THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
For the most part, I see a movie to enjoy myself and action films do just that for me to the point where I can tolerate the ones that are identified as guilty pleasure. So at this point, I got no shame in enjoying The Expendables 3.
PLOT
The film follows mercenary Barney Ross extract a former expendable from a prison transfer, named Doctor Death who is a medic/knives specialist. The extraction would be successful thanks to the assist of Lee Christmas, Gunner Jensen & Toll Road. Doc is recruited by Ross to intercept a bomb shipment scheduled to be delivered to a warlord in Somalia. He and the team meet up with Hale Caesar to get the job done, but it backfires when Ross discovers that the target is someone he knows. The arms trader happened to be Conrad Stonebanks, who once co-founded the expendables but chose to go rogue and was presumed dead after Barney killed him as he recollects. Ross' attempt to go after him but would have to retreat when Caesar gets severely wounded. Despite getting him medical treatment in New Orleans, there is no guarantee of the man's recovery. Feeling ashamed of letting his vendetta get the best of him, he decides to go without his original team. This would predictably upset them all as they believe they also deserve to avenge Caesar. Ross would go to mercenary recruiter Bonaparte to assemble a team of younger mercenaries to help him go after Stonebanks. The new team would include: former marine John Smilee, nightclub bouncer Luna, skilled hacker Thorn & weapons expert Mars. CIA Operations Officer Max Drummer, a replacement to Mr. Church as Barney's missions manager, gives him the coordinates to track down Stonebanks in Bucharest, but orders to have him brought in alive to International Criminal, and try him for his war crimes. Former business rival turned acquaintance Trench Mauser drops off the new team at Bucharest and plans to meet to meet them at a rendezvous once the enemy is captured. Ross' new team does capture Stonebanks in the middle of a negotiation with another arms buyer, but they don't make it to the rendezvous when his personal army rescues him with the use of a GPS tracker on his watch. Ross escapes and reunites with Trench, only to receive a message from Conrad to come to him in Azmenistan if he wants to rescue his new team he holds captive. Motivated by anger, he gears up with more ammunition to prepare for his most personal war. This time, he's accompanied by veteran sharpshooter Galgo, whose been constantly turned down by Bonaparte, and his original team who refuse to let him go alone. When they reach Azmenistan, they do find the younger expendables but find the building they were left captive with rigged explosives by Conrad (set to detonate by 45 seconds). Once freeing the others, Thorn uses a jammer device to pause the timer for at least 25 minutes. Despite avoiding instant death, they must shoot their way out against the enemy's Azmenistanian army to escape the building before the jammer's battery dies. Despite being overwhelmed by tanks and helicopters, Drummer arrives to assist all expendables to better the odds, flying his own chopper accompanied by Trench & Yin Yang (Jet Li). With a second wave of the army on the way, everyone heads to the top of the building to board the chopper and escape. All but Barney make it due to being held up by Stonebanks himself who challenges him to a fight. Ross is able to kill him for good when shooting him down and luckily, is able to make it to Drummer's chopper seconds after the detonation happens. The film would end with all returning to New Orleans and celebrating Caesar's recovery.
THOUGHTS
The best way to discuss this film is through Pros and Cons.
PROS: Despite the second film leaving a high bar of quality, I didn't have high expectation for this particular entry because I just wanted to keep having fun watching movies every now and then. So I'm delighted that I'm still able to have such a feeling after checking this out. In my opinion, Director Simon West, who would go on to helm The Hitman's Bodyguard, does keep the ball rolling in making an action film that's generally entertaining. You expect solid editing to make each chase/shootout be investing and they arguably still do here. The back to back extraction scene and dock scene were pretty dope to look back on, but it was really the climax in Azmenistan that's pretty dope the production design for the insights of the singular building the action takes place in was riveting because of the multiple perspectives to follow. Besides the scenes I'm bound to tune in for, the one reason I've been able to sit through and embrace this film goes to the continuing theme of appreciating the brotherhood you build and never discard it because you'll guarantee regret. It's a simple theme that is appropriately fleshed out from the most stacked ensemble of the franchise. Sylvester Stallone has us respect Barney a lot more than before because while wanting to finish what he started, he tries to be protective with his main clique by keeping him away from he has to do. He acts fast in making a new team not to avoid bonding but for believing their youth will guarantee success. It comes off selfish, but at least better intentions than Stonebanks. It did and it didn't because they briefly had the enemy at the grasp of their fingers, they weren't ahead like they wished. Ross doesn't hesitate going back because he had to fix the wrong and he allowed his original team to rejoin him because it would've been avoided had they been with him from the start. Thankfully, merging two generations was the key to success by the end of the day. Jason Statham still makes an impressive mark with Lee because he embraces the same natural loyalty that the others would follow. They care about Caesar too and know Ross isn't thinking straight to do it without them. And when it comes to being a helping hand like he usually is, taking no for an answer is not an option. I felt bad for Gunner during that point because Ross was the one who gave him the second chance to be by his side after he got clean and felt like it was wasted with that decision. Dolph Lundgren was able to embrace that moment of depression when the character lashes out during target practice. Luckily, he joins Lee and the others to avenge their brother in arms. It was indeed dope to see Terry Crews' Caesar wield a mini-gun for a few seconds, but I was devastated that his crippling would be the catalyst for the film to continue. In a way, Wesley Snipes was a spiritual replacement because as Doc, he came off as an eccentric figure that knew exactly how to direct his energy. I even thought it was funny for he and Lee to have such a minor banter due to having similar skills. Even he felt disrespected when Ross chose to go without him because he didn't want to disconnect with him after just being broken out. Again it was a relief for Ross to reaccept him and the others when necessary. I still appreciate Arnold Schwarzenegger as Trench who