Terminator Genisys (6/10): More like Terminator Reset.

“Come with me if you want to live.”

After four Terminator films it was about time someone actually hit the reset button for this fifth installment of the franchise directed by Alan Taylor. Now that the series has been refreshed we will be expecting at least two more sequels, but fortunately James Cameron will be back to direct them because these films haven’t come close to the high standards set by the first two. Terminator Genisys opens with a lot of promise as it begins as sort of a prequel where John Connor and Kyle Reese are fighting as part of the Resistance against the machines. As they are about to destroy Skynet, the machines send back a T-800 to kill Sarah Connor, and in order to protect her Kyle volunteers to go back (which explains the events that took place in the original Terminator), but a series of unexpected events take place and the original timeline is altered so everything has been reset. Screenwriters, Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier, came up with an interesting premise for this sequel which takes into consideration much of the Terminator mythology. It does however take a huge risk considering it basically erases the canon set by the first two Terminator films. Unfortunately what began with promise started to lose its appeal near the end as the action and the pacing began to drag while the twists kept on piling on each other. This sequel will satisfy those audience members who are simply looking to have a good time and marvel at the special effects, but those who are hoping it to match the quality of the original two films will be left very disappointed. I’d argue that this film doesn’t even want to compete with them, but rather simply stand out as a forgettable fun blockbuster sequel, and it does.

Emilia Clarke takes over Hamilton’s role playing the iconic Sarah Connor, while its Jason Clarke’s turn to be John Connor (the fourth different actor to do so in the same number of films). Jai Courtney gets to take on the role of Kyle Reese, who also happens to be the narrator of the film. Arnold Schwarzenegger is also back as the young T-800 who is sent back in time to kill Sarah and as a Guardian who is sent to protect her when she was a child in the alternating timeline. The film begins in 2029 as the Resistance is facing off Skynet and then it jumps back to 1984 when Terminator and Reese are sent to the past, but once the timeline has been altered they travel to 2017 where most of the film takes place. The plot may be a bit confusing for some since there are many twists and eventually it hurts the film. The third act involving a bus in the Golden Gate Bridge followed by a helicopter chase does get a bit ridiculous, but I guess those are the scenes many people pay money to go see.  

There is something about the premise in all these sequels where there are so many alternating timelines developing that it eventually hurts the franchise because you come to expect that no matter what the heroes do to prevent Judgement Day there will always be some alternative for it to resurface again, and the same could be said about saving Sarah Connor. After a while you’re simply watching these action scenes and thinking to yourself what’s the point because even if they succeed there will be something else they will have to do in the next movie to prevent Judgement Day from happening all over again. So most of the emotional thrills from the original films gets lost here because there isn’t much more at stake. What this film does succeed at is in its inclusion of some humor revolving around Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character and J.K. Simmons. Each time the action sequences or the drama began to drag the film down, the light touches of humor made it more bearable. I was really looking forward to what Emilia Clarke could add to the character of Sarah Connor considering I love her performance in Game of Thrones, but surprisingly it was Jai Courtney who got most of my sympathy. It might not be fair to blame Clarke considering Sarah Connor is such an iconic character, but Clarke never manages to reach the same level Linda Hamilton did. Having said that however I still did like her in this film, but she never steals the show. Courtney on the other hand is an actor I’ve never really liked, but in this film he shows some potential and carries each action scene he’s in. Schwarzenegger is the best thing about Genisys and it was great to see him having fun playing the character that turned him into a star. He delivers each one-liner better than any machine could ever do. He makes the film worth it. 

Maggie (4/10): A drama with a pacing as slow as watching zombies run a marathon.

“Dad, you’ve protected me all my life. Now it’s my turn to protect you. There is life with you, not with me.”

When you hear Arnold Schwarzenegger is starring in a zombie film you’re probably expecting a full blown action movie similar to World War Z, but Maggie is the complete opposite. It’s a slow burning drama where zombies slowly convert after being bitten. Schwarzenegger plays a father who is trying to protect his teenage daughter, Maggie (Abigail Breslin), who has been infected with the virus. The film begins with him driving to a hospital where Maggie is being held in quarantine. They allow Wade to take his daughter home so he can spend the last few days with her, but he must promise to bring her back when the virus begins to take full control of her. When they arrive back home her stepmother (Joely Richardson) is waiting for them so Maggie can say goodbye to her siblings before she takes them to her sister’s house to keep them safe. The film basically moves at a very slow pace and it uses this innovative concept as the driving force of the narrative. It tries to introduce a world where the victims are still considered as people and not simply lifeless zombies where no one would hesitate to pull the trigger. It may be a fresh twist on the crowded and familiar zombie genre, but I felt it was simply a dull and boring experience that never brought anything interesting to the story other than introducing the unique premise. The cinematography is bleak and dark, but perhaps it’s what works best in this lifeless film. 

