Released: September 2023
Director: Scott Waugh
Rated R
Run Time: 103 Minutes
Distributor: Lionsgate Studios
Genre: Action
Cast:
Sylvester Stallone: Barney
Jason Statham: Christmas
Megan Fox: Gina
50 Cent: Easy Day
Dolph Lundgren: Gunner
Tony Jaa: Decha
Iko Uwais: Rahmat
Andy Garcia: Marsh
Randy Couture: Toll Road
Levy Tran: Lash
When it comes to action franchises, there’s usually a matter of timing involved when you want to do a sequel. The saying goes, you want to strike while the iron’s hot. You want to take advantage of an action film’s popularity to try and get a sequel made. There’s usually a 3-5 time limit when you can do that and still be relevant. Sometimes it’s usually best to put a franchise to bed for the final time than try and squeeze more blood from a stone. Hyperbole aside, you need to read the room and understand when and when NOT to try and revive a franchise that’s been dormant for years. Sylvester Stallone tried that with Rambo: Last Blood back in 2019. Ten years had passed since the previous film, and while I enjoyed the 5th movie, there was no reason for it to exist as a sequel. Rambo 4 had tightened up loose ends and brought the character full circle. Last Blood was excessive. That’s the feeling that I’m getting from the Expendables franchise. First two movies were outstanding, but the third was a considerable step down in terms of visual effects, violence, and narrative. It was weak. Well, Mr. Stallone wanted to try again with a new film. Let’s just say that the franchise should’ve been left behind a decade ago.
The fourth film in the franchise opens as a mercenary, Rahmat, and his group of terrorists invade a weapons depot in Libya. Word gets to Barnet, the head of the merc group, the Expendables, and they are tasked with hunting down Rahmat and recovering stolen nuclear detonators. Things go sideways and the Expendables lose their leader in a plane crash. CIA Agent Marsh blames Christmas for this and kicks him off the team, putting Christmas’ girlfriend Gina in charge. Narrative was never the strongest point of these moves, let’s be honest here. No, the reason people come to see these movies is because of the outrageous action and the chemistry between the characters. Honestly, this is the kind of movie that should’ve delivered in spades on both counts. It kind of doesn’t, really and that’s a HUGE problem here.
It’s clear from the outset that Stallone had intended for Jason Statham to take over the franchise. I think he could, but the problem is that the writing in this movie is dogshit. The dialogue is awful, and some of the characters are just lame card-board cut-outs. The relationship between Jason Statham’s Christmas and Stallone’s Barney is one of the biggest highlights of the entire series. They work so well off each other, it’s hard to see one without the other. Yet, Stallone is missing for most of the movie, leaving Statham in a lurch, having to deal with an ex-girlfriend and other irritating new faces. The only ones returning from previous adventures are Randy Couture as Toll Road and Dolph Lundgren as Gunner. If I’m being truthful, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I really like Megan Fox as Gina. Her character absolutely fits in with the boys. She gives as good as she gets, and Megan handles the physicality pretty well, so she’s not just another pretty face. I’ve never liked 50 Cent as an actor. He just doesn’t have a lot of charisma. Lundgren is under-utilized, which is a shame. Tony Jaa, who is a newcomer to the series, isn’t given a whole lot to do either with the exception of some action scenes. Iku Uwais plays the main villain…and he’s just there. It seems to me that most Western film-makers don’t know how to utilize Asian martial arts actors properly. Jaa and Uwais were both real strong breakouts in they first appeared on the scene.
I could forgive the lame narrative and weak characterizations if the action was up to snuff. It’s not. In fact, Expendables 4 falls back on real tired mid-2000s kind of action with severe shaky-cam and extreme close-ups. It’s ridiculous how far we’ve come with action movies lately, that something like Expendables 4 could exist. Look at John Wick 4. THAT’S how you do action. To be fair, the action in this film isn’t awful, and when you can see it, it’s actually pretty good. The fight between Iko Uwais and Jason Statham is a real highlight of the film and shows us what could’ve been. Also, the movie’s a hard R, which is a good thing as the previous film was PG-13, and suffered from it. The violence is brutal, but not as visceral as the original film. Aside from that, it’s your standard run-and-gun affair that doesn’t offer anything creative or new.
Thankfully, the movie’s not boring. It’s not original in any capacity, but the movie does hit the ground running and it rarely slows down, which is a HUGE plus for me. Also, it doesn’t overstay its welcome at barely over 100 minutes. It’s one of those “get in, get out” deals that I think COULD appeal to a lot of people. But here’s the problem: People really don’t care anymore. When the franchise began, it started with a movie that gave us some of the greatest action stars a vehicle to create havoc, and it was glorious. I love the first two movies. I think they are amazing and Expendables 2 is an example of how you craft an action sequel. That is a hill I will die on. Even Expendables 3 had a certain degree of fun with it, bringing in Mel Gibson as the villain. With movies like John Wick out there, there really isn’t a place for movies like Expendables anymore, at least not like this. I don’t hate this new movie, but it just doesn’t do enough to really stand out from the crowd, nor justify its own existence. It’s time to let this franchise go. Sorry, Sly: It’s time to move on, man.