot. Let's just say a small South American island has been taken over by an asshole General/Dictator and the CIA would like him dead- enter Stallone and his motley crew of New Orleans based mercs who take on the job, only to find that their real target is the rogue CIA agent running the whole place behind the scenes (Roberts). Mayhem, predictably, ensues.
Overall: This is a glorious tribute to the action movies of the 1980s that's also a ridiculous amount of fun to watch. Don't go looking for substance just crack a beer and enjoy it. (**1/2 out of ****)
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