We’ve seen different approaches taken when it comes to the zombie genre, beginning with the familiar horror genre (Night of the Living Dead), and then explored in action movies (World War Z), comedies (Zombieland), and even in romantic comedies (Warm Bodies), but I don’t think the subject had been approached in the past as a drama where you actually see the toll it takes on the victim and their family. That is where Maggie stands out from the rest of the films in the genre, but unfortunately it doesn’t work because you never feel engaged with these characters. The narrative puts its emphasis on the concept, but leaves out any character development. We get some glimpses of Maggie’s life in a couple of scenes where she goes out with her friends and spends time with her father, but there isn’t much more than that so Maggie doesn’t even work as a character study. It is simply a dull film that tries too hard to be a metaphor about a young girl facing a deadly disease. 

The performances in this film have been praised by several critics, but I didn’t find any of them groundbreaking. Breslin is a talented young actress and she delivers a solid role, but her character isn’t given much to work with. Schwarzenegger is attempting something different, and perhaps that is why he is receiving some recognition for his work, but his range continues to be limited and I much prefer him in roles like The Last Stand where he is exploiting and having fun with the action hero stereotypes that made him such a famous star in the first place. Perhaps it was the overall pacing of the film that put me to sleep, but I just never was invested with any of these characters to enjoy the performances.   

My Review: Sabotage (5/10)

"Some of us are getting paid, the rest of us are just getting dead."

Two thirds through Sabotage I was actually enjoying this action film thanks to some authentic performances and a decent cast, but the final third act messed up really bad by following generic conventions and feeling a bit too choppy. I was actually enjoying the direction in which this mystery thriller was going, but somehow it lost its way in the end and simply became another familiar action film with conventional characters. The film centers on an elite DEA squad that seems believable at first considering these are undercover agents that have their own unique macho language. They are not sympathetic characters or people we would really like to meet, but somehow their behavior seemed authentic for an underground world in which they were part of. The film seems to be going into an interesting direction and I was engaged with the mystery behind the opening act, but the resolution of the film is incredibly generic and it kind of ruined the entire experience for me. David Ayer is a director whose films I have enjoyed for the most part so I really had some expectations for Sabotage despite the weak word of mouth it was receiving. I believe the failure of this film relies on the studio who decided to cut Ayer's film in order for it to follow basic generic conventions because several scenes do feel forced and chopped. Ayer's version of the film was meant to be almost 3 hours long, but this film is less than two hours long. I can't help but feel there was a much more interesting film underneath the surface despite the fact that these characters aren't people we would like to be around with for too long. End of Watch was one of my favorite films of 2012 so I was really disappointed with Sabotage despite enjoying the first half of the film. I am still looking forward to Fury and hoping the studio doesn't interfere too much with Ayer's work this time. The other thing that hurt this film was the screenplay co-written by Ayer and Skip Woods. Woods hasn't really written a satisfying screenplay, his work in A Good Day to Die Hard being an example of this claim. The film also seems to struggle with its identity whether they want to portray the characters as villains or anti-heroes. 

The film does seem to have its own unique style at first with some gruesome and bloody action sequences and an interesting mystery going on. Unfortunately the mystery doesn't have a good resolution and the twist fails to deliver any surprises. Some of the action scenes do suffer from shaky camera movements and quick edits as well. It is a gritty film, but somehow it loses its identity halfway through and erases that gritty edge Ayer was establishing at the beginning. Ayer has written some interesting films dealing with a similar subject matter in Training Day and End of Watch, but somehow this film never quite reaches that same quality. Arnold Schwarzenegger has made some decent films during his post-governor stage, and this seemed to be another one, but things got out of hand and his performance wasn't enough to save this film. Sam Worthington was almost unrecognizable in this film and the rest of the DEA team including Joe Manganiello, Josh Holloway, Terrence Howard, and Mireille Enos really go out of there way to make these characters unlikable. I actually thought their risk was paying off as I was interested in the mystery involving the stolen money and how they were being eliminated one by one. These weren't your typical characters from an ordinary action film. The film really had potential to go to new places, but it ended up navigating in familiar territory and never managing to come to a satisfying or believable conclusion. This loss of identity ultimately hurt this film which  wasted its potential and gave the violence no sense of purpose whatsoever. It doesn't reward the audience either for sticking with these unlikable characters.

