The Expendables- Such Fun!

The Ladies and I, and a hubby, went to see The Expendables on Labor Day. If you've seen the previews, I'll bet you expect to see most of the familiar action-adventure, blood and gore, shoot 'em up, kick ass guys all in one movie go after somebody for some reason. If they have to have a reason. The reason is probably incidental to the action, it usually is. Well, you'd be right. But it's FUN! Explosive, bloody, gory, kickass, sometimes witty, never taking itself seriously fun.

OH- Spoiler Alert- If you haven't seen Diehard 4 or some other movies, I might spoil them for you. But you've seen previews, how much can I spoil?

Now, I'm a Diehard fan. I laughed through Diehard 4. I mean really..... who says "You just took out that helicopter with a car!".... "Well, I was out of ammunition." And then Bruce walks away, I mean he WALKS AWAY... from a battle with a fighter jet. Seriously, this is not real life. He shouldn't have lived through Diehard 1. But I love John McLane despite his nine lives. (Just don't bother watching Surrogates- the hair should tip you off). But I've digressed and my point here is this: The Expendables was much more gory. I think it was gorier than Braveheart. I spent a lot of time yesterday hiding my eyes sort of, you know, hands in front of face and peeking through fingers. It was very, very graphic and tended to linger just a moment longer than necessary on the consequences of an action. I guess that was Sly's call. After all, it was his film. Oh, yes, Sly co-wrote, directed and starred in Expendables. Guess he was running out of money.

But back to the movie. Sly Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li (very funny and amusing, a nice surprise, his part was nicely written), Randy Couture and Terry Crews make up the team called the Expendables. When not dead set on mayhem, they hang out with a guy named Tool who is a tattoo artist: Mickey Rourke, looking like he hasn't recovered from his role in the Wrestler. Eric Roberts plays the nasty American, ex-CIA man who has taken over a tiny Island somewhere for his own gain. There are cameos by Bruce and Arnold. It's a wonderful scene actually, near the beginning of the movie: Bruce, Sly and Arnold. This scene alone is worth the price of the movie ticket. It's short but it's all I needed. Yeah, you'll come out of the theatre wanting more, but I'm easily pleased. I like puns, I like entendres.....
I like this film.