The Expendables

"Only an idiot would do this job."
"How much?"
"Like I said."

The best mercenaries are known as the Expendables.  Led by Barney Ross (Stallone), the men are good friends, that get the job done.  On one routine mission, one member of the team, Gunner Jensen (Lundgren) goes rogue and has to be subdued by the rest of the team, and is fired once they get home.

The team is contacted by Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) with a job offer: to take down a dictator, General Garza (Zavas), in South America.  Barney and the team: knife expert Lee Christmas (Stratham), big gun enthusiast Hale Caesar (Crews), martial arts expert Yin Yang (Li), and superstitious Toll Road (Couture).; go to South America and find that there is a worse problem then the general.  Former CIA Agent James Munroe (Roberts) and his team of muscle are the puppet masters behind the general's ruling style and actions.  Can they save the day, get the girls, and get out with the entire team intact?


Don't go into this film expecting much plot wise.  There isn't much of a plot... the film focuses more on the impressive action sequences.  The characters are not fully developed.  Most of the Expendable team do not have backgrounds and do not appear on screen much.  The film focuses on Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham's characters.  They are the focus, their characters actually have dimension, unlike the rest of the cast.

The male cast consists of well-known action stars and former athletes, with a few exceptions.  With that reputation, the action sequences need to be excellent, and they were.  The action sequences are well done.  These are the best actors in the genre, and know what they are doing.  They each get a chance to shine and get their own battle.  There are several fights and many explosions.

The two female characters don't do much.  Charisma Carpenter plays the girlfriend of Jason Statham's character.  She is in a few scenes, but is not really a necessary character, except to show the personal life of one character.  The other female character is Giselle Itie as Sandra, their contact in South America.  She is a tough character and gets a decent amount of screen time, but I do not believe her connection with Sylvester Stallone's character.  The other extraneous character is Mickey Rourke's Tool.  He was only in a few scenes, but there was no purpose for his character.

The acting and plot were .... eh.  The action was great!

The Expendables (2010) 103 minutes
Rating: R for strong action and bloody violence throughout, and for some language.
Director: Sylvester Stallone
Starring: Sylvester Stallone as Barney Ross
Jason Statham as Lee Christmas
Jet Li as Yin Yang
Dolph Lundgren as Gunner Jensen
Eric Roberts as James Munroe
Randy Couture as Toll Road
Steve Austin as Dan Paine
David Zavas as General Garza
Giselle Itie as Sandra
Charisma Carpenter as Lacy
Gary Daniels as The Brit
Terry Crews as Hale Caesar
Mickey Rourke as Tool