Critics Consensus: The Expendables Isn't Explosive Enough

Matanuki .

lol. Granted, I'm never all that misogynistic on these boards 'cause, well, I try to display class. But baby, talk to me on a bad day after a few drinks.

Aug 13 - 07:21 PM

Matanuki .

Weird, D. Maybe I've been absent too long, but I swear this is the first post I've read of yours that wasn't in some way... evil. lol. No offense.

Aug 14 - 06:25 PM

Omar Siddiqui

Thank god someone agrees.

Ugh.

Aug 12 - 06:22 PM

John Hurson

What's worse is that with her star power, Julia Roberts could have helped her brother Eric's career out a great deal. To my knowledge, they've never appeared together in any of her films. Ron Howard doesn't leave his brother out in the cold.

Aug 13 - 04:25 AM

Cory B

I'm surprised to hear myself saying this, but I'd like to see that too. A change of pace for Roberts would certainly be fun to watch, if nothing else, just to see how she does. I don't see any reason why she couldn't pull it off.

Aug 13 - 12:23 AM

Brian Kirsch

Guess you guys missed "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" or "Closer" or several other movies she has made. Don't blame her for not broadening her roles, blame yourself for being ignorant and not realizing that she has done just that in the last decade.....

Aug 13 - 05:47 PM

James Lowell

@bark624 Well aren't you just a goddamn ray of sunshine.

Aug 13 - 08:50 PM

Crornk Kaleidescope

Stallone grabbed aging action stars because they're the only dudes who could effectively pull off a 80s style action flick. Besides who would pay to see The Expendables if it was about looking at these guy's faces? We don't care about their wrinkly mugs, we care about them grabbing guns and blowing stuff up. They're the people who do that better than any of the modern "action" stars of today. Maybe The Expendables isn't your cup of tea, I can understand that, however I'd rather pay to see Stallone shoot stuff than see Matt Damon wear a funky hat and date a ballerina. Just my personal taste.

Aug 12 - 09:57 PM

Tommy Bazzano

Another mindless post from a biased, uninformed, ignorant wannabe who lacks integrity and who dismisses anything with a shred of masculinity as shallow or meaningless. The Expendables is an extraordinary film with a great story, solid performances all around, an abundance of depth and substance, intense and exciting action sequences and just enough tongue-in-cheek humor. Just because it isn't filled with a bunch of pseudo-intellectuals sitting around moping about some leftist political agenda or going on a self indulgent rant about existentialism, people such as this "critic" discard it. Critics are cancerous and are utterly worthless. I would put as much stock in their opinions as I would the promises of politicians. I also love the emphasis you and others like you put on the Stallone's physical appearance. First of all, he looks fine. Furthermore, age is irrelevant. People like you are so stupid it's just mind boggling. Your shallow and superficial nature impresses no one.

Aug 13 - 01:08 PM

joe schmoe

Cool Story Bro.

I'm biased. And your name is Rocky Balboa. And you're defending a Sylvester Stallone movie. Makes sense to me.

I've never heard someone use the word shallow so many times to defend a movie like the Expendables. What was that one Alanis Morisset song again? The one were she points out contradictions? It on the tip of my tongue...

And I have no idea how politics or psuedo intillectuals or elitism factors into one enjoying a movie. As I mentioned earlier, I thoroughly enjoyed The Losers. However, The Expendables is direct to dvd fodder, any of the 'stars' involved would have rejected the script in their prime. Almost everyone I know who has seen this movie has come back underwhelmed (which I didn't think was possible).

Most action movies suck these days and The Expendables is no exception, chalk full of over indulgent action that never engages the viewer. The only thing this movie has going for it is nostalgic appeal, which, judging by your username is probably enough for you. I however do not decide what movies I watch based solely on who's starring in them, neither do I allow myself to be force fed crap like The Expendables because it is considered the 'manly' thing to do.

Aug 13 - 06:46 PM

Matanuki .

Homoerotic. lol. I love it when people use that stupid f.cking word. Can't decide which I love best in fact! That one, or pretentious people calling others... pretentious. lol. LOVE IT, I TELL YOU!

Aug 13 - 07:27 PM

Cory B

~chalk full of over indulgent action that never engages the viewer~

Wait, were you describing The Losers there? Why yes, I believe you were.

Quit trying to pretend that The Losers is somehow superior to The Expendables in every conceivable way. It's not. Every criticism you have given of The Expendables could easily be applied to The Losers. At least The Expendables has some believable action heroes in it, instead of Zoe Saldana firing off a giant weapon without any kickback. Yeah, that's believable and engaging. Riiiiiiight.

Aug 13 - 09:59 PM

john jones

please, its spelled porn properly, you loose intelligence points for mispelling something that simple and well known. Action films have always been critical failures, even terrific war action movies like rambo 1 and 2 had people smirking, go read some of dingleberts reviews. I'd far rather watch tango and cash or cobra or stop or my mom will shoot (stallones terrible action films) than any emo action movie with christian bale or inception or salt (well maybe not stop or my mom will shoot lol) (both inception and salt i thought were terrible and are criticaly aclaimed, inception being a direct collage ripoff of 15 other films including shutter island). Critics generaly poo poo horror and action movies. The fact that most critics on here are generaly excited for a julia roberts movie (most of her and chick flick movies looking alike) makes me laugh and realize the stupidity of most of rotten tomatoes moviegoers. At least stallone is funny, has charm and you can tell the hero's from the badguys unlike most modern 20 something fanboys anti-heros (bale, haydeson christansen, daniel craig and even leonardo dicrapio sucking at hero movies). Any 80s action movie on a bad day is better than action movies from about 1990 onward. I found the trailer for expendables more entertaining than inception or salt. stallone is wrong its not just styrafoam muscles that started downsizing action movies starting with batman, its lack of humor and character found in modern action movies. Bring on the steroids, Id far rather watch a rioded muscledude than a bitchy whiney actor i know i could wip in a street fight doing action movies.

Aug 14 - 09:07 PM

john jones

these actors didnt reach thier peaks in the 80s moron because thier dvd sale totals far outstrip any mainstream 20 something actor. get an eduction. stallone, willis and arnold have made about 2 billion dollars apiece and continue to grow in videosales. bale or any 20 something heroactor has yet to make movies that last that long or are that good. american action movies and comedies certainly had thier golden age in the 70s and 80s but still live on in dvd rental sales.

Aug 14 - 09:13 PM

john jones

id consider your statement valid if you were talking about marc dacastas, stephen segal or jcvd or chuck norris, all of the cast with the exception of steve austin are a list action stars and not has beens. most are in thier 40s, 50s and 60s (jet li getting up thier).end of rant. get an education.

Aug 14 - 09:16 PM

Cory B

Anti-female bias? You're making up facts again. I counted 42 reviews from female critics, with 16 positive and 26 negative. There hasn't been a gender split among critics on this movie, as you seem to imply. And being faithful to the source material isn't always a good thing. What works well in a book may not work well on film.

Aug 13 - 10:06 PM