Expend4bles Review

Directed By: Scott Waugh
Written By: Kurt Wimmer, Tad Daggerhart, and Max Adams
Runtime: 103 minutes
MPA Rating: Rated R for strong/bloody violence throughout, language, and sexual material.

Jason Statham – Lee Christmas
Sylvester Stallone – Barney Ross
Megan Fox – Gina
Iko Uwais – Rahmat
Tony Jaa – Decha
Dolph Lundgren – Gunner
Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson – Easy Day
Randy Couture – Toll Road
Levy Tran – Lash
Jacob Scipio – Galan
Andy Garcia – Marsh

The Expendables are back for another adventure following almost 10 years in relative obscurity for the franchise, after the bloated mess that was The Expendables 3. Unfortunately, the franchise’s fourth entry, titled Expend4bles, is not a glorious return to form for the ragtag band of misfit mercs. Instead, Expend4bles resembles a rundown car running on fumes and sputtering out its last gasps as it slows to a crawl and a sad stop. The sequel isn’t even an entertaining car crash. It’s just a poorly made, incoherent piece of cinematic junk.

Set an undetermined amount of time after the last movie, Lee Christmas (Statham) and Barney Ross (Stallone) are still running a band of super mercenaries who perform dirty jobs for the CIA that no one else can. Unfortunately, their latest adventure pits them against a deadly operative, Rahmat (Uwais), who is stealing some high-tech detonators that could mean the start of World War III. Their mission goes FUBAR, leaving Lee Christmas on the outs of his mercenary family and the remaining members looking to pick up the pieces to stop Rahmat.

There are some new faces here. Dolph Lundgren’s Gunner and Randy Couture’s Toll Road from the previous films are back at it again, and at least it’s good to see that Lundgren is still working. Sadly, Terry Crews’ Hale Caesar and Jet Li’s Yin Yang are missing in action. New to the Expendables team is Gina, Lee Christmas’ on-again, off-again girlfriend and Barney’s new protege. It seems that Christmas and Lacy, the woman played by Charisma Carpenter in the earlier movies, broke up offscreen. Also new to the team is Jacob Scipio as Galan. Galan is the son of Galgo (Antonio Banderas) from the third movie. The extent of Galan’s characterization is that he’s Galgo’s son and has the same verbal tics and an eccentric personality as his father. That’s about it. Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson joins the team as Easy Day, and he looks bored out of his mind throughout the film, barely eking out most of his lines. Levy Tran portrays the badass Lash (Tran), who utilizes a chain whip as a weapon. There’s not much to the character other than she receives a goofy subplot involving Toll Road.

What worked so well about the early films in the franchise is their throwback style to action movies of yore, with lots of guns, shooting, explosions, and practically executed, in-camera action, save for the cartoony, CG-animated blood spatter. Unfortunately, most of that appeal is nowhere to be found in Expend4bles, with most of the stunt scenes rendered with the worst digital compositing and CG imaginable. Stunts and fight scenes are shot very close and tight in some instances, and they look choppy and embarrassing in others. Despite an apparent $100 million budget, the movie looks like it costs about a fraction of that amount.

Director Scott Waugh structures the movie in an incoherent, choppy fashion. The prologue unfolds in a very abrupt, anti-climactic matter. The film then awkwardly spends a sizable chunk of time showcasing comedic antics for Barney and Christmas for about an entire day before they are sent to the same warzone shown in the prologue when Rahmat has already begun laying siege to Muammar Gaddafi’s old chemical plant in Libya to steal detonators for a nuclear bomb. The movie’s sense of time passage and continuity is awkward, leaving it an even messier, incoherent experience. Waugh fails to nail the moments that should be big and impactful. In addition, his directing style looks even goofier and lacks even less verisimilitude than the previous films. The film’s major turning points unfold in a casual, listless fashion. Most of the characters come off as fairly dialed down and mumble through most of their lines. Also, Barney commits a confusing, heinous act in the film that makes no sense. Yes, this is the Expend4bles. Cinematic excellence is not expected or required, but the characters’ personalities should be big and entertaining.

Following the Libya mission, the plot largely focuses on Lee Christmas going through a personal crisis before he can re-enter the fray, which is handled in a clunky fashion. At this point, Expend4bles plays less like a sequel to The Expendables franchise and more like a random bargain bin action movie with Statham as the star. But, at least the tanker set, where most of the film takes place, looks fairly impressive.

Megan Fox is the worst addition to the franchise. On one hand, it’s respectable that Fox is trying to do something different, but she’s not putting in any effort here. Her romance with Statham’s Christmas is awful. The two share next to no chemistry. The most emotional and animated Fox gets in the movie is when Gina is chewing out Christmas during a lover’s quarrel. She’s not given many opportunities to show her skills and the scant times she does, it’s not convincing. Even when there is a chance for her character to have a big emotional moment with Statham, she doesn’t even look concerned or bothered at all.

Iko Uwais and Tony Jaa provide the sequel’s only aspects resembling some energy and entertainment. Their fight scenes and action beats are the best in the film. Other than perhaps Statham at certain points, they look like the only actors who are competently performing during the copious action scenes. Uwais is so physically charismatic that it’s a shame he’s the bad guy in this story because he pretty much outperforms everyone else where it matters.

Somewhat shockingly, Kurt Wimmer is a credited writer on this feature. It’s a little sad because over 20 years ago, he created a hidden cinematic movie gem in Equilibrium. Wimmer is a bit of a case of “What the heck happened to that guy” after he underwent a horrendous experience working on the notorious flop Ultraviolet. He didn’t even direct another movie for 14 years after working on that film. At the very least, one hopes he was paid decently for writing this, even if only for creating Equilibrium.

Expend4bles is a sad mess. Whatever appeal the franchise had in the past is all but spent.

3.0

The final score: review Bad

The 411

Expend4bles is an embarrassing, poorly made piece of cinematic schlock that lacks the appeal and fun of the earlier entries in the franchise. The sequel is clumsily made, badly written, and poorly acted. None of the actors even look motivated. The old-school charm the franchise once had is gone. There is tons of action, CG blood, and guts, as the film does return the franchise to its R-rated roots, but even with an R-rating, this doesn't really look like Expend4bles at all.