knows Barney better than everyone else. He knows how full of pride he is to do things his way, which is why he is willing to help him as much. Personally, I believe he reached out to Galgo and the original team because he ain't gonna bare losing a friend for taking a suicidal action. It may have been brief, but he and Yang were a great pair and it's a shame they don't return in the fourth film at all like Doc. It was a tough call for this to go on without Bruce Willis since his presence in the first two were very special. Having said that, I didn't mind the be all end all of action icons Harrison Ford being his replacement. His presence was worthwhile because he's more commanding than Church but knows where Ross is coming from with his actions. He hates Stonebanks too for killing friends of his own and is willing to do whatever to get even as well. Had it not been for the sympathy, he would've not been so lenient. It was quite the shame he was absent in the fourth film too because he would've been quite helpful to the gang for nostalgia's sake. Of all the new characters I enjoyed the most, it was Galgo. Antonio Banderas made such a treat out of him because him being so talkative represented how friendly he was and got playful in action as a way to motivate himself to keep going which is pretty cool if you ask me. You definitely feel for the guy since the last mission he had beforehand, he was the sole survivor of a mission that went wrong and Barney chose to sympathize for him since he ironically knew the same people that were with him. Even him not coming back was disappointing, but at least Galan was a decent substitute. Of course the younger stars implied the benefits of trying something new every now and then, which is why I was relieved to appreciate their presence be subtle delivery. It was already one thing to have UFC legend Randy Couture play Toll Road, but things really shook up with Ronda Rousey as Luna and boxer Victor Ortiz as Mars. Rousey was cool with Luna for making her deceptive and one who doesn't waste time putting up with people's bullshit. What I liked with Ortiz is that despite having a chip on his shoulder, he puts his skills to good use and nor does he waste time when it comes to taking action. I even thought it was cool to see Glen Powell in one of his earliest acting credits before Top Gun: Maverick. What I liked about him as Thorn is how he flexes his brain in the best and worse case scenarios which made him quite useful. Without him, there is no way the whole team would make it out alive. Kellan Lutz was a pleasant surprise as Smilee because he had this self aware attitude on knowing his worth and doesn't take advantage of it until someone notices it. He may come off arrogant, but he's a humble figure deep down because he knows what loss is in the field and Barney respected the latter. With all said four characters who brought in needed youth to bring extra excitement, you can bet I was pissed they were absent too. Of course with so many protagonists, you can almost forget an antagonist exists to make the action possible. It was a whole other ballgame to get Mel Gibson as Stonebanks since he brought in much needed depth to such simple lore. He's the ideal ruthless figure who enjoys committing crimes of war because he prefers being his own boss rather than be someone beneath. He does what he does as one who is self aware blood is bound to be shed on either side and doesn't see a difference off of that. That is where Ross differed from him because he restrained himself from the greed and never needed more than he deserved. He was in the right to try taking him out first and finish the deed by the end because people like him are the reason the world is imperfect. With one less psychopath, he can sleep peacefully with the worst of his past behind him.
CONS: I do not kid when I say I enjoyed this film but it will not excuse the handful of problems that hold it back from being better. The most obvious problem is the visual effects that were done in the climax because it looked like a very bad rough cut of a Call of Duty level. I lose suspense whenever I see a fake plane and a fake building. I even say the same with Thorn's parachute which was quite embarrassing when trying to introduce a character cool enough to advance the plot. They didn't even try to make the smoke look real when Barney's running from the explosion, which is so embarrassing because it just pulls me away from the fake-out suspense. That doesn't even bother me with the shit that bothered me story wise. Now I like Kelsey Grammer as the world weary Bonaparte, but I felt like this role is just a substitute for Mickey Rourke's Tool. This was such a big opportunity to being him back and they wasted it. It was a cool opener for Doc to be broken out of a prison transfer, but why was one of the guards unaware of the commotion outside the train? He didn't have headphones on, so he should've something to get him on guard. And it gets worse when the henchmen don't notice the team sneak onto the dock when they were right in front of them. I know it's supposed to be easy to take out some henchmen in these kind of movies, but they gotta be smarter than this for once. I don't blame Barney for wanting to deal with Stonebanks sooner, but it was bound to backfire not because it would've been too early but instead of how he and the team never had any cover from the oncoming fire. Had he instructed them to take cover while fighting, Caesar probably would've not been shot. Another mistake he makes is scouting the place in daylight when Stonebanks could've spotted him. I mean that's just begging to lose. I did think it was cool for Luna to show off her combat skills as a bouncer, but why have your glasses on for a job that can get physical? If she's got contact lens, she should've kept those on during her shift. I totally agree with Smilee to always know what you're up against and Barney provided the answer when giving him Stonebanks' file. It does come off he catches on to the connection because he sees the tatoo on Stonebanks, but how does he know that's part of Barney's trademark? He has his own covered on his back which was covered by his shirt and there's no way he saw Gunner's tattoo on his arm because he was more than 6 feet apart from him when they first met, so they should've just away before he sees the tattoo in the picture. Also, it was totally on Thorn to miss the tracker when he's the group's tech wiz. Even though Luna incapacitated him, he should've scanned him before takeoff. And Stonebanks definitely wastes time giving Barney's team a chance of 45 seconds to escape the rigged building when he could've just triggered the explosives without the timer. It's one way to taunt Barney, but it's another to get rid of the main obstacle. In conclusion, The Expendables 3 is a decent action film that is capable to find its way to be entertaining with its simple setting. If you're an action lover and enjoyed the first two, I hope you find a way to dig this one as well.
Comments