My Review: The Expendables 3 (5/10)

"How hard can it be to kill ten men?"

The third time is the charm, right? Wrong! By now we already know what we are going to get from an Expendables movie. We know it is going to have generic action scenes, very little going on plot wise, and a lack of character development. We've even learned not to expect much from the crowded 90's A-list cast because they are mostly all reduced to caricatures. But if you enjoyed the first two films in this franchise then you are guaranteed to enjoy this as well because it pretty much gives you what you expect. There are plenty of old school action scenes, lots of explosions, and several cheesy one-liners. The nostalgia factor is a key element to these movies, but the problem is that we have seen plenty from these actors recently with a few exceptions. The attracting thing about these films was being able to watch these guys together, but that kind of rubbed off us in the first film.  There is no novelty left and only true fans of the genre will be satisfied. The thing that The Expendables has going for it is that it knows who its target audience is and they focus on them exclusively without even attempting to reach a more mainstream audience. They give fans exactly what they want. I even think this was an improvement from the second film, despite the fact that it was overlong and it became tedious at times. The final climactic scene was also a disappointment and it really doesn't get more generic than that. Plot wise I always forget what these films are about, I can honestly not remember what they were fighting for in the first two films and I imagine I will forget everything about this film in a few days. The main attraction is getting to see these guys working together and all I remember from the second film was the cameo from Chuck Norris and that Van Damme was a satisfying villain. This third film has some interesting cameos, but there is nothing much more to it.

Expendables 3 was directed by Patrick Hughes, who directed the little known but warmly received Red Hill in 2010. The story is basically the same as the previous two films in the franchise with some new additions and a new villain. This time the Expendables have to face a former founder of the team, Stonebanks (Mel Gibson), who has turned into a dangerous arm dealer. We are first introduced to Barney (Stallone) and his crew as they are freeing a former partner named Doc (played by Wesley Snipes). Together they embark on a mission to try to stop Stonebanks and along the way Barney signs up a younger crew with the recruiting help of Bonaparte (Kelsey Grammar). Other than Mel Gibson and Wesley Snipes the other new faces in this film are Antonio Banderas who plays a comical Spanish character named Galgo and Harrison Ford who has replaced Bruce Willis' Church as one of the directors who hires Barney's team. So there is a lot of testosterone in this film with scenes of these buffed up guys carrying weapons on one hand and a beer on the other. It is the ultimate definition of macho men from the 90's. It is even comical at times so I found it hard to keep a straight face, especially with all the cheesy dialogue. I did enjoy Snipes performance as I hadn't seen him in over a decade. Antonio Banderas was a bit too comical and Mel Gibson really didn't present a real threat as the villain. The film really suffers from a poor screenplay and it wastes the talented cast perhaps because there are just too many characters and so little time for a decent and engaging story. We never really care for any of these characters and I'm surprised I even remembered some of their names despite having seen them in 3 films already.

My Review: Escape Plan (6/10)

"You hit like a vegetarian."

I was surprised that I actually ended up enjoying this film so much considering I was expecting this to be another Expendables 2 fiasco. Directed by Mikael Hafstrom (1408, The Rite), Escape Plan had an interesting premise, but the truth of the matter is I was drawn to it because I wanted to see the Italian Stalion and the Governator sharing leading roles for the first time. If this film would've taken place in the 80's or early 90's it would've been a box office hit and an instant classic. I'm sure that I at least would've given this film a much higher rating considering I was a huge fan of these cheesy and brainless shoot-em-up films during the 90's, but now my taste for this genre has cooled down and I found several flaws within the story. Despite those flaws, I still had a great time watching these two legends play off each other sharing some great chemistry and charisma together. My enjoyment of Escape Plan might be influenced by a high degree of nostalgia, but I'd still recommend this film.

The screenplay written by Miles Chapman centers on an eminent authority on structural security, Ray Breslin (Sylvester Stallone), who enters hundreds of prisons as an undercover prisoner and uses his skills to escape from it unveiling its flaws in the process. After accepting his next assignment he's framed and sent to a maximum security prison run by the warden Hobbes (Jim Caviezel) which has been designed based on Ray's own recommendations. Ray teams up with another prisoner named Emit Rottmayer (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and together they begin searching for flaws in the system in order to escape, but Hobbes keeps a close watch on them once he realizes who Ray really is. It won't be an easy task, but Ray has managed to find flaws in every system and he will need to do it once more if he wants to leave this place.

