The Expendables is an action movie on steroids, complete with huge explosions, intense fight scenes and an excellent ensemble cast. Sylvester Stallone co-wrote, directed and starred in this film as Barney Ross, the leader of The Expendables. Stallone leads his group of mercenaries with Jason Statham (Lee Christmas), Jet Li (Yin Yang), Terry Crews (Hale Caesar), Randy Couture (Toll Road) and Dolph Lundgren (Gunner Jensen) by his side.

The story is simple. The Expendables are lead by Sylvester Stallone who goes to meet Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger in a church to get his mission. There is some funny dialogue between the three as Schwarzenegger plays a rival mercenary leader who acts too important to consider the dangerous mission that Stallone accepts, a nod to the “Governator’s” real life status.

The Expendables are a mercenary group/ biker gang who are commissioned to assassinate a rogue FBI agent who is using a small South-American island to base his drug business. The rogue FBI agent, played by Eric Roberts, has overtaken the country and its general played by David Zayas.

Everything explodes in this movie. People explode courtesy of an exploding shotgun carried by one of the Expendables. Houses, cars and even a palace exploded in one of the most epic action sequences of the film.

The fight scenes are highly entertaining and provide fight fans some fantasy match-ups. Jet Li and Dolph Lundgren have two exciting fight scenes that demonstrate Jet Li’s martial arts skill. Randy Couture and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin may have the best fight scene of the film that ends in death for one character. Couture uses some great wrestling throws and takedowns while Austin uses pro wrestling moves like a chokeslam. All the fight scenes involved elements of the actors\’ backgrounds, which was a nice touch.

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Mickey Rourke plays a retired member of The Expendables who acts as tattoo artist and advisor to Stallone’s charcter. Barney Ross is an aging mercenary who has been through wars and must keep his team together through inner turmoil, financial issues and brushes with death. There is little depth given to the rest of The Expendables but there are some hints at a deeper story. Jet Li’s character wants money to send his kids to a better school, Jason Statham has girl problems and Dolph Lundgren is on drugs.

The Expendables is a highly entertaining movie that will keep you entertained. The casting of the team and the different characteristics that they bring really make this an interesting team of super heroes. The action is fast-paced and it keeps coming from beginning to end. No over-dramatic plot lines or love stories to muddy the waters. The Expendables is 103 minutes of bad-ass action movie.

by Dave Simon