The Expendables (2010)

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, & Dolph Lundgren

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

In 2010, Sylvester Stallone has the idea to take every current and former action star, and put them into a series of movies. The goal was to create the biggest, wildest, most expensive action movies ever made, and have them feature every big name action star from the past 30 years. The studio was so much behind the idea, that not only did they give Stallone a huge budget, but they also approved a sequel, before the first film was even in theaters. It took me 5 years to watch this movie, because I honestly didn't think it was going to work. There is an old saying about having too many cooks in the kitchen, and while trying to include everyone was admirable, I couldn't imagine it working, I was wrong. Stallone leads a freelance para-military organization known as the expendables. These guys work for the highest bidder and do things the government can't. In the first installment of the now billion dollar franchise, the expendables are tasked with stopping a coup on a Caribbean island. If the rival organization takes control, the island would be the largest manufacture of illegal narcotics in the world, and would be impossible to stop, enter the expendables. Sylvester Stallone may be a senior citizen now and still somewhat hard to understand, but when it comes to action movies, you'd be hard pressed to find a better leader. His second in command is currently the largest action star in the world, Jason Statham. Even after seeing hundreds of action movies, including most of Statham's, the guy continues to impress me at every turn. All the strange accents make for an interesting mix of dialogue, but that aside, the story is good, the fight scenes are better, and the special effects are amazing. The Expendables was billed as THE action film to see and it does not disappoint.