In general prison break movies appeal to me (I was a huge fan of the first two seasons of Prison Break) so this film presented an interesting premise. There were several flaws and twists that didn't work, but in general I had a good time with this suspenseful thriller (and when I say suspenseful I don't mean it in the way Paul Greengrass delivers tension, but in a much lighter but enjoyable way). The film does reach a point where it begins to feel overlong and a bit ridiculous (mostly around the third act), but I still thought it was worth it and that Arnie stole the show with his usual gags and one liners. The villains were underdeveloped and a bit over the top, but I was still glad to see Caviezel back in an important role. Escape Plan is an entertaining film that will quickly be forgotten, but works as an escapism from a dull and boring day.

My Review: The Expendables 2 (4/10)

"Track him, find him, kill him."

The Expendable 2 is a ridiculous and over the top action film that tries to connect with the audience through nostalgic action scenes and cheesy one liners. Teaming these great action stars from the 80's was a great idea and appealed to us in the first Expendables because we hadn't seen these actors do anything interesting in a long time, but in the sequel that novelty is gone and it felt like a complete embarrassment seeing these once great and talented actors working with such a lazy and predictable script. These action films full of testosterone kind of have the same appeal for men that Katherine Heigl's films have for women. Not even director Simon West who has made some decent action films in the past couldn't save this film from becoming such a train wreck. I really enjoyed Con Air and thought The Mechanic was entertaining, but this has to be one of his weakest efforts as a director. There are so many cheesy lines and dialogues in this film that it's not even funny. Arnold Schwarzenegger repeats his "I'll be back" line from Terminator like three times, Bruce Willis tells Arnold "You've been terminated," and several more lines that try to appeal to our memory of those great films of the past. I think that it was a great idea to reunite these guys for one movie, but a sequel was completely unnecessary.

The team from the first film is back with Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) leading the guns for hire crew which consists of Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Yin Yang (Jet Li), Gunnar (Dolph Lundgren), Hale Caesar (Terry Crews), and Toll Road (Randy Couture).  Barney hires some fresh blood for their next mission, former US soldier Billy (Liam Hemsworth), who everyone pretty much calls the Kid. CIA agent Church (Bruce Willis) hires the men for a simple mission that consists of retrieving something from a crashed plane in Asia. He assigns his assistant, Maggie (Nan Yu) to go with them and bring back the device they are looking for. The mission goes wrong when some men are waiting for them at the crash site and take The Kid hostage forcing them to drop their weapons and give them the device they've come to retrieve. Vilain (Jean Claude Van Damme) takes the device and the Expendables are forced to regroup in order to face Vilain and his team known as The Sangs. 

In my opinion the best thing about The Expendables 2 are the two new additions: Jean Claude Van Damme as the villain and Chuck Norris who has a couple of cameos. The scenes with Chuck Norris are hilarious as he plays along with the famous internet memes about him. He mentions how once a cobra bit him in the dessert and after five days in agonizing pain the cobra died. The Expendables does play a lot with the stereotypes of each actor and the films that made them famous, but the action scenes aren't worth saving this movie. There is nothing unique or original about this film, we've seen it all before with much better scripts. This film is so predictable that you could tell everything that was going to happen. It is just a lazy repeat of the 80's action genre films. The self deprecating jokes didn't really work for me. 

My Review: The Last Stand (6/10)

¨We are not going to let that guy come through our town without a fight.¨

Believe me, that line sounds a lot cooler when Arnie says it. The Last Stand is his first film in a lead role since Terminator 3 Rise of the Machines way back in 2003. Schwarzenegger is getting old, but he still has the charisma of a true action star. As his character in the Terminator promised he came back and he did so in this guilty pleasure action packed film directed by Jee-woon Kim (I Saw the Devil, The Good the Bad and the Weird) from South Korea. This film shouldn’t be confused with the third film of the X-Men (The Last Stand) franchise, although it does share some similarities in that this is another mindless fun action film in which we can laugh at the craziness of it all. This is a typical Schwarzenegger film that brings back some nostalgic memories of his movies using the same successful formula he used during the 80s and 90s. He is always at his best when he is given short dialogue and can answer back with some clever and funny one liners. That is exactly the case with his role here since he seems to be making fun of himself and his old age. He always has been a good sport parodying himself, his accent and his acting chops. That is what has made him such a likeable actor over the years, and that is the reason this movie is entertaining despite the ridiculous plot and story (written by Andrew Knauer). I think Schwarzenegger fans will be very pleased with this movie and have a fun time because it is a very passable and enjoyable film.

