Finally got to see Expendables lll
SPOILER FREE
Expendables lll has a sad legacy placed upon it. Not only did this film leak about a good three weeks before it came out in theaters, but also flopped and got harshly criticized for watering down the swearing and graphic violence to PG-13 levels. In all honesty, it wasn't that bad but it's a sad era in filmmaking when a director or studio compromises on their projects to meet a certain ratings standard in order to secure a theatrical release and make profits. One truly misses the old experimentation period of the 1980's where great action movies emerged such as The Terminator, Aliens, Robocop, Die Hard, First Blood, Lethal Weapon, Commando, and Predator. We've seen several franchises make the transition from being rated R to PG-13 with mixed to terrible results. Die Hard 4 went PG-13 and while that one was the most successful of the series, it turned off many fans of the first three films. Terminator Salvation went PG-13 and ended up driving the Terminator franchise into the ground even further than where it was at before the fact. The remake of Robocop did ok with PG-13, but one notices when watching that film, it lacks the energy and high level action of the original 1987 classic. So going back to what was said about Expendables lll not being too bad, it really wasn't.
The third entry in this joke of a series is actually quite fun, and kept the action pretty hardcore for PG-13. One does not notice that fact until near the end of the film. It feels just as energetic, goofy, and fun as the previous two films, and on some level better. The highlight of the movie is the action and the chemistry with the action stars, though some take backseats in place for newer stars to shine in this entry. This is a definite improvement from the second movie, and gives time to flesh out the characters more in this movie. The plot for Expendables lll is this: Sylvestor Stallone's character Barney puts together a new team of Expendables to take down an evil co-founder of the expendables and notorious arms trader Conrad Stonebacks, played impressively by Mel Gibson. Conrad is hell bent on wiping out Barney and all of his associates in the old and new team. The original team which included the likes of Jason Statham, Terry Crews, Dolph Lundgren, and Jet Li are present here, but they also are welcomed by an even more impressive selection of cameos ranging from Harrison Ford, to Wesley Snipes, and Antonio Banderas. The best actors in the film are those three plus Mel Gibson. Stallone does what he does best which is to be a likeable action star, even if he's getting older. Gibson serves to be a very strong villain, though lacks some of the spark Van Damme had as the villain in the second film. Wesley Snipes intro into the group comes with a hilarious comment about why he was in jail prior to joining the team. His comment marks the real life irony of Snipes predicament for going to jail himself. Of all the expendables movies, this one probably had the best screenplay and made you care more about the characters in this one compared to the others. This is not an endorsement to it being a great piece of filmmaking, but it's certainly not as bad as people make the film out to be. It's quite entertaining and deserves at least a 7 out of 10 for understanding exactly what type of film it is, and never straying away from that logic. Expendables lll is probably the best R rated turned PG-13 transformation thus far, and it really doesn't feel that much different. The hardcore violence is still there like Stallone promised it would be. Will this be the final installment for the series? It feels like it but I doubt it will be, they'll reboot it. Is it worth a redbox rental? Sure, and it might be even better to wait for the unrated cut that will follow it's release on DVD. Honestly guys, it really wasn't that bad.
7/10
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