A hearty “Hello!” to everyone on this Sunday evening (or Monday morning, again, depending where you are! Gotta cover the bases, right?). As another weekend has come and gone, anyone who knows me understands that it is TRULY a RARE thing that at least ONE afternoon or evening will include seeing a theatrical release…..so not wanting to disappoint anyone, why should this weekend be any different? That said, this week actually had two films arrive which I desired to view, but schedule has only allowed for ONE to be seen, so therefore, I give you that offering, which is “The Expendables 3”.
Directed by relative newcomer Patrick Hughes, who has 3 shorts (“The Director“, “The Lighter“, and “Signs“) and 1 major film (“Red Hill“) to his credit prior, the movie wastes no time throwing us into the fray as we come upon the last remaining members of the Expendables spec-ops team, lead by Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), including Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), and Toll Road (Randy Couture) as they fly into action chasing down an armored prison train carrying, we find out, a fellow brother-in-arms Doc (Wesley Snipes). Once the said rescue is executed, the team is on the way to their next mission, apparently to break up an arms deal. In this, they also link up with another veteran team member, Caesar (Terry Crews). When the mission takes an unexpected turn, especially in finding out a certain individual, Conrad Stonebanks (Mel Gibson), is both involved and a big piece of Barney’s past, a potential loss on top of it places Barney and crew in the sights of government agent Drummer (Harrison Ford) whom we find out had more invested in the mission that Barney even knew of, AND who wants the mess cleaned up. All the action makes Barney second guess the validity of his current team and with Stonebanks’ emergence made a personal matter, Barney seeks out a new team to assist and go after him. Utilizing his own government contact in a man named Bonaparte (Kelsey Grammer), a younger team of specialists is created, including Thorn (Glen Powell), Mars (Victor Ortiz), Smilee (Kellan Lutz), and Luna (Ronda Rousey), much to the disappointment of his older comrades, who feel left out to dry by their leader. The mission goes through, with additional assistance coming from previously seen contact Trench (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and a new, eccentric character in Galgo (Antonio Banderas). Thinking a guaranteed success, the initial goal of the task is accomplished via Drummer’s wishes, but things go south, and suddenly Barney is faced with a choice to either rectify things on his own, or end up back with the team that started it all. and from this point, all the chaos and over-the-top action you would expect to come about DOES, and Barney’s goal of retribution begins it’s final journey. As usual, any more real detail would be giving away plot points (no matter HOW basic they really are!), so need to follow the established rule to NOT give away too much.
Let’s be honest…how much CAN you REALLY say about a film like this when the real goal here is just COMPLETELY brainless action and bravado? This delivered exactly what I thought it would, and of course, I cannot deny there ARE plenty of moments that you sit there and cannot help but laugh at the sheer absurdity of it, yet get SO much simple entertainment out of it as well! What ultimately struck me was that the characters I got the most joy out of watching were NOT the MAIN guys making up the veteran Expendables team. I was more engaged by seeing Mel Gibson back on the big screen, playing the bad guy much less, and actually managing to NOT necessarily OVERact the part, but rather bring SOME semblance of genuine menace to Stonebanks’ character as I feel ONLY Mel can do. There is still that sense of dark humor in the character along the way, of course, and that only lends to his involvement being that much more fun to view. I mean, even IN a film like this where deep dialogue is certainly not expected (nor IS it present anyway), Mel is such a good actor that he manages to deliver a solid performance with what he’s been given. The other standout for me was Antonio Banderas’ Galgo, a rather……talkative……fellow whose sporadic outbursts also lend themselves to some great comic moments in the midst of the chaos. In typical Expendables fashion, there IS plenty of chaos, though the film’s “PG-13” rating cut down the graphic nature of it as a whole, though I would still call this a “HARD PG-13”. Several of the other newcomers, such as Wesley Snipes’ Doc (who does make one particular remark that fit QUITE nicely if you are familiar with Snipe’s recent history), Harrison Ford’s agent Drummer (played just like you expect Harrison to play him…I think Han’s attitude shows up in EVERY role Ford plays like this one! LOL), and Rousey’s Luna (whose acting delivery won’t win awards….but that’s not what she’s here for, either, right? She is GREAT at kicking butt!) all add to the mayhem in the ways you would want them to. Visually, the film doesn’t shy away from the gunfire, explosions, knives, rocket launchers, choppers, tanks, hand-to-hand, and CRAZY out of this world escapes that we all enjoy and, again, EXPECT, in this story. It’s always about facing the impossible odds and overcoming them via as much ammunition and other weapons you can deploy in a contained amount of runtime! I would be lying if I said the film kept my attention the WHOLE time, but this is what it is and you go into it knowing there are no Oscar expectations here….and why would you ever want that in ANY “Expendables” film anyway? I have seen it now, and once will be enough for me. It’s another example of true Summer escapism at its……..something. LOL
As always, this is all for YOUR consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