Sheriff Ray Owens (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a former LAPD officer, has moved back to his small local community of Sommerton Junction. He counts only with three inexperienced deputies: Mike (Luis Guzman), Jerry (Zach Gilford), and Sarah (Jaimie Alexander), but they seem to be more than enough since nothing ever really seems to happen in this quiet town. Meanwhile a dangerous drug kingpin named Gabriel Cortez (Eduardo Noriega) has escaped from an FBI prisoner convoy and is headed south in order to try to reach the border before the authorities catch up to him. Agent John Bannister (Forest Whitaker) is in charge of the operation, but his men have failed to catch the elusive fugitive. Now the only thing that stands between Gabriel´s escape is Sommerton, and the Sheriff will be waiting for him, but in order to do so he must prepare his unqualified men with the help of a local weapon fanatic named Lewis Dinkum (Johnny Knoxville). Together this unlikely team will have to do what the FBI couldn’t: stop Gabriel before he reaches the border.

    

This gritty and violent film works really well because it decides to incorporate a lot of comedy. It kind of makes fun of itself in its way, and that self parody is what saves this clichéd action genre film. Arnold Schwarzenegger has a lot of very funny lines and he makes fun of his old age, but he hasn’t lost his physical strength. The rest of the cast is pretty interesting, although Johnny Knoxville goes a bit over the top with his performance. The secondary characters of Sommerton are the real surprise of this film as they share the funniest scenes while interacting with each other. Luis Guzman, Zach Gilford, and Jaimie Alexander all have some funny scenes, but the true star of the film is Arnie with all the gunfights and explosions going on. This mindless film is enjoyable thanks to the funny moments throughout and some entertaining action scenes. There isn’t anything that really stands out about this film; it is just your average action film, but it marks Arnie´s comeback and it´s worth it just for that. I also felt a lot of nostalgia since this film reminded me so much of the movies I watched growing up, but that is about it. This isn’t one film you have to watch, but if you are a Schwarzenegger fan then you will enjoy this movie.

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My Review: Total Recall (1990): 5/10

¨If I am not me, then who the hell am I? ¨

I decided to revisit the 1990 hit film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger since the remake with Colin Farrell is coming out this weekend. I really couldn’t recall what the movie was about except for a couple of scenes, but in all honesty I don’t think this film has aged very well. Arnold may have been an action hero during the 80`s and 90`s, but he really isn’t a very good actor. I preferred him in more comedic roles actually, although I must admit he was great in the Terminator films. Total Recall fails because it tries to take itself too seriously and goes a little over the top with the violent scenes. I`m not against violent films, but in Total Recall it just feels a little over the top and exaggerated as is the case with most of Paul Verhoeven`s films (famous for Robocop, another film that is getting remade, but that I actually enjoyed more). There are some clever one liners that will get a smile out of you because it`s what Arnold is best at, but most of the dialogues feel forced. It just didn’t work for me. The concept of the movie is interesting and the ambiguity of the film is what many people liked, but I didn’t enjoy it all that much really. I think this is one of the worst Phillip Dick novels adapted for the big screen considering I liked Blade Runner, Minority Report, and The Adjustment Bureau a lot. This film plays out a little more cartoonish than the others, but unintentionally and that`s why I didn’t like it. It tried to be serious and ambiguous, but it ended up being cartoonish.

Douglas Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a construction worker who feels like his life is too ordinary and something is missing. He has a beautiful wife, Lori (Sharon Stone), but is obsessed with Mars and has this recurring dream where he is in Mars with a brunette who he has never met. There is a human civilization in Mars and Douglas dreams of taking a vacation there but doesn’t have the time or money to do so. Instead he decides to visit Rekall Inc., a company that specializes in implanting memories, and asks for a memory where he goes to Mars on a mission as a secret agent. Something goes wrong during the process and the doctor realizes that his brain has already been implanted and he`s been living on a fake memory. Douglas realizes that he actually isn’t who he thinks he is and begins discovering things about his past. Lori isn’t actually his wife; the memory was implanted in his head and she has only been posing as his wife during the last several weeks. Everything is a hoax, even his job as a construction worker. Douglas finds himself running from several men who are trying to kill him and discovers a clue about his past. He`s actually a secret agent from Mars and somewhere in his head he has an important secret that the administrator from Mars named Cohaagen (Ronny Cox) is trying to keep locked up and hidden. Douglas travels to Mars to try to discover more information about his past while trying to decipher what is real and what is a memory implant.

