The Expendables (2010)

A CIA operative hires a team of mercenaries to eliminate a Latin dictator and a renegade CIA agent.

Director:

Sylvester Stallone

Writers:

Dave Callaham (screenplay), Sylvester Stallone (screenplay),

Stars:

Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li

2 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sylvester Stallone	...	Barney Ross
Jason Statham	...	Lee Christmas
Jet Li	...	Yin Yang
Dolph Lundgren	...	Gunner Jensen
Eric Roberts	...	James Munroe
Randy Couture	...	Toll Road
Steve Austin	...	Paine
David Zayas	...	General Garza
Giselle Itié	...	Sandra
Charisma Carpenter	...	Lacy
Gary Daniels	...	The Brit
Terry Crews	...	Hale Caesar
Mickey Rourke	...	Tool
Hank Amos	...	Paul
Amin Joseph	...	Pirate Leader

Storyline

Barney Ross leads the "Expendables", a band of highly skilled mercenaries including knife enthusiast Lee Christmas, martial arts expert Yin Yang, heavy weapons specialist Hale Caesar, demolitionist Toll Road and loose-cannon sniper Gunner Jensen. When the group is commissioned by the mysterious Mr. Church to assassinate the merciless dictator of a small South American island, Barney and Lee head to the remote locale to scout out their opposition. Once there, they meet with local rebel Sandra and discover the true nature of the conflict engulfing the city. When they escape the island and Sandra stays behind, Ross must choose to either walk away and save his own life - or attempt a suicidal rescue mission that might just save his soul.

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Plot Keywords:

island | mercenary | sniper | mission | dictator | 

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Taglines:

Choose your weapon.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong action and bloody violence throughout, and for some language

Details

Official Sites:

Midget Entertainment [Denmark] Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

13 August 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

Los indestructibles

Filming Locations:

Fort McComb, Louisiana, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$80,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£3,910,596 (UK) (20 August 2010)

Gross:

$102,981,571 (USA) (15 October 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Millennium Films, Nu Image Films, Rogue Marble

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min 113 min (extended director's cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to Sylvester Stallone, the villain and plot of the film is based on Manuel Noriega, the former military dictator of Panama who had a corrupt relationship with the CIA and drugs.

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Goofs

In the first shootout the Expendables shoot out all the lights and put on thermal imaging goggles. When the lights come back on there's a flash of white from their POV. This would not happen, on or off lights do not affect thermal imaging, only night vision.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Barney Ross: We are the shadows and the smoke, we rise. We are the ghosts that hide in the night.

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Connections

Featured in The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Episode #19.214 (2011)

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Soundtracks

"Mississippi Queen"
Written by Corky Laing (as Laurence Laing), Felix Pappalardi, David Rea and Leslie West (as Leslie A. Weinstein)
Performed by Mountain
Courtesy of Columbia Records
By Arrangement with Sony Music Licensing

User Reviews

Too much testosterone!

Tough guys. Always going on suicidal missions. Threatened by bullets and blades. Running from explosions. Best friends waging wars. Nearly killing each other, then going to the bar later to laugh about it. Director and star, Sylvester Stallone, gets all his best men together to kick as much ass as humanly possible, allowing himself a severe beating from Steve Austin. Sly took a serious neck injury. Then he goes in front of a Comic Con audience and jokes about it. A man whose Double-"R" franchises, Rocky and Rambo have both been highly successful. But he keeps coming back for more pain and putting his body on the line for the sake of entertainment. There's nothing tougher than that!

The Expendables is a movie that lifts you up out of your seat, pats you on the head, gives you a lollipop then smashes you in the frickin' face! With a cast like Jason Stathum, Randy Couture, Jet Li, Mickey Rourke, Terry Crews, Dolph "I Must Break You" Lundgren, and cameos from Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger, you'd think it would be one crazy mess. Surprisingly, it's more focused then you may think. Just a straight-forward action movie with a reasonable run time that sustains itself and never has a chance to feel dull. It doesn't try to be anything more than what it is.

The only negative: Some of the blood and explosions looked digital. Wish it could have been just a bit more authentic. Sometimes, there was a tad too many closeups during the fight scenes. With so many people fighting at the same time, sometimes I couldn't tell who was punching who. It didn't happen very often, but how cool would it be just for one moment to see three simultaneous fights from a super wide master shot? Never, but I can't blame them. At least let the cameras pull back and allow the choreography to do the work.

It feels nice to get my ass kicked by something I haven't seen yet. It's not Rambo. It's not Rocky. Nor is it another Die Hard or Terminator sequel. It's something fresh, yet feels like it came out of the 80's. It has the perfect blend of humor, blood, sweat, smart-ass comebacks, witty one-liners, and an overabundance of testosterone! Don't expect anything more than action, exposition, action, exposition, all with a nice cherry on top… with sprinkles… and grenades. And some real tough guys. We all wish we could be tough guys. But no, let's just watch'em instead.