Review of The Expendables 3 2014 Full Movie

Review of The Expendables 3 2014 Full Movie: When you find the perfect balance in EX2, its only natural to scrap all that and fail miserably with a brand new direction for a franchise. Ignoring the fact that the "new blood" of younger actors and real-life fighters who can't act was a disaster to add to the movie, the new lighter tone which tried to get kids watching is just mind-boggling.

Mel Gibson made a good addition as the villain, as did Wesley Snipes, and it's only the veteran action stars chemistry that saves this from being Stallone's worst ever movie. Unforgivably, for the 3rd movie running, he makes sure the half his age younger female is pining for him by the end of the movie. If EX4 is to happen, somebody else needs to take the creative lead on it. Major disappointment.

When you find the perfect balance in EX2, its only natural to scrap all that and fail miserably with a brand new direction for a franchise. Ignoring the fact that the "new blood" of younger actors and real-life fighters who can't act was a disaster to add to the movie, the new lighter tone which tried to get kids watching is just mind-boggling. Mel Gibson made a good addition as the villain, as did Wesley Snipes, and it's only the veteran action stars chemistry that saves this from being Stallone's worst ever movie. Unforgivably, for the 3rd movie running, he makes sure the half his age younger female is pining for him by the end of the movie. If EX4 is to happen, somebody else needs to take the creative lead on it. Major disappointment.

Once again, not nearly as good as it ought to be. Stallone just keeps getting in the way, putting himself in the star position when others might carry the weight. The villain is two dimensional (again). What's the point of being Expendable if no one dies? And they fold at the first sign of adversity? Nah, too much self-pity in this for my taste. I love this movie series. Here we get a nice blend of old and new members of the team, tons of explosive action, and a sense of family and honor among those assumed to have no honor. Just enough comedy amongst the group to break up the scenes that could get maudlin. As always, the only place you will see some of these older action stars in movies these days. Great stuff.

Only...it didn't. And that's because the first two movies were not made for a younger audience. Fans of the first two movies most likely fell into an older demographic; specifically, they were probably people who grew up watching the all-star cast members' individual movies in the '80's and '90's, during the time when the coveted "younger audience" would have been in diapers (if they were born at all). So the "younger audience" was indifferent to a brand they knew very little about, and the "older audience" likely didn't appreciate their more hardcore movies getting toned down for the kiddies.

And not one person involved in the production of this thing thought about this?

Of course, the toning down of the movie also serves to further highlight the bizarre reasonings of the MPAA. Scores of people get killed in "The Expendables 3," by bullets, blades, explosives, fisticuffs...you name it. But because there's no spray of blood or the characters don't drop f-bombs while doing so, the film snags the lower rating.

The rating blunder was obviously a mistake, but I'd argue that it's hardly the movie's biggest problem. (After all, the theatrical version of "Live Free or Die Hard" was an absolute blast, and it's light years better than the R-rated follow-up "A Good Day to Die Hard.") "The Expendables 3" is just not nearly as much fun as it should be; there's nothing special about any of the set-pieces, too often many of the characters are given nothing to do, and the story is uninspired, even for this kind of fare.

In fact, much of the movie hits many of the same notes as its superior predecessor. Once again, we open with Sylvester Stallone's Barney Ross leading his ragtag group of hired guns to rescue an imprisoned comrade. Shortly after, the team encounters a psychotic villain (this time played by Mel Gibson) who takes out a member of their team, leaving Barney very angry. The rest of the movie basically focuses on his quest for vengeance. The major difference this time though is that the sidelines his old squad (consisting of series vets Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, and Randy Couture, and newcomer Wesley Snipes) in favor of younger, sexier recruits (including Rhonda Rousey and Kellan Lutz).

This is also a misstep. There are too many characters as it is, and it doesn't make much sense to cast aside the characters we've seen in the previous movies to make room for newer, prettier and--let's face it--essentially interchangeable models. Maybe we should be focusing on returning players to try and give them some depth. Randy Couture has been in all three movies, and I still can't tell you one defining a characteristic of his role. He's always just there, another entity in the background.

The same could be said for Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jet Li, whose presence feels perfunctory, at best. I really get the sense that they're in this movie solely because they were in the previous two. Their characters don't really serve much of a purpose, and Jet Li doesn't even get to do any kung-fu stunts. What's the point?

The bright spots in the film mostly involve individual performances. Gibson has a few great moments, sinking his teeth into the scenery with gleeful intensity (though the role is very similar to the one he played in "Machete Kills"). But the best moments belong to Antonio Banderas as a motormouthed, overzealous mercenary who desperately wants to join the Expendables team. Of all the new characters, he's really the only one who makes an impression. Should there be an "Expendables 4," I'd be very displeased if he were not in it (particularly if empty characters like Couture's are allowed to return)?

After the raucously enjoyable ride that was "The Expendables 2," "The Expendables 3" is a thudding disappointment. Boring set-pieces, lame jokes, useless characters, a neutered rating...the worst part is that many of its mistakes could've been easily rectified.