The Expendables 3 Movie Review

Debuting in 2010, the Expendables series has built its name on one thing; employing as many former action stars as possible in a bid to relive the classic action films of the eighties and nineties. The series hasn’t made much of an impression over the years and Expendables 3 is more than content with continuing this trend, resulting in yet another lacklustre action flick for the autumn season.

The Expendables 3 follows on from the second with Barney Ross (Sylvestor Stallone) and company being sent off by CIA agent Max Drummer (Harrison Ford) on a hunt for Conrad Stonebanks (Mel Gibson), forming a thin backbone for numerous battles, rescues and an infiltration mission, typical action movie fare. It’s overly-familiar, samey and you’ll see pretty much everything coming from a mile away; the film even outright repeats sequences from the previous film such as the prison break-out (this time with Wesley Snipes on a train) and of course a final fist fight between Barney and the antagonist. The biggest problem with Ex 3’s plot isn’t that it fails to break new ground; the problem is that it’s just so mind-numbing and boring that many will no doubt lose interest while watching. For the first act you’ll barely know what is going on, nor will you learn anything about the players involved. The final scene however, is a slight exception to the boredom; with quick cuts between each member of the team as they take on an entire army. If anything though, The Expendables 3 is quite the testament to how modern action flicks simply don’t try anymore, adopting the attitude of “it’s competent enough” rather than “we’ll try to go beyond what’s been done a hundred times before”.

The problems with the casting that plagued previous entries are still troublesome in Ex 3; once again there aren’t any characteristics to set the members of the team apart, they’re all the same tough and rugged action heroes we’ve seen in countless other flicks over the years. For a series which claims to have the biggest ensemble cast, Expendables has always struggled to balance the actors out in a cohesive manner and the higher the casting count climbs, the bigger the problem becomes. Terry Crews is shoved to the side after only half an hour, Li appears out of nowhere to help out, Banderas is reduced to a painfully annoying stereotype and Grammar really doesn’t contribute much to the plot or the characters at all. Aside from a few mildly comedic plays on one-liners the dialogue is just as stilted as ever, gearing towards mocking the fact that all the action stars are still “in the game” as it were. Even the new recruits (Played by Kellan Lutz, Ronda Rousey, Glen Powell and Victor Ortiz respectively) are rushed through without any kind of development whatsoever. To sum it all up, Ex 3 simply doesn’t care about its characters and neither do we, making the already dull action even less enjoyable.

The action sequences of Expendables 3 are quite boring as I mentioned earlier, but at least the editing has been slightly improved over the previous instalment. Gone are the often nauseating and shaky sections that dragged down Ex 2 and in come shots which give a better view of the proceedings, particularly in the final battle. This sequence also plays host to some well-done stunt-work; whether it’s jumping to the top floor of a building on a motorbike or leaping from room to room to avoid gunfire, you will undoubtedly appreciate the effort made in the film’s final moments.   

Inevitably and regretfully The Expendables 3 once again proves that this action series is as tired as the cast that populates it; they can shoehorn in as many stars as they can but the action just isn’t getting any better. The final battle is mildly entertaining but ultimately this is just another movie that blends into a sea of uninspired modern action flicks.

Rating: 2/5 Stars