THE EXPENDABLES franchise has run out of steam of it is just suffering from a badly written script.  THE EXPENDABLES 3 is good for the first thirty minutes where they break out Wesley Snipes (on his way back to prison) and go on a mission they think is simple only to find out that Conrad Stonebanks (MelGibson), one of the original Expendables Barney Ross thought he killed isn’t dead after all.   Then Barney decides to retire the old team (because he doesn’t want another one of his team on his conscience) and hire some young new Expendables (where the woman is the only interesting character out of the bunch and that is a problem when you don’t care a lick for them).  Harrison Ford is OK as the CIA fill-in since Bruce Willis decided he wasn’t getting paid enough (and Stallone said no).   Mel Gibson is a disappointing villain in this sequel (some good set up, but the final smack down between him and Stallone makes me wish for the superior fight between Van Damme and Stallone in EXPENDABLES 2). 

 

I know Sylvester Stallone says this is the final one, but I think this is a half cooked sequel that ends with a whimper and not a bang.   I just think I rather see the old team fighting with him during the whole course of the movie instead of the plot contrivance of retiring the group and bringing in newbies.   I don’t think Yul Brynner wouldn’t retire the Magnificent Seven and neither would William Holden do that to the Wild Bunch.  I rather see the team go down than having half of the film devoted to introducing new people who aren’t very interesting (with the exception of the woman and Antonio Bandereas who is just very crazy and won’t stop talking).  I hope someone tells Stallone to write a proper send off to THE EXPENDABLES and not this expensive dud which is a box office bomb due to a bad script (and not piracy like Lionsgate wants to make you think).

 

This DVD review is ©8-22-2014 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

 

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