The Expendables 3 (2014) Reviews

• Seems the audience is Expendable

  anghart2014-08-07

  When the first Expendables was announced, it was supposed to be a throwback to the early years of action cinema - gratuitous violence, one liners and major carnage. The first two films lived up to this. The third is just awful. Instead of spending more time with the aging heroes we've come to love, we get stuck with a bunch of whiny youngsters who don't do anything and aren't very interesting. I seriously doubt the so called "broader" audience this film is aimed at are gonna care about it. And the people who were interested in the series are going to be bitterly disappointed. Nice one, Sly!!! Some of the new additions to the cast aren't that bad: Banderas, Snipes, Ford, Grammar, but Gibson completely owns the film - which dies whenever he is not around. How's the action? Instead of being focused and over-the-top like the other two films, we get bland MTV style kills, thanks mainly to the new PG-13 rating. Who thought giving the film this lame rating was a good idea? Hey, lets take a series that is aimed at adults, starring aging action heroes who only the older audience will remember, and turn it into a dumb teen movie where the target audience WILL NOT CARE who they are or what they have done. Surely one of the worst business decisions in recent memory. Newcomer director Patrick Hughes has not done anything with this film, but its really hard to tell if that was intentional or if the PG-13 hack job done to the film has made it bland. Overall, this film is just a waste. Too soft for its hardcore fans, and not "hip" enough for its intended young audience. No one will be happy. Sure, it might puts bums on seats for the first week, but it will quickly disappear after that...and with good cause. "What mean Expendable?" "It's like when you're invited to a party and don't show up and nobody really cares". I suspect theater owners are gonna know the meaning of this come August 15.

• Great popcorn flick

  hawkfrend-875-9680872014-08-05

  I read a lot of bad reviews about this film, attacks on the script, plot and direction, so I was pleasantly surprised to find they were all wrong and they totally missed the point. I think these people were expecting Oscar winning performances but this film is about watching bad guys getting their a*s kicked. I also read that the actors seems withdrawn and bored of their roles and that is utter rubbish, and even if that were true it doesn't matter, im not interested in deep characters and meaningful performances in films like this, I just want to see lots of destruction and the bad guys getting owned. There's some funny dialogue here and there and Banderas' character had me smiling a lot. If you like action films you will enjoy this action romp, so ignore those bad reviews and grab yourself a bucket of popcorn and enjoy.

• Just watch it

  enquiries-81-1212242014-08-15

  You know what. With a busy lifestyle and so much to do everyday, every now and then you just need to watch an action movie that you do not need to think too much about, that simply washes over you and puts a nostalgic smile on your face. The plot might be thin, you know it will likely come good in the end and you know that the good guy is going to win. But that does not matter a jot. It is filled with quips, familiar faces, memories of the 80's and just good fun. There will be people that hate this film as just another example of mindless violence, but who cares. It is what it is. If that is what you need, then go and see this film. I loved it.

• An action movie filled with boredom

  NastyNecros2014-07-31

  I enjoyed the first two movies for what they were. They were fun rides with old actors kicking ass and making jokes about how old they are. The third installation of the series has both of those things, but, sadly, not enough. The whole reason these movies exist is for us to enjoy the nostalgia exploding through the screen while we listen to crappy one-liners and bad jokes. This movie takes itself way too seriously and, even though it tries, it just isn't self aware enough for it to work. It spends a big portion of the plot introducing a bunch of young characters pretty much no one cares about, and then it tries to make us care about those people we've never seen in our lives before. Needless to say, it does not succeed. All of a sudden we're suppose to give a damn about these one dimensional characters, and I'm not saying that the main cast has more dimensions than one, but we don't need dimension. We don't need backstory. We don't need emotion. We need to see old people doing over the top action, make old man jokes and reference their old movies. The movie just takes itself too seriously. There are jokes, but there are also dramatic moments which just fall flat. The acting isn't that good either, and neither are the new characters. It was cool to see Snipes back in action but his character was pretty much useless and didn't make any sense plot wise. Banderas was suppose to be annoying for the characters in the movie and funny for the audience, but he was just annoying. Gibson's role was pretty fun, even though he kind of just played the Joker. There's a scene taken straight from The Dark Knight, but I didn't really mind it, it was fun. Ford was just really plain and did nothing for the movie. Overall it's one of the most boring action movies I've seen. It has literally every single action movie cliché ever made, and the performances were average at best. There are also moments where the CGI is terrible and takes you away from the movie even more. I don't recommend it unless you are a big fan ( a really really big fan).

• Mediocre...

  ikari12014-08-05

  The first one was interesting seeing old big names on screen. The second one had the Chuck Norris jokes and van Damme doing his signature kicks. This one?... This one has a lot of "kaboom and badawoom"... Which is why, I guess, it is an all right movie. Unfortunately none of the big names do anything interesting on-screen. If you're expecting to see Wesley Snipes do Blade stuff, or Jet Li some amazing kung fu, nope! you will be disappointed... Mel Gibson is great, but he's got a tiny part. The only fun is provided by Antonio Banderas. As for the new actors... who cares! The problem with the Expendables movies is that the more big names are on the credits their on screen time has to be shared with others and it breaks down to just a few moments each. I do not understand how they missed the point again!