Escape to the Movies: The Expendables

[Redd the Sock]

Actually I think some of his rage (certainly a lot of mine) isn't the sales figures, but that people actualy defend the Expendables after watching it. Yeah, many of us were fooled into thinking this was an Homage or Throwback only to leave thinking o one on staff knew what the terms meant. Scott Pilgrim was actualy better at that concept as an homage to cheesy video game dialoge and situations. It never tried to be serious, it played silly well.

And when the explaination becomes "look who's in it" it's hard not to get the "sheeple" view. Yeah, the movie had big names, most of which have a few rather embarasing films on their resume. Stalone did a quasi buddy cop flick with Estele Getti, Wilis was the inner voice of a baby for two movies, and Arnold played a pregnant man. I learned a while ago that following the stars leads to a lot of regretful movie viewings, and by that same logic, that avoiding certain stars might cost me a good time, and certainly any film critic has to put the fanboyishness away when judging a movie.

And some of the frustration may come from the tiredness of the concept. This is the third "elite team gets screwed over and fights back" movie I've seen this year, and I don't go to a lot of movies. Frankly, A-Team was more fun. Hell the Losers was more fun.

 

[Life_Is_A_Mess]

This review for some reason really made me want to hear MovieBob do a game review... and Yahtzee do a movie review...

Oh, that'd be fun

OT: I agree with Movie Bob, when will we stop seeing Timmy Testosterone Tits movies (with almost no blood?!?)?

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Snip

The sad thing is, they actually DID take a movie meant to be a PG-13 and made it R. The studio made to cuts to the Movie, one being PG-13 and the other being the one on screen now and let a test audiance decide what would make more money. They wanted R, so the effect team added the same amount a gore a noise bleed has so it barely got an R rating.

Is the american version cut or something? The one I saw had people being shotgunned into peices by Terry Crews AND Dolph used a grenade launched to blow a guy in half at the start of the movie among other things.

There might of been (not from the sound of Moviebob's review, but who knows) but I don't know, I never saw it, nor do I plan to. For me, an action movie has to engage me on a emotional and/or intelectual level (District 9, the Matrix, Inception, etc) or has to be so completely messed up with its violence and daring to squeeze every drop of pure rage it has (Crank 1&2, Rambo 4, Grindhouse, etc)

 

[Cherry Cola]

You can usually learn more information about a person through their reading of a work's subtext then it would tell you about the work itself. The same principle applies across all derivative media and Movie Bob's review is no exception. He has shown himself time after time to be profoundly uncomfortable with traditionally defined male masculinity to the point of downright allergic to it. So I fail so see why it would take anyone would be taken by surprise that he gave a negative review to a movie that openly markets itself as a sort of heterosexual man-meat sandwich swimming in testosterone gravy.

.

That is by far the most hilarious thing I've read all week.

Kudos, my man. You made my day with your genius analysis.

 

[SomebodyNowhere]

between this and the new episode of TGO this week Bob has seriously found a way to get people's ire up

 

[Supernaut565]

There are no words to describe how depressed I am that this movie sucks.

 

[TehIrishSoap]

Thats All Well And Good, But Do They Have Pancake Mix?

 

[Johann Goethe]

and hey movie bob: fuck you.

do you not think there might be a reason this film is #1? do you not think there is a reason its made $35 hyperbazillion?

The Twilight films typically enter at #1 in the box office. Does this mean they're good because they made the most money? No. Popularity doesn't always equal quality.

 

[Zannah]

The first time, I wholeheartedly disagree with you, Bob.
Hating a fun little movie, because it made more money than something you personally like better, is not harsh criticism, that's just you being unprofessional.

 

[RishaRight]

Look, Bob. I've defended you more than I need have, you're probably one of my favourite movie critics but please, for the love of God, accept that not every movie has to be this artistic piece, with amazing acting, original set pieces and have an important message behind them. Some movies are just meant to be enjoyable to sit through. Salt was this and you appeared to like that even if there were two reasons attached to Jolie that probably helped your opinion along the way.

