Director: Patrick Hughes
Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Wesley Snipes, Dolph Lundgren, Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford, Kelsey Grammer, Ronda Rousey, Randy Couture, Antonio Banderas, Kellan Lutz, Victor Ortiz, Jet Li, Terry Crews.
Certificate: 12A
Running Time: 126 minutes
Synopsis: When Barney (Stallone) is called in to infiltrate an arms deal, the last person he expected to see was ex-Expendable and rival Conrad Stonebanks (Gibson). However, with Barney’s team getting older he decides it’s time to hire some new, younger blood to help take down Stonebanks.
After the phenomenal success of THE EXPENDABLES (2010), raking in a huge $274 million worldwide, it was inevitable that a sequel was on the way. 2012 saw the release of the second installment, a bigger budget resulting in an even bigger box-office gross ($311.9 million). No surprises then that #3 was on the way, and it’s bolder than anything we’ve seen previously.
Pumped full of adrenaline from the very beginning, the opening sees Barney, Christmas (Statham), Gunner Jensen (Lundgren) and Toll Road (Couture) dangling precariously out of a helicopter, intending to break former Expendable (and psychopathic killer) Doc (Snipes) free from a high-security prisoner train. After swooping away to safety, Barney is informed of a dangerous arms deal going down, with the usual team pulled in to help take down the criminals. However, after arriving on the scene he realizes that his target isn’t any old gang member but Conrad Stonebanks, ex-Expendable, ex-friend and ridiculously wealthy mob boss looking to purchase several cases of nuclear weapons. When Conrad makes the ensuing gunfight a little too personal for one member of the team, Barney vows to do whatever it takes to get rid of him once and for all…but without risking the lives of his best friends.
This decision leads Barney to Bonaparte (Grammer), a supposed know-it-all when it comes to the best fighters living around the world. With his help he enlists a handful of new Expendable members, including Smilee (Lutz), Luna (Rousey) and Mars (Ortiz); fresh, young faces ready to kick some ass. However, when their attack on Stonebanks goes horribly wrong, Barney is left to pick up the pieces by himself, all the while trying to avoid his arch rival.
While this third installment sticks to the formula cemented down by its predecessors, what makes THE EXPENDABLES 3 different is the feeling you get from the cast. It’s obvious throughout that these guys (and girl; perhaps a nod towards the planned EXPENDABELLES spin-off) love working with each other, no matter what side of the team they’re on. While Stallone, Statham, Schwarzenegger and the rest ham it up in their typical tongue-in-cheek style, Gibson as Stonebanks is, at times, truly terrifying. His manic laugh and bad intentions almost hark back to Heath Ledger’s Joker in THE DARK KNIGHT, especially during a short scene where Conrad informs Barney (via video stream) that his team is kaput. While Gibson terrifies, some of the team’s newest members bring the humour. Antonio Banderas as the extremely talkative Galgo, an excitable puppy dog in human form, is an example of genius casting. Desperate to join Barney on his quest for vengence, Galgo will do anything to be heralded as an official Expendable, talking Barney’s ears off until he agrees to let him in. Again, Wesley Snipes as Doc shows that Stallone and producer Avi Lerner certainly know their stuff when it comes to great character actors, with Snipes switching easily between menacing murderer and cocky hero/legend.
Of course, the film isn’t without its faults. While the previous two features were categorized under the 15 banner, #3 has been demoted to a 12A, making it accessible to a much wider (and younger) audience; this then effects the amount of gore we see on screen. That’s not to say that it’s more like a quaint tea-party (far from it), it’s just lacking the blood and guts we saw in the previous two films. Consisting of cut-away shots and quick edits diverting from any bleeding bullet wounds, it may be suitable for a strong-stomached 14 year-old, but I’m not too sure that taking your kid brother to your local multiplex would be a good idea, especially considering the amount of swearing there is throughout. While the film seems to speed through most of the story, there are some slower-paced, thoughtful moments when we see the characters (especially Barney and Stonebanks) really reflect on their situation, giving this threequel a softer side, which is, at times, a little out of place. Other than that, a few continuity errors and gaps in the plot can be overlooked when you’re having this much fun.
Fiery and exciting from beginning to end, THE EXPENDABLES 3 is exactly what you’ll expect – full of gunfire, cigar-smoking, near-misses and blown-up buildings. Typical steroid-injected, escapism cinema, if you’re a fan of #1 and #2 then this is not one to miss. It’s crazy to think that Stallone is old enough to be my grandfather but what a kick-ass grandad he’d be!
[usr=4] THE EXPENDABLES 3 is in cinemas from 14th August.
