One thing I noticed right away was that it looked like the actors wanted to be there, and this really showed with the great chemistry between the handful of leads from scene to scene. The best thing about this film is the cast, just as it was in the first two movies. The cast is arguably the main reason the majority of people even watch the Expendables. From old timers like Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, to Hollywood’s latest action stars like Jason Statham, the franchise seems to have seen them all. To me, this is the most entraining thing about these films, seeing the greatest action stars of all time on screen, together. This appears to be the main objective for the crew when making these movies, and it’s safe to say, they have reached their goal with all three films. Some of the action sequences were fun to watch play-out only because of the actors. Unfortunately, the PG-13 style violence and predictable shootouts ruined many of the fire fights throughout.
The pacing was slightly shaky at times, causing for it to feel like the majority of the runtime was wasted by following the exact same format from the first two films. Not that I ever got bored, I just found myself predicting the outcome of the movie by the 20 minute mark. As many action movies are guilty of, cheesy dialogue is littered throughout the film, yet it didn’t bug me as much as usual, because it felt humbly self aware. Unfortunately it was far from perfect at hiding it’s flaws, as the extremely unrealistic scenes kept me from enjoying the movie. With the R rating lifted, the much tamer PG-13 rating shows more than I would have liked to seen. The film seemed to hide the more gritty, bloody violence, from the first two films with a much more stylized violence which made the action sequences feel more like a superhero flick than a shoot 'em up action. The two hour runtime seemed far too long and could have easily been cut down to improve the overall tone and pacing. Watching the body count rise to insane heights wasn't as entertaining as the first two, as the killing felt much more glorified and unrealistically clean. Not that I’m a blood craving teen’, but I would have liked to seen more of the carnage as it was brought to the table in the first two, as that would have made much more sense. This film felt like it belonged in a more tween appropriate franchise rather than a bloody action saga. Even though this move made sense for marking, it wasn't the most entertaining transition, especially for more mature followers.
Despite the film using every action movie cliché in the book, I found the The Expendables 3 somewhat entertaining. At this point in the franchise you know what to expect out of these films, and it delivered just that. The Expendables 3 isn’t a film you need to rush out and see, but it will be a fun catch with friends at a cheaper theater further into it’s release. Even though it would have been nice to see something different out of the franchise, it accomplished what it set out to do by making an entertaining summer action movie.
C-
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