And please, stop stating that everyone who likes a movie you don't is worthless. Transformers, Book of Eli, and now Expendables - some people just like to sit through a movie that's brainless. Whilst they're not that good, stating that everyone who likes them is pretty much wrong is just arrogant and pretentious.

Not everyone who likes bad action movies is this douchebag frat boy, who can't tell the difference between an etch-a-sketch and a Da Vinci. Just accept that occasionally people don't see things the way you do, because you're starting to become insufferable.

This....this made me want to make sweet sweet monkey love to you. I couldn't agree more. I was trying to think of a way to describe my feelings, but quoting you just feels right. Good job! I agree wholeheartedly. I am a female (shock) and I actually liked The Expendables. I saw Scott Pilgrim too, and I loved it, so I didn't choose between the two.

 

[Cheesebob]

There are no words to describe how depressed I am that this movie sucks.

It doesn't. If you love inentionally cheesey mindless violence...its brilliant.

 

[MB202]

Wow, this video got a lot of comments... Even moreso than Transformers 2 and even the Book of Eili ones! Are there really that many fans of junky 80's movies and this movie in particular?

 

[Dukenstein]

I saw the Expendables and it was some of the most fun I have ever had in a movie theater since..Rambo. People applauding scenes and screaming out "Oh sh!#" after every insane kill really was amazing. Could it have been better, yes, but it was still a hell of a time. Seeing it again with my brother.

 

[therookie95]

I feel bad for scott pilgram even more now since it also got shortened a bit too much (I would of loved it if they made it into 2 movies but oh well.) Also, I thought that this was going to happen when he reviewed it, as usual Movie Bob is spot on

 

[Twinmill5000]

I was really looking forward to this too. I mean, what could be better than a Chuck Norris film but with Stallone, Austin and Li in it? It's action-packed-comedy. I was hoping this would be a movie that either doesn't take itself seriously, or does so horribly that it's laughable and therefore watchable. I don't want another movie about a bunch of people being srsly because teh president is in troubul and omg we need to look in the goodness of our hearts and be valiant men. No!

Sometimes, mindless violence is a nice break every now and then. It pulls your panties out of a bunch and reminds you that not everything has to be serious and have meaning in this world. Or else this place would be one hell of a hellhole. I don't know my action movies very well. I saw most of them when I was too little to remember the titles, but I'd recognize the actors anywhere. So even if it sucks, I'm seeing this movie to bask in nostalgia like everyone else who is seeing it is because action movies have been around long before Vin Diesel arrived on the set. Though he has had a few good movies too. The way I see it, this may be the cast's last before they're condemned to babysitting kids in a comedy and being bullied by odd family pets.

 

[Axolotl]

This is my take on The Expendables:

Spoiler Warning

The Expendables is easily the best film of the year and in the running for the greatest films of all time, this is Stallone's masterpiece. It's rare to see a film that so perceptively and yet subtly shows us the truth in modern politics and is unafraid to tackle highly controversial political issues. The deftness of the script in it's allegory and metaphor.

To elaborate, in the film Stallone plays Barney Ross the leader of an elite mercenary group. Now Ross symbolises the American military, his mercenary group represent the Multi-National Force ? Iraq (MNF?I), notably the only one of these to be fully fleshed out is Lee Christmas (played by Jason Statham) who represents the UK military force. The disparity in character development between Ross and Christmas with the other members of the team is a deft comment on how the portrayal of these two countries involvement in the Iraq war overshadows that of the other parts of MNF-I in the media.

In the film Ross is hired by a man calling himself Mr. Church (played by Bruce Willis) his name and location of the scene showing how religion is now meaningless in America and under the control of the immoral. In the scene Mr. Church represents then intelligence agencies of the west showing them to be untrustworthy and manipulative. Also in the scene is another character called Trench (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) who shows what Ross would be with more morality when he symbolically turns his back on Mr. Church while Ross agrees to follow him.

