Film Review – Expendables 3
Director: Patrick Hughes
Screenplay by Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford, Antonio Banderas, Jason Statham, Wesley Snipes, Randy Couture, Kellan Lutz
Genre: Action
Stars ****
Expendables 3 follows the team led by Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) and consisting of Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren) and Toll Road (Randy Couture) as they extract former member, Doctor Death (Wesley Snipes) who is also a knife specialist, from military imprisonment during his transfer on a train.
After recruiting Doc, they meet up with Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) who directs them to the drop point where Ross is surprised to find out that the arms trader providing the bombs is Conrad Stonebanks (Mel Gibson). Stonebanks co-founded the Expendables, but later betrayed the team to profit from illegal weapons dealing. This led to the demise of some of the team’s members while the remaining members were under the impression Stonebanks also died. Also on the hunt for Stonebanks is CIA operative Max Drummer (Harrison Ford). By necessity, the younger and the older operatives must now team up to catch this villain before he sets the country on a path of destruction. Yes, this is a movie worth watching twice. I enjoyed every moment of it. I half expected them not to be able to match the excellent standards of the first two installments of this movie series. The storyline is not too deep to diminish the rough, manly nature of the movie, just light enough to keep the audience in tune.
The picture quality is quite good and I enjoyed the fact that apart from the inevitable explosions, the rest of the movie does not depend on a barrage of intimidating special effects. I have always been a fan of Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jason Statham. They, to me, are the core of this movie and their characters really complement each other throughout, seamlessly integrating with the rest of the supporting cast. I was thrilled to see the new faces added especially, Kellan Lutz. He has a talent that I feel needs more exposure and this movie was perfect for that. I really enjoyed that there is an actual, rational storyline one can follow and enjoy at the same time. Adding Wesley Snipes, Antonio Banderas, Harrison Ford and Mel Gibson into the mix just gave it the extra oomph it needed. There are no words to express how I savoured the experience after I watched it the first time. However, I wondered where Texas Walker was with his legendary phrases of how he can’t be killed. It really warms the heart to see that Hollywood doesn’t get rid of its action legends but they still find a way to come onto our screens and fill us with the same fire they once used to in movies such as Rocky, The Terminator, Transporter, The Fugitive and the likes. I think this was made evident by Harrison Ford, when he said “I haven’t had so much fun in years.” The movie gave us many laughable quotes, as expected from all our heroes. Wesley Snipes was asked Why’d you go to prison? He replied,”Tax Evasion”. I sincerely recommend this movie for everyone, and honestly can not wait to see what happens next, should there be an Expendables 4.