I really didn’t like any of the performances in this film. Sharon Stone is beautiful here, but she just doesn’t give a very memorable performance. Arnold Schwarzenegger has some funny moments but he just can`t play the serious parts very well. Ronny Cox and Michael Ironside play one dimensional villains and the actor who plays the taxi driver, Benny, is just terrible and obnoxious. The story didn’t work for me either so there were very few things I liked about Total Recall. They had some original and interesting ideas, but they just weren’t able to work them out in a cohesive manner. The science fiction and futuristic part of the film actually is what I enjoyed the most about it, but some of the effects were a little too far out. The scenes where some of the characters are being inflected by the atmosphere in Mars are way too cartoonish for my taste. Total Recall isn’t a terrible film, it has its entertaining moments with some good action scenes, but I just don’t think it`s a movie worth remaking.

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My Review: The Expendables (7/10)

¨ We are the shadow, the smoke in your eyes, the ghosts that hide in the night. ¨

Sylvester Stallone directs, writes, and stars in The Expendables, an action packed movie that knows exactly who its target audience is: Men. This film pays homage to the action movies from the 80`s and 90´s, and either stars or has cameos from most of these actors (Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, Eric Roberts, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger). The Expendables also stars some of today`s action heroes as well such as Jet Li, Jason Statham, Steve Austin, and Randy Couture. Stallone had previously written and directed other of his movies, such as the Rocky and Rambo franchise. The reason I actually enjoyed this movie was obviously not because of the plot, but because it was just great to see all these stars working together and doing what they do best. The action scenes are raw and really bring back the nostalgic feeling of the 80`s B action movies. The film will satisfy those blood thirsty action fans who want to see real choreographed action scenes, plenty gun and knife fights, crushed bones, and a lot of explosions without relying on the CGI effects. The Expendables isn`t a smart movie, the plot is formulaic and predictable, but the action makes up for it. It doesn`t try to be something it shouldn´t, it knows exactly who its target audience is and will only satisfy them. It`s not like ¨Killers¨ for example that really lost itself by trying to target different audience groups and couldn`t be defined in any genre. The Expendables is a fun and entertaining action film and it doesn`t try to be anything else.

Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) is the leader of a group of mercenaries who call themselves the Expendables. The team consists of Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), a man who really appreciates his knives and is having some love issues; Ying Yang (Jet Li), an expert in martial arts who is always being made fun of because he is the smallest of the group; Hale Caesar (Terry Crews), who handles heavy machinery; Toll Road (Randy Couture), the demolitionist, and Gunner Jensen (Dolph Lundgren) the sniper who is beginning to go a little crazy. The Expendables return from a successful mission in Somalia, although Barney has to cut Gunner from the group because he is becoming dangerous and unreliable. Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) offers the group a new mission on a small South American island where they have to overthrow the military dictator General Garza (David Zayas). The General receives the money to support his military dictatorship from an American drug dealer named James Munroe (Eric Roberts). Barney and Lee travel to the island in order to scout the enemy where they meet one of the rebels named Sandra (Giselle Itié). Barney decides the mission is too risky and doesn`t want the group to get involved. He offers Sandra to escape with them, but she decides to stay and fight the enemy. Back in America, Barney has a talk with his good friend and tattoo artist Tool (Mickey Rourke) and he decides the right thing to do is accept the job and rescue Sandra.

The Expendables is one of those fun action movies that is enjoyed even more because of the cast. I would recommend this movie only to fans of the 80`s action films who would like to bring back the memories. This is not a film for everyone, and is specifically a man made movie. I really had a lot of fun, but this is no masterpiece. This isn`t a smart action movie with good dialogues like Tarantino films, but it has the best action stars who are really good at kicking butt. The movie also has a couple of funny scenes which made the movie all the more entertaining. The fighting scenes were excellent, there is a lot of gore, but the plot is pretty simple, however that doesn`t take away all the fun you experience while watching all these men get their bones broken and killed. It has been a long time since I saw such a high body count, and gratuitous violence, but this is the sort of thing you are expecting from a movie like this. I didn`t think I would have as much fun with The Expendables like I did, but this is definitely not a movie for everyone. If you hate violent films then you will not want to see this. This is for fans of the 80`s action movies who would like to bring back some of the nostalgia.

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