Another major character is Tool (played by Mickey Rourke) who is a former member of the team and represents those countries that followed America into Afghanistan but refused to go to Iraq. Tool gives several speeches on the horrors he saw in various wars which are analogous with criticisms of the Iraq war.

The real genius of this work comes with the villains though with General Garza (played by David Zayas), Garza represents Saddam's government in Iraq with his daughter Sandra (played by Giselle Itié) being the oppressed people of Iraq. The movie plays on the brutality of Gazra towards his people contrasting with Sandra who is devoted to her people even when faced with the option to leave. Sandra convincing Ross to fight represents how the MNF-I went into Iraq to save it's populace. Another villain is Gunner Jenson (played by Dolph Lundgren) who shows how even the staunchest ally may turn against us.

However the real villain of the film is revealed to be James Munroe (played by Eric Roberts) who is forcing Garza to grow drugs (symbolically meaning terrorism) to export for profit to the rest of the world. Munroe kills Gazra and threatens to kill Sandra. Munroe is meant to show how in the end it is the corrupt parts of western society who are the real villains and it is they who are the ultimate cause of the conflict.

The whole script is filled with clever and glib allusions (as an example Ross kills an enemy soldier almost shooting Christmas, alluding to the American military's notoriety for friendly fire). It's hard to fully do justice after only one viewing.

I am greatly disappointed at Moviebob and many other film critics for failing to see just what a masterpiece Stallone has created with The Expendables.

 

[kaces]

Going off of previews for both movies, i went with the expendables.

All the video game references in the world did not entice me to see Michael Cera in the same role as his last 5 movies (or w/e). And to be honest, the whole "geeky guy gets girl" movie premise is out living its stay, no matter how you dress it up. Again, this is off of the trailers / previews.

The expendables did not live up to what i expected, it wasn't bad, but it reminds me of War. I went to see that movie because i expected to see Jet Li and Jason Statham fighting for more than 2 mins. I did not get that with that movie. I didn't get as much of what i expected with Expendables either. That isnt to say i didnt have a good time in it though.

I really don't care about Bob's review, personally. Critics reviews, regardless of who they are, are worth a grain of salt. Sometimes you agree with em, sometimes you don't.

That said, mocking people who want to see a bland action flick is in pretty poor taste. As a wise man once said "i spend all day thinking at work, sometimes i just like to sit back and enjoy a brainless movie".

 

[WhoaItsBrett]

You're supposed to review movies, not the fans of said movies.
All you really did in this video was bash fans of movies you don't like.

 

[Cherry Cola]

snip

Sorry, but I have to bring you down on a few notes.

Starting off easy, the part Dolph Lundgren serves as a friend turned enemy is made irrelevant when he survives and becomes their friend again by the end.

Garza cares deeply for his daughter, which means that by your logic, the movie is saying that Saddam loves the oppressed people of Iraq, but he can't help them because of America oppressing him in return. Considering that this is an incredibly controversial point of view, I'm surprised you didn't bring it up.

Finally, I believe you are dead wrong on why Stallone went to help Sandra. He didn't go there to save the people. He went there to save himself. Remember the speech Rourke had, where he talked about how he didn't save a woman who killed herself, and after that he's felt dead inside because he ignored his one chance for redemption. Stallone is saving Sandra because he wants to be redeemed. This is not a metaphor for soldier going in to save the Iraq population, this is supposed to be about an individual wanting to redeem himself from the merciless killing he's done over the years.

Other than that, great analysis on the movie.

 

[TheGameXXVII]

my opinion on The Expendables from what i have seen, trailers and the like, and from what i have seen it looks to be a generic bang-bang-kaboom-boom-manly-men film. the only half-appealing thing for the film for me is the fact that Statham is in it, but even his kick-assery couldn't get me to pay to watch this. maybe in about a year or so when it comes on Sky Movies for free i may have a look at it, but for now, i'm gonna give it a miss.