By Brett Blake The brainchild of Sylvester Stallone, THE EXPENDABLES franchise is an odd one, in the sense that the installments feed on audience nostalgia and affection for old action movies and feature casts comprised - primarily - of actors getting up there in age. Mark Kermode, the respected U.K. film critic, calls these kinds of movies “geriaction” flicks; movies starring aging action stars (some perhaps even bordering on being washed up) that frequently play-up the age factor while attempting to be both a contemporary, relevant film and also a throwback to the kind of 1980’s cheese that most action movies of that era were. The first two EXPENDABLES have their charms, but are fairly flawed; with THE EXPENDABLES 3, however, the filmmakers have perfected the formula, and writer/star Stallone and director Patrick Hughes have delivered a surprisingly (shockingly!) entertaining action romp. The story this time revolves around Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) and his band of Expendables (comprised of too many actors to name here) doing battle with nefarious arms dealer Conrad Stonebanks (Mel Gibson), a former Expandable himself who has a dark history with Ross. That’s really all you need to know; you’ve seen the trailers (or the previous films), so there’s really no need to go into explicit narrative detail. Good guys murder their way through a ton of henchmen on their way to taking down the villainous mastermind. That’s the story in a nutshell, and the movie makes no apologies for it. The plot - though obviously thin - offers enough gas to keep things exciting, and it shoots from setpiece to setpiece at a fast clip. Buried under the mechanics of that basic plot, however, there’s actually an attempt at some thematic subtext. A pivotal section of the story involves Stallone’s Barney Ross forcibly retiring his old crew (ostensibly to keep them safe) and having to then construct a new, younger team to help him take down Gibson’s Stonebanks. The idea of the old guard being pushed aside for the young guns, but then also having to come to the rescue in the end is a prevalent part of what the script seems to be concerned with, and having a ghost from the Expandables’ past - in the form of Stonebanks - appear and wreak havoc underlines that "past vs. future" idea. It’s incredibly heavy handed stuff, and it doesn’t break any new ground on a thematic level, but it’s nice that the movie tries to actually be about something. The returning cast members don’t have too many surprises to offer in the way of performance, but it’s neat to have them all along for the ride. For his part, Stallone actually does get some meaty-ish material to chew on (by way of the aforementioned thematic stuff), and he sells it well. Stallone - sometimes deservedly - has been an acting punching bag over the years, but I maintain there’s a great actor in there, and we get some glimpses of that in this installment. It is with the new blood that THE EXPENDABLES 3 really shines, though. Harrison Ford is probably the biggest “name” to join the roster, and he’s at his most gruff and grumpy as the Expendables’ CIA handler; rather than being a poor acting choice, it actually works for the character, and it’s hard to deny that there’s some weird excitement to seeing Ford share scenes with the likes of Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Kelsey Grammer gets an extended sequence where his character helps Stallone recruit the new, younger Expendables (played in solid - if unremarkable - fashion by Kellan Lutz, Ronda Rousey, Victor Ortiz, and Glen Powell) that is so entertaining and funny I’m now convinced that Stallone and Grammer need to do a buddy comedy where they travel across the country, or something. Their chemistry is immediate, and you really buy that these two characters are old friends. Wesley Snipes is also a welcome addition, and he gets a chance to poke some fun at his own image in a self-deprecating way. Giving what is perhaps the performance of the film is Antonio Banderas as an eager-to-please, searching-for-a-connection recruit; it’s a wonderful role for Banderas, who gets to be charming and goofy and warm. The character is an instant winner, and should there ever be a fourth film in this franchise, Banderas MUST return. At all costs. He steals the film. And then, of course, there’s Mel Gibson. There are few performers working in the industry who carry as much baggage as Gibson (some of it unwarranted, but most of it of his own making). Your personal feelings towards the man may, no doubt, color your perception of his work in this film, and that’s fair. However, I think even the most rabid anti-Mel partisan would have to agree that he gives a legitimate performance as Stonebanks. He gets a couple of great speeches to play, and there’s an undercurrent of angry nuance that hangs over many moments he’s on the screen, just as there are also some lighter moments that fully remind us of why he was - at one time - a megastar. Stonebanks could have been just a generic nobody bad guy, but Gibson makes him highly memorable. The action is a marked improvement on the previous two films. Director Hughes handles the big beats with a decent amount of style and intensity, and there’s a really nice variety to the mayhem: you’ve got car chases, shoot-outs, aerial assualts, and good, old fashioned fisticuffs. There’s perhaps a bit too much (unconvincing) CGI to be found, but the tone of these sequences - never too dark, always with a tongue-in-cheek (but not spoofing) sense of humor - pushes them over the top (to borrow a phrase from one of Stallone’s more infamously bad ‘80s movies). They’re simply a lot of fun. And that sense of genuine fun, coupled with the winning performances from the likes of Gibson and Banderas, make THE EXPENDABLES 3 perhaps the most surprising movie of summer 2014. It’s not high art, but it is solidly entertaining, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
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