EXPENDABLES 4 (2023)
Growing up in the 1980s and 90s, cinematic heroes like Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and Kurt Russell, along with so many others dominated the action scene for years. The action blockbuster film had become larger than life and so had the actors starring in them. As kids we used to ask who would win in a fight: Stallone or Schwarzenegger? Jackie Chan or Jet Li? Snake Plissken or Mad Max? All of us dreamed about a single movie where all of the great action movie stars were together on screen at the same time.
2010's Expendables felt like that dream had finally come true. Sylvester Stallone had come back and revitalized Rocky in 2006. He reminded us all that Rambo was still the king of action in 2008. And then in 2010 he showed audiences everywhere why his generation of action heroes was the best. I absolutely loved the Expendables, feeling it was one of the best action movies I had seen in years. And, for the most part, it delivered on that childhood dream... almost. Schwarzenegger and Willis were there, but only as cameos. And Dolph Lundgren drew the short straw. But still, it was a solid R rating and the action was intense.
Expendables II was highly anticipated, with the promise that Schwarzenegger and Willis would have bigger parts, Lundgren would be treated better, and Jean-Claude Van Damme would take them all to task as the villain. Sadly, that film felt watered down compared to the previous by virtue of being rated PG-13 (retro-fitted to be Rated R after fan backlash, but it was by all intents a PG-13 film). Sylvester Stallone directed the first Expendables himself, but stepped aside for the sequel, resulting in not nearly as great a film. But it was still really damn fun with some great moments. And Chuck Norris showed up too!
And then came The Expendables III in 2014. Willis was out, but Harrison Ford was in along with Wesley Snipes and Antonio Banderas! And Mel Gibson took on the role of the big bad villain. But then they added a ton of younger stars and up & coming talent, which no one wanted to see cluttering an Expendables movie. Following the downward trend, this third film, despite some great performances by Mel Gibson and others, felt the weakest of the three. At the time I was pretty disappointed in this film, but today, ten years later, I've come to still enjoy it for the fun film that it is.
At the time, given the diminishing returns for each subsequent film, I didn't feel the need for an Expendables 4. Over the years though, seeing the action film evolve with movies like John Wick, the Raid, and the last few Mission Impossible films, my mind was thinking of how another Expendables movie, updated with the action sensibilities of today, could look. And 2019's Rambo: Last Blood was brutal and amazing. It seemed to me that there was no reason why a new Expendables movie couldn't go that extra step and reinvigorate the franchise.
Now, we have our look at a new Expendables film...
THE SYNOPSIS
Barney Ross, Lee Christmas, Gunner, Toll Road, and the rest of the gang head out on another mission to save the world. The plan goes awry, the mission goes belly-up, and one of the Expendables dies. Things get personal as the surviving Expendables gear up for a revenge mission with possibly igniting World War III in the process. Will the Expendables succeed? And who will be left alive by the end of it?
INITIAL IMPRESSIONS
These movies are the equivalent of juke food and you feel good while watching. This was simply a fun movie. It wasn't great. It wasn't trash. It was a fairly middle of the road, old-fashion action fun. It did not evolve like I was hoping it would've, nor did it drop off from the bar set by the previous film. It remained decidedly consistent from the previous sequel (still not as good as the original... maybe not quite as good as Expendables II either). And the stellar cast of Expendables III (the real action stars, not those young kids) may even give E3 the edge over E4 at the end of the day.
Adding Tony Jaa and Iko Uwais were definite highlights. Having seen the Ong Bak films and The Raid films along with other films with Tony Jaa and Iko Uwais, I have a hard time believing anyone on the Expendables team could take them down. Sadly, there was no scene in which Tony Jaa launches into a flying knee attack (if you have Tony Jaa in your film, how do you not have at least one flying knee?!). But the biggest missed opportunity here was not pitting Tony Jaa against Iko Uwais. That fight would've been LEGENDARY! What an incredible shame to have not taken advantage of this.
Stallone and Lundgren take it easy this time around and sadly don't do a whole lot in this movie, which was another real disappointment. Instead, the movie leans on Jason Statham to carry it. Statham gets the lion's share of the action and the truly standout moments. I love Jason Statham and he's always fun to watch, but these movies should be ensemble pieces and not a Statham solo act. I just wish the filmmakers would've shared more standout action sequences with the rest of the cast as most of them felt as though they could've easily disappeared into the background.
The other additions to the cast like Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, Jacob Scipio, and Megan Fox didn't really leave much of an impression. Levy Tran had some neat moments next to Tony Jaa, but nothing all that grand. There really needed to be a female villain for her and Fox to throw down with, someone like Julie Estelle (who is AMAZING and could've kicked their asses). They should've also added Joe Taslim and Yayan Ruhian to round out Iko Uwais' crew (but, if they had added Estelle, Taslim, and Ruhian, the Expendables would've never survived!). And, while it was cool to see Andy Garcia again, I feel like he was wasted and not given time to shine either.
After the devastating inciting incident, the rest of the movie builds up this "ultimate enemy" that Stallone could never defeat. They even go so far as to say that this nemesis killed all of Stallone's original Expendables team (a team prior to the movies). All of this build up should've led to an epic reveal of the film's true villain. And it falls flat, at least for me it did. I was hoping for something worthy of Stallone or Schwarzenegger, like Steven Seagal or Keanu Reeves or Jackie Chan or Carl Weathers or Kurt Russell or Michael Jai White or someone with real movie history in the action realm or history with Stallone. How about Tom Cruise?! The villains of the first film were Eric Roberts and Stone Cold Steve Austin, cool but underwhelming. The villains of the second movie were Jean-Claude Van Damme and Scott Adkins (Adkins is very underrated and this team-up was great). The third movie it was Mel friggin Gibson! Talk about saving the best for last. This movie really needed a great ultimate enemy and a great team of villains that could potentially defeat the Expendables. Other the amazing Iko Uwais, the enemies in this film were severely lacking.
The opening action sequence was solid and set a pretty good tone going forward with the movie. And the moment one of the Expendables dies grabs your attention. Iko Uwais shines as the villain at the beginning. The second act drags a little bit as it sets the pieces in place for the grand finale. The finale is pretty good overall, but when you take into account the missed opportunities and potential of what could've been, it leaves a little something to be desired.
THE VERDICT
The first Expendables film showed audiences what could've been and delivered on an epic dream-match we waited decades to see. This latest Expendables film leaves audiences wondering what could've been rather than delivering another action movie dream come true. Even so, absence certainly makes the heart grow fonder, I suppose. I'd be lying if I said there wasn't a warm fuzzy feeling inside me seeing Stallone, Statham, Lundgren, and the crew back together again. It was nice, like seeing old friends again. So, while this movie had its share of disappointments, I was still able to enjoy myself with this movie.
Overall Ranking: 5 out of 10
I really do love these actors and I'm glad we were able to get four films out of the Expendables concept. But this movie I think lost sight of what the Expendables is all about. These films should be "dream casting" scenarios and action event films. It won't be much longer before the great cinematic action heroes of the 80s, 90s, and 2000s retire. No Expendables-like opportunity should be wasted.
For more of our thoughts on action films, check out these other posts below
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE - DEAD RECKONING PART 1 (2023)
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