The Expendables

Hey all! It's been a while since my last post, but I was in New York on vacation. Before I went, I had to go see The Expendables. As bad as it sounds if you're of the male variety and grew up watching the classic action movies of the 80's then you know you want to see it as well!

What do you know from watching the trailers? Well we all know that this is a ensemble cast with most of everyone's favorites. Everyone likes to talk about the fact that Stallone and Schwarzenegger are sharing the screen for the first time and they managed to throw Bruce Willis in so they had the Planet Hollywood set, but does just having a ton of huge names make a good movie? Say it with me, "Batman and Robin"! We know that it not only needs more than star power, it can cripple a hugely successful franchise if it's not executed correctly. So like you, I was excited, but a little concerned as well!

Thankfully I left the movie theater almost completely satisfied! Stallone can make good movies, "Rocky" and "Rambo" style. However he can also make "Tango and Cash" type movies. Let's not forget the what were you thinking moment called "Stop or my Mom Will Shoot!". That tells us he has the potential but he also takes some big risks. This one paid off. You can see that he being a action movie veteran took what he learned and applied it, but if you watch some interviews you'll see, he also listened to his fellow teammates for this one. They added their collective two cents and helped him consider what to put in, and what to leave out. It moved like an action movie, but the plot development between explosions was surprisingly well done too. Although we do have some of that ridiculous impossible situations and outcomes of any action movie of this caliber, I think they understood that the audience is better educated now. When we go back and watch Rambo shredding enemy battalions single handedly, without getting a scratch, while being shirtless, and out in the open, we can laugh it off, but enjoy. With this I got the feeling they took that into consideration. Our hero's take cover and Jet Li even get's his a$$ kicked at one point.

This movie wet my appetite last year with trailers and on set pics. Almost a full year later with tension building and hunger pains, I was happy to leave the AMC with a full stomach! This is movie is what it wants so bad to be. AWESOME! If you grew up on the classics ("Total Recall", "Rambo", "Cobra", "Die Hard") like I did, give "The Expendables" a shot. You won't be disappointed.